In the late summer and fall of 2015, Berlin registered more than 33.000 refugees. About one third of the registered refugees are women who fled their home either alone or with their families. Early indicators show that the participation of female refugees in areas such as education and work remains relatively low however. This constitutes a challenge for programs like Welcome@FUBerlin that aim to contribute to the integration of women into the university.

The Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin and the Welcome@FUBerlin Program are jointly organizing an event to discuss these issues. The event starts with a presentation of the findings of a recently published book that explores how women with diverse socio-economic, linguistic and educational backgrounds describe their lives in asylum accommodations. This is followed by a panel discussion bringing together different experts that have studied challenges for integration of female refugees from several angles. The panel discusses questions like: What are the factors driving reduced female participation? Is it possible that women who might have had a job and been more “independent” in their hometown are actually restricted when it comes to their decision-making and options in Berlin? What are the future implications for refugee communities and German society of these trends? What concretely can be done to encourage women to participate and benefit from different services and activities?