Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Keywords
gender equality, Iceland, immigrant women, integration policy, the COVID-19 pandemic
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Sustainability Switzerland
Volume
17
Issue
9
First Page
1
Last Page
30
Abstract
Enabling gender equality by empowering women to fully engage in modern society is fundamental for building resilient and sustainable communities. While Iceland is recognized as a global leader in gender equality, the experiences of various immigrant groups can differ considerably, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery. Given the rapid increase in the immigrant population in Iceland, it is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of the processes surrounding immigrant women’s integration strategies, with an emphasis on gender equality through the lens of intersectionality. The main objective of this qualitative study is to explore the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on female immigrants by examining how intersecting identities—including gender, ethnicity, religion, motherhood, and immigration status—shape their integration experiences in Iceland. Focusing on small, remote urban and rural communities in the Northeastern Region of Iceland (Norðurland eystra), this study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with immigrant women conducted in 2022 and 2023, using both strength-based and deficit analyses. The study reveals key constraints and strengths in the integration of immigrant women, examined through the lens of underlying and pandemic-driven factors influencing immigrant women’s experiences in personal and social domains of integration. The findings indicate that, despite government gender equality standards and support programs, as well as the considerable resilience demonstrated by immigrant women during the pandemic, they continue to encounter significant barriers to achieving full integration. The findings suggest that acknowledging immigrant women as important constituents in policy development is a crucial step toward formulating and implementing more comprehensive, gender-responsive, and locally adaptive decentralized integration policies. Such policies are vital for securing Iceland’s long-term social sustainability and reinforcing its stature as a global leader in gender equality.
Department
Department of Geography
Original Publication Date
4-30-2025
Object Description
1 PDF File
DOI of published version
10.3390/su17094069
Repository
UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
Copyright
©2025 The Author(s)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Rozanova-Smith, Marya; Oddsdóttir, Embla Eir; and Petrov, Andrey N., "‘I Feel Like the Most Important Thing Is to Ensure That Women Feel Included…’: Immigrant Women’s Experiences of Integration and Gender Equality in Iceland During Times of Crisis" (2025). Faculty Publications. 6785.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/6785
Comments
First published in Sustainability, v17 i9 (2025) published by MDPI DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su17094069