Progress report WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 What has been accomplished as for May 2015!

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1 Progress report WP1 WP2 WP3 WP4 WP5 What has been accomplished as for May 2015! Our research project aims to explore work-life balance and gender equality issues asking: 1. What happens when people migrate from less egalitarian (Polish) to more egalitarian (Norwegian) culture, and 2. What facilitates and hinders the shift towards improved work-life balance and gender equality. Our goal is to detect and measure the impact of cultural changes within gender equality among individuals and couples. PAR Migration Navigator in numbers Our research team has conducted both qualitative (over 200 interviews) and quantitative (with over 2000 participants) studies. Our study participants have been recruited among: 1) Polish couples and individuals living in Poland and Norway, 2) Norwegian couples and individuals living in Norway, and 3) public sector servants & employers in Norway. We have also developed an on-line research tool enabling us to conduct experimental and correlational on-line studies ( both among participants in Poland and in Norway. We have analyzed different cultural and contextual cues fostering gender equality and work-life balance. We have also started dissemination process and have already presented results of studies completed so far at over 12 international and national conferences and seminars.

2 We have organized 3 whole-team workshops on projects scientific methods (2 in Norway and 1 in Poland) and over 15 internal seminars for our WP teams. Moreover, we have organized the 10 th International Conference Woman in Culture: Gender, Culture, & Migration, a meeting organized under the auspices of our Polish-Norwegian consortium PAR Migration Navigator, coordinated by the University of Gdańsk. It was held in March, 6-7, 2015 (more details: kobietawkulturze.ug.edu.pl). Conference program included over 20 symposiums pertaining to our project themes of migration, social change and gender equality and 4 inspiring keynote lectures by Joseph Vandello from University of South Florida, Elisabeth Beck- Gernsheim from University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Halina Grzymała-Moszczyńska from the Jagiellonian University, Cracow and Rhacel Salazar Parreñas from University of Southern Carolina. We hosted over 200 participants from different countries across the world, for example: Argentina, United Kingdom, Japan, Spain, India, Norway, Georgia, Pakistan, Russia or Rwanda. The following events accompanied the conference: 1. Strengthening the activity and supporting migrants in the labor market a workshop by representatives of Foundation for Somalia, which is a Polish NGO supporting migrants in the issues of legal counselling, career counselling and Polish language skills. The Foundation established Enterprising Immigrant Women Club. Immigrants who represented this Club at the conference shared their

3 first-hand experience of migration to Poland and practical issues regarding Polish language, culture, law, and labor market that proved useful for migrants in the audience. 2. Gender equality and migration on the screen a movie event presenting two pieces of socially responsible cinema related to issues of migration and gender equality. There were two movies presented in this section: 1) Olena (2013) a feature movie, which was listed in the official selection in Cannes; Olena presents a story of a couple of Ukrainians, who want to migrate to Sweden through Poland; 2) Banaz. A Love Story (2012) - a documentary which chronicles the life and death of Banaz Mahmod, a young British Kurdish woman killed in 2006 in South London in a so-called honor killing. 3. Round Table of Experts on Gender Equality & Migration - a debate, which gathered leaders coordinating Polish Norwegian projects in gender equality and work-life balance funded from Norway Grants in the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme, operated by the National Centre for Research and Development. There were also practitioners, local and national NGO representatives who took part in the debate as their main focus activities pertain to issues of gender equality and migration. At the round table we hosted representatives of Immigrant Support Centre, Arteria Association and leaders of 4 Polish-Norwegian projects: POLFAMIGRA, GEQ, TRANSFAM and WLB_GE (PAR MIGRATION NAVIGATOR). The debate ended after an open-space discussion enabling leaders and NGO representatives to share comments and good practices of: recruiting participants to studies, cooperating with local authorities and NGOs. More details about our research activities within our work packages is presented below.

