Una gatta da pelare: Vies publiques et vies privées des Italiennes récemment arrivées à Montréal

The author focuses on a contemporary phenomenon that she claims has been understudied until now: the recent migration of highly educated, professional, and academic women. She notes that this profile corresponds to that of a significant proportion of Italian women who, since the 1990s, have left their country for large European cities or the North American continent. This movement intensified in the 2000s and, even more so after the financial crisis of 2008. The author’s study is based on a qualitative analysis of the migration experience of 32 Italian women, aged 25 to 65, all with a university degree, who arrived in Montreal between 1990 and 2016. Based on semidirected interviews with these 32 women allowed the author to explore in depth this migratory phenomenon and to grasp the meaning of this feminine experience, the attitude of these Italian women towards the status of women and feminism, in Italy and in Quebec, the existential choices that this migratory experience has demanded of them as women and intellectuals, in their private and public lives, and the possible changes that have resulted in terms of identity, religion and ideology. The objective of her study was to define the socio-cultural profile of these women, their geographical, social, and cultural origins, their educational and professional background in Italy and in the context of migration, and to explore the reasons that led them to leave Italy and choose Montreal. She also examines the complex migratory paths of these Italian women, the main challenges they have faced, and interprets these issues in their respective departure and arrival contexts. Most of the women in the author’s focus group are from northern Italy, belong to the lower or middle bourgeoisie, and have a high level of education. The political, economic, and cultural climate of Italy encouraged them to leave; the many opportunities for education and employment, a better quality of life, and respect for human rights made them choose Montreal.

PhD dissertation

Université de Montréal

Montréal

2021

428p.

fr