Gender pay gap, unfavourable working conditions for mothers, and lack of all-day childcare facilities are examples of marginalised situations for women all over Europe. These inequalities are a social problem that have an impact at various levels, including their educational and career path, as women's skills and abilities are often not recognised. Similar situations occur with racialised people such as migrants and refugees, where their bodies and perspectives are excluded e.g. in political and academic spaces and discourses often wrongly marked as too personal, too emotional and too subjective (Kilomba 2016). Accordingly, women who are racialised are facing marginalising structures in the intersection of gender and race not only individually, but also structurally and institutionally. 

The research issue to be discussed here is how these discriminatory structures affect migrant-ised women in their everyday life, especially in their educational and career paths. By using the term ‘migrant-ised’ the authors highlight the complex process of migrant-isation, where (forcedly) moving people and their following generations are turned into migrants and acknowledges the institutionalised sociopolitical category of governance and power the terms migrant and migration are filled with (Worm 2023). Following this critical approach, the symposium aims to analyse the discriminatory structures migrant-ised women face due to the intersection of gender, race and class by centralising so far untold stories of migrant-ised women in educational research. The necessity of these often-excluded voices to be heard - especially in academic discourses - has derived from their value to detect and dismantle the faced discriminatory structures. 

The first paper presents findings from an ongoing research project with migrant women. Taking a (self-)critical look at the asymmetrical interview settings in terms of race, language, class and academic status, the researcher shows how including a joint research perspective can become. This is seen not only as an aspect of the data-production, but more so in the research process, as it can affect the whole research project and its output. This leads to new insights, enables new ways of tackling racism, gives way to politicisation, solidarisation and perhaps even to the educational process of gaining agency (Bildung).

The second paper examines the intersection of language barriers, gender dynamics, and epistemic justice encountered by Arab women pursuing doctoral studies in the UK. The study, employing feminist theory, uses qualitative methods, including 15 semi-structured interviews, to explore the challenges of mastering English and the access to the academic discourse. Unveiling the unique pressures and biases faced by these women, the research highlights equity issues in academic leadership and mentorship and advocates for inclusive practices. 

The third paper aims to contribute to a reflexive perspective on the positionality of White and BIPOC researchers in European societies and focuses on challenges of researching racial injustice, highlighting the impact of researchers' social positioning and biases. It emphasises the importance of reflective practices, particularly in qualitative research, and advocates for increased participation of BIPOC researchers. The presentation centres on a study that examines the education of migrant and refugee students in Germany and highlights the tensions reflected in interactions between interview partners and the female migrant-ised researcher.

Following the reflexive approaches the question of (language) barriers and the term migrant-ised will be critically discussed in the symposium considering the fact that even this term contributes to the wrong essentialisation of a homogenous and singular group and can be traced back to the national socio-political and historical differences of used terms like ethnicity and race between UK and Germany (Chadderton & Wischmann 2014). The terms and concepts used in these discussions involve the challenges and opportunities of integrating individuals in societal discourses in order to overcome exclusion.

Chadderton, C., & Wischmann, A. (2014). Racialised norms in apprenticeship systems in England and Germany. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 66(3), 330-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2014.917693 Kilomba, G. (2016). Plantation memories: Episodes of everyday racism (4. Aufl). Unrast. Worm, A. (2023). Migrantized Biographies. Reconstructing Life-Stories and Life-Histories as a Reflexive Approach in Migration Research. Historical Social Research, 48, 178198. https://doi.org/10.12759/HSR.48.2023.44