4 WP 1 Qualitative Sociological Study with Workshop Method Implementation. Summary by Magdalena Żadkowska, WP1 leader: So far we have completed two rounds of qualitative research and have been involved in dissemination of the study results. We have conducted 187 in-depth sociological interviews, among 23 couples in Poland and 23 couples in Norway, We have collected 80 psychological questionnaires on Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance, We have received 40 blog-stories at our on-line platform, We have created 12 interview scenarios. Our scientific goals have been realized within 8 aspects: We have obtained the image of everyday practices of Polish migrants and compared it with Polish couples living in Poland. We have become familiar with couples stories and their histories of migration. We have confirmed the so called Irish hypothesis explaining that Polish couples (especially women) are more eager to give birth abroad then in Poland and we have analyzed determinants of this situation. We have confirmed our hypothesis that Polish migrants in Norway (in comparison to Polish couples in Poland) are implementing more effective work-life balance strategies after migration. We have confirmed our hypothesis that Polish migrants in Norway dual career families (in comparison to Polish couples in Poland) achieve more egalitarian standards of sharing domestic and parental duties between partners after migration.

5 We have confirmed our hypothesis that Polish fathers in Norway (in comparison to Polish fathers in Poland) are more eager to use parental leave and are willing to do it again. We have found out that egalitarian practices may appear even among people with strong traditional gender attitudes when the social system, working environment and social support are supporting such practices. We have also found out that egalitarian practices are welcome when people see direct advantages of these practices for them and for their families and when they do not fear the backlash, which is the case of Polish migrants in Norway. We have also completed the 1 st stage of testing of our method of workshop for couples enhancing their work-life balance. WP 2 Acculturation Quantitative Scheme Research Summary by Kuba Kryś, WP2 leader: In the study carried out in the Institute of Psychology of Polish Academy of Sciences (WP2) we focused on the quantitative research aimed at (though not limited to) four main aspects: work-life balance, gender equality, acculturation and internal valuation of self. We recruited over 1000 participants (Polish in Poland, N=480; Polish in Norway, N=388; Norwegian in Norway, N=120) and we explored the mechanisms of changes in the cultural identity, self-construals, gender roles, gender identities, sexism and work-life balance. The results confirmed numerous of our hypotheses. We document that internal valuation of self - typical for dignity cultures - may mediate the growth in life satisfaction as well as in social trust among Polish migrants in Norway. Polish migrants, brought up in the logics of culture of honor, valuate self externally (in honor cultures the self belongs only to some individuals, and can be lost and regained). Therefore, in Polish culture honor must be claimed, and honor must be paid by others.

6 This means that an important part of self-valuing is what others think about us; this cultural logics requires active defense of honor. In the logics of dignity cultures, like in Norway, the self is internal, belongs to everyone, and cannot be lost. Each individual s worth is permanent and essential, and does not rely on admiration of others. Living in Norway, a culture of dignity whose members valuate self internally, changes Polish migrants self-valuation towards more internal and lead to higher social trust as well as to higher satisfaction from life (both private and professional). Furthermore, we have analyzed gender equality issues and showed that gender equality in Norway is more nuanced than previously described. In contrary to what we expected, benevolent sexism turned out to be relatively high in Norway (higher than in Poland) and its highest level was identified among Norwegian women. Furthermore support to what is called benevolent sexism is in Norway positively correlated with the scale of Collective Actions Intentions, which measures intentions of active improving the gender-equality; in Polish samples, as predicted, the correlation between benevolent sexism and collective actions intentions was negative. This result raises further questions about the nature of benevolent sexism in Norway and about the ethno-sensitivity of this scale. The results described above (and other results not mentioned here) as well as scientific curiosity inspired us to extend our research which is in progress right now We hope it will allow us to describe the facilitators and inhibitors of Polish migrants acculturation into egalitarian Norwegian society. WP 3 Culture, self, gender equality and WLB experimental studies Summary by Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, WP3 leader In our WP we have so far conducted 9 experimental studies (series 1 & 2). Our recruited participants were living in different cultural settings: (1) Norwegians in Norway egalitarian, feminine culture, (2) Poles in Poland traditional, more masculine culture, (3) Polish migrants in Norway (group potentially acculturating into host culture). Choice of these 3 groups of participants for our experimental study allows us:

