Lauren Kim

Final Project Analysis

The particular moment that I chose for my final project was the Immigrant Women’s Association (IWA). Founded in 2014, this organization strives to empower migrant Somali women both in Copenhagen, Denmark and at home in Somalia. IWA provides three main services which I have highlighted in my artistic final project. The three programs are integrating women into the socio-economic fabric of Denmark, serving internally displaced women, and educating women. IWA was created by a group of Somali-Danish business professionals and thus the focus of this organization is creating skill sets for these immigrant women. Since their credentials lie in business skills and leadership encouragement, IWA’s mission is to get more Somali-Danish female civic and economic engagement.

For integrating Somali women into the Danish society, the organization focuses on how to assimilate them into the workforce and the dominant culture. They do this through community projects which new immigrants are encouraged to join. These projects help the women network into a new community, pick up organizing skills, and get familiar with their surroundings. Internally displaced women means the women in Somalia who have had their entire lives turned upside down due to tragedy that takes away the men in their lives (by civil war, abandonment, separation, disaster related death, etc). IWA helps these women in their home country stand on their own two feet by providing them with “micro and grant money, business consulting and entrepreneurship training as well as other strategies applicable to reducing poverty”. These tools give the women skills to be self-sustainable. Lastly, educating women means investing in young girls. Rather than focusing educational resources on adults (who are trained with business/leadership programs), IWA puts educational emphasis on children. IWA believes that these Somali girls are the future of their communities, and in order to represent their community well and be a productive member of society, they must be able to compete in the workforce. For children they provide scholarships and encourage girls to value schooling.

The organization does all this in order to craft a future generation of Somali women who are resourceful, hardworking, and independent Danish leaders. They wish for Danish-Somali women who are invested in their Somali communities (at home and abroad) and will be politically engaged at all levels. And the reason for a female centered organization instead of catering to all Somali immigrants is because IWA believes that helping women is an effective way of helping entire families. When a woman is educated and capable, she can elevate the status of her children and rewrite the narrative on Somali immigrants.

This organization speaks volumes about the immigrant experience for Somali women. The emphasis on assimilation and building business skills suggest that adapting to life in Denmark is difficult. As the logo of the hijabi suggests, Somalia is a muslim majority nation. In contrast, Denmark along with the rest of Northern Europe is majority Christian. Being able to connect to religious tradition and still ‘fit in’ to the larger society must be a difficult balance to strike for these women. Additionally, IWA assumes that many of the Somali migrants were affected by the civil war. And that concern is reflected in their outreach to women back home. They intersect their expertise in female entrepreneurship with the issue of insurrection by caring for single mothers. The training they give are to female heads of households who lost men to injury, conflict, and abandonment. This gives an insight into the oppression that these women face in Denmark and at home.

IWA is a story of empowerment. One can see that through their programs to adapt Somali women into political and business sectors. In Somalia, IWA empowers women to fend for themselves and be self sufficient without the help of male family members. IWA encourages autonomy by not providing direct aid that causes the receiver to become dependent. Instead the donor organization provides women the tools they need to become confident and independent. In Copenhagen, IWA educates and advocates Somali women to be involved with the larger society. It is also a story about gender equality, and uplifting minority women so that they may someday shape public policy for other Somalians in mind. IWA dreams of respect, freedom, and self-determination for future Somali-Danish women.

Finally, IWA reisists sterotypes about African immigrants in Nordic countries by encouraging muslim girls to beceom businesswomen, politicians, and vocal community organizers who are invested in Denmark’s growth and sucess. They also promote tight knit families and focus their initiative around elevating the whole Somali family unit through mothers. Representing a visibly different, marginalized community, IWA strives to alleviate the rough transition for other Somali immigrants in the future.

Sources

Mohammad, Tara. “About Us.” Immigrant Women’s Association, IWA 2018, https://immigrantwomen.org/about/