Intermarriage and Segmented Integration into Finnish Society: Immigrant Women from the Former Soviet Union

Abstract

The number of immigrants is still very small in Finland. Until the l 990s immigrantscame to Finland in small numbers, mostly as a consequence of marriage. With thedissolution of the Sovi et Union, immigration to Finland from the former Sovi et Unionhas increased considerably with the consequence that Russian and Estonian speakersin Finland form the biggest immigrant groups speaking a foreign-language. Nowadaysthe largest immigrant groups from the former Soviet Union consist first of 'ethnicreturning migrants 'with Finnish ancestry and their family members and secondof immigrants married to Finnish citizens. In this article the social and economicintegration of immigrant women from the former Sovi et Union into Finnish societywas explored, with reference to the concept of segmented integration. Intermarriageis often de.fined a priori as 'problematic 'and it is thought to generate conjlict, marginalityand isolation for the immigrants. On the other hand, intermarriage is alsoseen as a resource for integration and social inclusion for the foreign-bom. In thisstudy intermarried immigrant women (Finnish-born - foreign-bom couples) werecompared to in-married immigrant women (foreign-bom - foreign-bom couples) usinga nationwide population survey targeted at Russian and Estonian immigrantsfrom the area of the former Sovi et Union.The results show that intermarried immigrant women seem to be quite successful infinding access to the Finnish and co-ethnic networks and at the same time they wereeconomically integrated. In-married immigrants experienced economic limitationsmore often than those who were intermarried. A noticeable part of in-married womenactually integrate into the networks of co-ethnics, while integration into Finnish networksis weak or non-existent. Intermarried immigrant women, on the other hand,integrate more often only into the Finnish community. This indicates that integrationhas become segmented and that marriage type was an important element - but onlyane among other factors - in the process of segmented integration.