"Det behövs någon för att få in en fot i dörren" : Betydelsen av socialt nätverk för kvinnliga övriga anhöriginvandrares arbetsmöjligheter i Sverige

Sammanfattning: The work opportunities of immigrants have been a significant topic in political and scientifical debate. Several studies argue that it is the lack of social network that negatively affects immigrants’ work opportunities. An immigrant group that differs from other immigrant groups in this respect is women having migrated to a partner in Sweden. Before moving to Sweden, they already have an established social network, containing their Swedish partner and his social contacts, to get support from. However, even this group experiences difficulties finding a job. The purpose of this study is to examine how women, migrated to a partner in Sweden, perceive the importance of social network for their work opportunities. A qualitative method was used, interviewing five women who have established themselves in the Swedish labor market. Empirical data has been analyzed based on a thematic analysis, against the background of three theoretical perspectives: Bourdieu’s understanding of social capital, Putnam’s understanding of bonding and bridging social capital and Granovetter’s theory focusing on strong and weak ties.  The results of the study show that women perceive certain contacts in their social network as more important for work opportunities than other contacts, and also in a more indirect way than shown in previous studies. As these women experience difficulties acquiring social contacts with natives, their social network consist largely of their partner, in-laws and some contacts with other immigrants. Partners and in-laws turn out to be important, especially during women’s first years in Sweden, for language development, cultural adapation and a first contact with the labor market. Other contacts, such as other immigrants, colleagues or acquaintances do not have much importance for these womens work opportunities. This depends on the quality of these contacts, but also on the fact that the women’s will to live a self-sufficient life, independent of their social contacts, has constituted a strong will-power for seeking and finding work on their own.