Romanians from Serbia in Denmark
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Danish workers, where Vlach women were accused of speed<strong>in</strong>g up the<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g processes <strong>in</strong> order just to get a t<strong>in</strong>y bonus.<br />
Motivation to work so hard was found primarily <strong>in</strong> the private realm, <strong>in</strong><br />
the prestige game of the Vlach community, where status required the<br />
purchase of a new dress for every dance or wedd<strong>in</strong>g (Schierup and Ålund<br />
1986: 102–4).The option of work<strong>in</strong>g harder than their Danish colleagues<br />
and earn<strong>in</strong>g extra h<strong>in</strong>ged on the ability of Vlach women to leave their<br />
children <strong>in</strong> the village or <strong>in</strong> the care of older female relatives, thereby<br />
stress<strong>in</strong>g difference with regard to their Danish colleagues, who were more<br />
dependent on the services of the welfare state. The help provided by the<br />
family network nevertheless had itsprice <strong>in</strong> terms of <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the level of<br />
obligations towards the private realm where high levels of hospitalityand<br />
other services were expected <strong>in</strong> exchange.<br />
One consequence of the heavy burdens placed on them is that a large<br />
number of older women suffer <strong>from</strong> healthproblems and are now retired.<br />
Be<strong>in</strong>g away <strong>from</strong> the labour market and consigned to the private sphere of<br />
homemak<strong>in</strong>gand childcare obviously implies a degree of withdrawal <strong>from</strong><br />
the wider Danish society. In reality, however, many of the older women<br />
primarily worked <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustries where the bulk of workers were other<br />
immigrants, 7 for which reason the <strong>in</strong>tegrative ‘outcomes’ of be<strong>in</strong>g exposed<br />
to the Danish labour marketare likely to have been more limited. Th<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
are different <strong>in</strong> the younger generation, as higher levels of education and<br />
language proficiency have contributed to a general shift towards the service<br />
sector. Few, if any,of this generation work <strong>in</strong> groups with other Vlachs and<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g Vlach does not seem to <strong>in</strong>fluence their jobsituation.<br />
The trade unions generally play a very positive role for the older men,<br />
who accepted and felt represented bytheir collective-oriented policies and<br />
by the emphasis given to equal rights and worker solidarity, featureswhich<br />
the Danish welfare state had <strong>in</strong> common with socialist Yugoslavia. The<br />
trade unions also stood up for theirnew members and actively campaigned<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st the widespread racist attitudes of some of their other members,<br />
thereby <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the sense of security of the former. 8 However, these<br />
moreconflictual memories are seldom raised by the migrants, who tend to<br />
emphasise <strong>in</strong>stead their more positive workexperiences.