HILF: How did I claim my place? Young immigrant women's successful path into Swedish society

Societal development today is characterised by globalisation and migration, and it is in these processes that various challenges arise on a macro level, but also in people's everyday lives. Immigrants experience more physical and mental health problems (Manesis 2014; Lecerof et al., 2016) and immigrants are often excluded when they arrive in their new country (Viruell-Fuentes et al., 2012). In particular, young immigrant women are a group that is at high risk of being discriminated against and marginalised at work (Government Offices of Sweden, 2017), in higher education (Bayati, 2014) and society (Osterlund & Seippel, 2013), which creates inequality in health (Nakhaie & Wijesingha , 2014). Society and its organisations need to find constructive strategies for the changed situation that the multicultural society entails (Esses et al. 2017). Good integration promotes health and identity creation in the new society (Zacheus, 2010).

Unlike previous research, which has often been devoted to problematic aspects of migration and health, this research project focuses on what has promoted young immigrant women's integration into working life, education and civil society.

The overall aim of the project is to explore what has been crucial for how young immigrant women enter and take their place in society. The following research questions must be answered:

• What conditions and what kind of meaning-making do young immigrant women feel have been crucial in promoting their integration process in society?
• What types of turning points do young immigrant women experience that have contributed to them being able to conquer different positions in society's arenas (working life, education and society)?
• How do young immigrant women feel that the turning points have affected their personal development, agency, health and well-being?
• What “action horizons” (possibilities about the future) do young immigrant women perceive they have?
• How is the path young immigrant women take into a new society expressed in international research?

To study the above, Hodkinson and Sparke's (1997) model of career paths will be used. An intersectional perspective is also used to make visible how young immigrant women can have different perspectives on integration and career paths as well as “future horizons” depending on, for example, socioeconomics, ethnicity and religion (de los Reyes & Mulinari, 2005) as well as health and living conditions. Data is collected using semi-structured interviews (Rapley, 2004) that follow the life history principle.