Feminization of Migration Routes and Integration Aspects in Trieste Area and Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region

Italian society is going through deep structural demographic and cultural changes whereby its emigration pattern has been reversed to the extent that the country is now experiencing intensive immigration. Pre-supposing the two basic characteristics of the migration routes which have become visible in the last decade – namely feminization and internal diversification of universal migrant, this article has tried to show the market typology (a characteristic not only of Italy but other Mediterranean countries of the EU) which contributes to the gender differentiation of the foreigners' work, paying special attention to the position of an immigrant woman in the integration process into the native community. In that context, the analysis is directed towards the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and the town of Trieste which have proved themselves to be unique in their acceptance of newcomers, among whom the most numerous being the ex-Yugoslavian (mainly Serbian) population. Issues which have been touched include the recent history of dynamic Italian-Yugoslav relationships, the importance of the border, the daily cross-border migration mostly performed by the female workforce and the multiculturalism of Trieste as a border town. The so-called stable migration going through “family unification” has also been observed, a process responsible for the constant rise in the numbers of immigrant women and their underage children. In the way of their harmonic integration into the new society stand numerous obstacles: the language barrier, prejudice, the social invisibility of foreign women, their domestication, professional disqualification and coerced collective identity enforced by national or monoethnic associations. In school – an institution that forms a relationship with the foreign students’ mothers – attempts are being made to break free from this state of social invisibility. Similarly, in multicultural associations and societies, immigrant women have the opportunity to reinforce their individual identity. These women, along with their male counterparts, are faced with a difficult transmission period from the first territorialization phase and the adoption of mental maps of a new urban landscape through nativization and the development of co-relationships and symbolic connections with the native population, until they reach the “gateway to the city”, i.e. the rebirth of citizens