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German language skills of refugee women and men , , Development, differences and backgrounds
The Brief Analysis 1|2024 examines gender differences in the acquisition of German language skills by refugees who came to Germany between 2013 and 2019. The data is based on the first six waves of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, which were conducted between 2016 and 2021.
Analyses of development over time show that refugees' German language skills improve over time but also involve considerable gender differences which persist even after a longer period of residence in Germany. Further analyses of the study deal with the reasons for these gender differences.
On the one hand, having small children has a negative effect on the acquisition of German language skills only among women, whereas there is no correlation between parenthood and German language skills in men. On the other hand, other contextual conditions are found to affect the acquisition of German similarly among both genders but these factors are distributed quite differently among refugee women and refugee men: Refugee women are on average less likely than refugee men to have intermediate and higher educational qualifications and they are more likely to lack writing and reading skills even in their first language. In times after arrival in Germany, refugee women on average have also less contact with Germans and spend more time on family-related tasks and housework. They are less likely to be employed and take part in integration and language courses less frequently than male refugees. As the study shows, the gender differences in German skills of refugees can be explained to a large extent by these disparities.
With regard to measures to improve language learning conditions for refugee women, these results suggest various approaches, such as offering relief from family tasks, improving the framework conditions for access to integration and language courses and providing support in establishing contacts and networks. Specific measures must take into account that many refugee women had little access to education and literacy in their countries of origin. Corresponding offers must therefore be comprehensible and tailored also to persons with low literacy skills.
The Brief Analysis was written by: Dr. Jan Eckhard
It is only available in German.