(Im)mobile Lives
Young Russian Women's Narratives of Work and Citizenship Insecurities in Finland
Keywords:
au pair, Finland, migrant labour, migrationAbstract
This article examines the interconnectedness of geographical and social mobility using the empirical case of young, highly educated Russian women’s migration to Finland. My qualitative interview data shows that an insecure migrant status channels young migrant women to a precarious gendered path from au pairing to studying and working in a low-skilled sector in order to continue residence in Finland. The stories of highly educated migrant women doing domestic and low-skilled work show how geographical mobility is achieved at the cost of descending social status. The empirical discussion demonstrates that “subjects on the move” celebrated by the new mobility paradigm are, in fact, unequally mobile, and achieve mobility at a high social cost, including social downgrading and deskill- ing. Furthermore, structural vulnerabilities in terms of insecure migrant status create dependence on employers and produce opportunities for the exploitation of migrant labour.
