Displacement, Self-Employment, and Survival Economies among Women Migrants

An Interdisciplinary Journalistic and Analytical Study

Abstract

The large-scale displacement of populations in Eastern Europe in 2022 profoundly reshaped women’s economic strategies and labor trajectories. This article examines self-employment as a primary mechanism of economic adaptation among displaced and migrant women, focusing on informal and semi-formal service-based activities. Drawing on interdisciplinary analysis combining journalism, migration studies, and gender economics, the study conceptualizes “survival economies” not as marginal or temporary practices, but as structured systems of resilience. The article argues that women-led self-employment plays a critical stabilizing role in host communities while remaining underrecognized in media and policy discourse.

Keywords:

displacement, women migrants, self-employment, survival economies, informal labor, migration journalism

Author: Khrystyna Nedeva
ORCID: 0009-0005-1135-9582

Reviewer:

  • Larisa Ivshina
    ORCID: 0009-0007-5264-6566

DOI: pending

Full Text (PDF)

Displacement_Self_Employment_and_Survival_Economies_among_Women

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