Better chances of asylum

1 million foreign-born women in Austria for the first time

Since 2018, the proportion of women born abroad has risen by almost 17%.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Friday is International Women's Day. Immigrant women are an often overlooked part of society. The Integration Fund has now taken a closer look at these more than one million women.

When people talk about immigration, they often have the image of young men in mind. However, the statistics contradict this, at least in part. Women born abroad are a significant part of society - and as of January 1, 2023, more than one million women not born in Austria were living here for the first time. The Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) has now compiled information on how they do this, where they come from and what drives these women in its latest brochure. The figures are available to the "Krone".

Graphic: Female population by country of birth

Female population by country of birth

(Bild: Krone Kreativ)

Immigrant women are more likely to be granted asylum
At the beginning of 2023, there were 1,008,582 foreign-born women living in Austria, corresponding to 21.8 percent of the total female population. This compares to "only" 967,278 men born abroad. Incidentally, most women come from Germany (13.4 percent). They are followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina (8.8 percent), Turkey (7.6 percent), Serbia (7.5 percent) and Romania (7.4 percent). The proportion of Ukrainian women has increased almost six-fold over the past five years to 53,761. Where the image of the young male immigrant is confirmed, however, is in asylum applications. In 2023, women were clearly in the minority with 21.9 percent. However, they were more likely to be granted asylum - here the proportion was already 40.7 percent.

Female migrants in Austria

(Bild: APA/dpa/Gero Breloer)

A much-discussed topic: immigrants and employment. The ÖIF data experts also took a closer look at this. The result: there were major differences depending on the country of origin. At 76 percent, the employment rate is highest among women from EU countries. Almost half of Turkish women were in employment (51%), and two thirds of women from the former Yugoslavia (66%). Women from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq had the lowest labor force participation rate (25 percent).

Foreign-born women are more likely to work in the low-wage sector. Services, such as building cleaning, were among the sectors with the highest proportion of female employees with a migrant background (50.9%), followed by the hotel and catering industry (42.7%) and transportation (33%).

Since 2018, the proportion of women born abroad has risen by almost 17%.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Often only part-time and low income
The result: in 2021, Austrian women earned around 24,000 euros. With a median income of just under 16,600 euros, foreign women only had 81% of the net annual income available to them. Something that Austrians and foreign women with children under the age of 15 have in common - the high part-time employment rate. This was 77.9 percent for women without a migration background and 65.1 percent for women with a migration background. What is striking is that the average number of children is significantly higher for mothers with a foreign birthplace (1.63 children) than for Austrian women (1.34 children).

How does cohabitation work?
And how does cohabitation work? There are different views on this. In contrast to Austrians (26%), Ukrainians (71%), Syrians (68%) and Afghans (69%) are of the opinion that coexistence between Austrians and migrants works (very) well. Around two thirds of Syrians and Afghans believe that their personal living situation in Austria has improved over the past three years. The proportion was significantly lower for Austrians (32%) and Turkish women (23%).