Women at the edges of nations

Information and Communication Technologies have a big relevance in the field of women's labour. We are facing great changes in the work market: a massive entrance of female workers, the introduction of new technologies, the development of the third sector. In the post-fordist model knowledges and communication are the core of the productive process which is based on relational skills. Communicative and relational skills are typical women qualities. ICT alfabetization is becoming a crucial issue in every aspect of social life too. But did the transformation of the work market really help women?. With informatization many women found new spaces in the electronic industry and in services sectors,but what is the real role of women in the super flexible market of Europe enlarging toward east?

Our working proposal is to collaborate with two medialab (in cluj romania and riga latvia) to research the transformations of work in Italy and in Latvia and Romania. We want to research the strategies of delocalization of factories from western to eastern europe and women's work especially in the field of ICT and media. We propose to realized our research throught video interviews and workshops and to analize the realtionship between women, net technologies and new labour. We want to develop strategies of learning and working for women who wants to enter the space of new technologies.

The enlargement of Europe will means free circulation of people and goods, but is that for real? We foreseen an exodus of workers toward the west and a strategy of delocalization of western industries to the est for the cheaper cost of work (i.e. Philips is firing 22.000 people and moving to Hungary where the cost of the workers is cheaper and many italian northern-east factories are moving to Timosoara). The multinationals in Europe that are using outsorsing or delocalization are 4 out of 10. Under which conditions is this production happening in eastern europe? Together with the income of companies are improving also the working conditions and the rights of local workers? The integration of other eastern european countries in the EU in the next years will concern only the rules of market or also the rules of the labour market and social security for workers? When companies are delocalizing they usually follow the principal of 'maximum profit with lowest costs': the company keep part of the production (design, marketing etc)for which you need high skilled workers and specific knowledge in the home country, while other part of production are outsorced in eastern europe with cheaper labour costs. Than when the company sell the product, they send it back home almost finished and only at home they put a brand on it that allow the company to make a big profit. We woud like to research the existence of this kind of situations in Romania and in Latvia and to make a video on a specific situation of delocalization.

We propose a list of questions that we might all use to start our common reasearch:(please send feedbacks and let's exchange comments on this proposal)

Question for Labs:

• Which working relations are mostly proposed to women and choosen by women?
• How much ICT skills are important in the work market?
• Are this skills payed in respect of their real value?
• Delocalization: are there western factories/companies that open facilities in the east europe?
• Do they hire workers?
• which contract do they propose?
• which knowledge to they require?

Questions for migrant women:

• From where do you come from
• Why did u leave you country and why did you come here?
• Which kind works where available for you there? and which horizon of wage?
• Which is your work now?
• Which is the reason of your choiches? (need, carreer, desire, learning)
• Do you see yourself as an european person?
• Do you use ICT? (mobile, internet)
• Did you ever work in ICT field thanks to your expertise?
• Are you in contact with a local community from you coutry? how many people?
• how many women?
• Which are their expertise?
• which kind of work do they do here?
• Will you be intersted in having a workshop about Internet?

MaPpe