…und es kamen auch Frauen

Issues at the intersection of migration, civil rights and gender are still the focus of public debate today. Italian migrant women have made a significant contribution to this. In the media and political debates, we usually encounter migrant women as passive wives and mothers, as guardians of tradition and subject to the “culture” of their countries of origin. This study offers a different perspective. It shows migrant women as agents, as social and political actors who helped to shape and mold Switzerland as a country of immigration.

The book sheds light on the emergence and development of women's engagement in the most important organization of Italian migrants in Switzerland: the Federazione delle Colonie Libere Italiane in Svizzera (FCLIS). Thousands of Italian women lived and worked in Switzerland in the 1960s and 1970s - and yet remained unseen and unheard by the public. Migrant women active in the FCLIS tried to break through this invisibility. They freed themselves from the shadow of the “male worker” and developed their own strategies to improve their rights as women, workers and foreigners. What were their points of criticism and demands? Where did their concerns meet with support and where with resistance?

The book focuses on the social and political commitment of Italian migrant women on topics such as the rights of working women and mothers, educational opportunities for foreign children, social participation and the political voice of migrants. The various activities - such as congresses, petitions and manifestos - with which migrant women expressed their concerns are also highlighted.