Abstract

Western-European integration policies and so-called citizenisation programmes are often shaped through narrow conceptions of ‘good’ citizenship and are often articulated alongside gendered, culturalist and Islamophobic assumptions. This chapter draws on ethnographic research conducted with 20 Moroccan Muslim migrant mothers in a unique ‘citizenisation’ pilot programme in Flanders, Belgium. The programme specifically targets low-literate migrant mothers with preschool children from a non-EU background and offered a combination of language and ‘citizenisation’ courses and education support. Building on the notion of “femonationalism” (Farris, In the Name of Women’s Rights: The Rise of Femonationalism. Duke University Press, 2017), this chapter will scrutinise the tension between the potential of gender-segregated classes providing (free or accessible) childcare in supporting female migrants’ autonomy on the one hand and the political opposition against these classes in the name of women’s rights and gender empowerment on the other. Many Muslims operate in segregated gender spheres, so mixed courses constitute a problem for many in the Muslim (and other minoritised) communities. These gender-segregated courses are only provided by this unique pilot programme; however, they are heavily opposed by Flemish policymakers. In their opinion, Muslim husbands or male relatives oppose their wives’ or female relatives’ going to these mixed courses, which makes the women even more dependent on the men (especially for those in the precarious context of family reunification). However, a gendered separation could be potentially beneficial to migrant Muslim women, and potentially also migrant women with other traditional cultural, ethnic or religious origins, and their integration into society. Ensuring these courses could provide more tools, knowledge and empowerment to these women, so that they may make future decisions more autonomously.