7 1. Better understanding of interaction between cultural and psychological variables (e.g. self-judgments, shared gender role ideology, gender differences in comparison standards, perceived entitlement for power, general appreciation of diversity) and their role in fostering gender equality and work-life balance within both men and women/couples, 2. To highlight the cultural and psychological factors strengthening the social change from gender inequality to gender equality, from non-egalitarianism to egalitarianism and appreciation of diversity. In our experimental studies we have also used quantitative methods as both mediators and dependent variables controlling for gender ideology, gender stereotypization, self-stereotyping, partner objectification, willingness to share parental roles and household chores between partners. In doing so we have used both paper-pencil methods and we have adapted the internet platform developed in WP2 in order to perform experimental on-line studies. Some highlights of our results: Egalitarian countries (such as Norway) show lower gender stereotypization as their judgments of typical and atypical gender behavior were similar. When being primed with the idea that men and women are similar participants showed lower acceptance of gender inequality and a greater willingness to engage in domestic activities, which was mediated by self-judgments within agency. If social system is perceived as allowing men and women to be similar then participants are more willing to engage in domestic activities. If men s male identity is threatened they might be less willing to perform more feminine activities, which are connected with family life. When shown pictures with a men performing feminine tasks they were less willing to perform feminine tasks. Men, whose gender identity was threatened, later showed lower preference for female activities, lower support for gender equality, lower willingness to support actions supporting gender equality.

8 We have now submitted two manuscripts for publication, and three more are in progress WP 4 Migrant couples re-conceptualizing childhood and parenting Summary by Gunhild Odden, WP4 leader: During the reporting period, the researchers directly involved in the WP4 have: Completed desk study review of literature on Parenting and socialization styles and patterns in Polish migrant communities in Europe, North America and in the Nordic countries and summarized it in a detailed desk study report (October 2013 May 2014). In January 2015, the report has been published in the registered SIK report series: Completed interview guides for joint and individual interviews with Polish families in Norway, Recruited and conducted interviews with 15 Polish families residing in Rogaland country of Norway. A total of 15 joint and 30 individual interviews conducted in May 2014 February 2015, Transcribed and translated from Polish to English all 45 interviews (15 joint and 30 individual interviews) in cooperation with WP5, Begun the analysis of the interviews. The preliminary findings from the WP4 suggest that Polish migrant families achieved a greater work-life balance since their immigration to Norway. This seems to have positively influenced their family life with Polish men to report having more time to spend with their families. Polish fathers in particular seem to have reaffirmed their masculinities via better opportunities to fulfill their breadwinner s role in Norway. At the same time, our male informants reported to a great degree to participate in sharing house chores with their spouses. As for the Polish mothers interviewed, some report that their economic situation in Norway makes them more comfortable in their role as mothers. On the other side, the women report to have lost some of their Polish femininity by adopting a Norwegian style in terms of

9 clothing and make up. As for the parenting styles among the Polish couples interviewed, each family is more or less hybridized, combining both Norwegian and Polish values and practices. However, there is a great difference in the way the families perceive and talk about these changes, which reflects each family s adaptation strategies on one side, and the identity they want to stress during the interview situation on the other. WP 5 Encounters between migrants and public sector Summary by Gunn Vedøy, WP5 leader The objective for this work-package has been to study the encounters between migrants, and the areas of school and health in public sector in the county of Rogaland. More precisely we wanted to: Explore to what degree public sector in Norway meets Polish migrant families needs, How values of gender equality and work life balance are addressed by public sector representatives, How these values are understood and adapted by migrants. Since the project started, researchers from WP 5 have made a sample of three municipalities and established contact with them. In order to carry out interviews we have completed interview guides for public sector servants, employers, and joint and individual interviews with Polish families in Norway. During 2014 we have conducted interviews with 22 public sector servants, 11 employers in addition to fifteen Polish couples residing in Rogaland county in Norway. With the couples, a total of 15 joint and 30 individual interviews have been conducted. We have transcribed and made summaries of the 33 public servants and employees interviews, and transcribed and translated the 45 joint and individual interviews with Polish couples. The analysis of interviews has now started, and our preliminary analysis indicates a need for more genuine encounters between civil servants and migrants. Consequences of encounters not taking place can be illustrated by the case of the

10 Barnevernet (children protective services) and the case of the Catholic Church. In the first example, lack of knowledge among Polish couples about the Barnevernet leads to fear and misunderstandings instead of support. In the second example, lack of awareness among civil servants about the position of the Catholic Church in the migrant community leads to loss of knowledge about challenges and a potential arena for cooperation. Our findings are to be presented in three articles - one already submitted, and two, which are work in progress.