Intermarriage and Segmented Integration into Finnish Society: Immigrant Women from the Former Soviet Union

Authors

• Anni Jääskeläinen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.44983

Keywords:

intermarriage, immigrants, integration, Finland, Soviet Union

Abstract

The number of immigrants is still very small in Finland. Until the l 990s immigrants
came to Finland in small numbers, mostly as a consequence of marriage. With the
dissolution of the Sovi et Union, immigration to Finland from the former Sovi et Union
has increased considerably with the consequence that Russian and Estonian speakers
in Finland form the biggest immigrant groups speaking a foreign-language. Nowadays
the largest immigrant groups from the former Soviet Union consist first of 'ethnic
returning migrants 'with Finnish ancestry and their family members and second
of immigrants married to Finnish citizens. In this article the social and economic
integration of immigrant women from the former Sovi et Union into Finnish society
was explored, with reference to the concept of segmented integration. Intermarriage
is often de.fined a priori as 'problematic 'and it is thought to generate conjlict, marginality
and isolation for the immigrants. On the other hand, intermarriage is also
seen as a resource for integration and social inclusion for the foreign-bom. In this
study intermarried immigrant women (Finnish-born - foreign-bom couples) were
compared to in-married immigrant women (foreign-bom - foreign-bom couples) using
a nationwide population survey targeted at Russian and Estonian immigrants
from the area of the former Sovi et Union.
The results show that intermarried immigrant women seem to be quite successful in
finding access to the Finnish and co-ethnic networks and at the same time they were
economically integrated. In-married immigrants experienced economic limitations
more often than those who were intermarried. A noticeable part of in-married women
actually integrate into the networks of co-ethnics, while integration into Finnish networks
is weak or non-existent. Intermarried immigrant women, on the other hand,
integrate more often only into the Finnish community. This indicates that integration
has become segmented and that marriage type was an important element - but only
ane among other factors - in the process of segmented integration.