A Dream Job or Any Job? The Career Paths of Polish Migrant Women Working in Norwegian Kindergartens

After Poland’s accession to the European Union and the opening of the Norwegian market for Polish employees, the gender structure of Polish migrants in Norway changed radically. The number of men increased rapidly in relation to the number of women due to the demand of the Norwegian labor market for employees in the construction industry. For several years, the number of women has been growing slightly faster than the number of men due to family reunification. Poles living in Norway are relatively young and well-educated. Research carried out so far indicates that Polish migrants experience many problems finding employment that is in line with their education (Czapka 2010; Huang, Krzaklewska, Pustulka 2016). The article presents partial results of qualitative research carried out in Oslo in 2015 among Polish assistants working in Norwegian kindergartens in the framework of the project “Barnehagen som tillitsarena: hvordan lages den flerkulturelle samfunnskontrakten?”, which is part of the Polish-Norwegian project POLFAMIGRA (“Polish female migrants and their families – a study of care deficit “). The research results indicate that the work of an assistant in a kindergarten is for many Polish women the next stage in their professional careers in Norway and is often perceived in terms of career advancement. For the part of women participating in the study, work in the kindergarten was to be only a temporary type of employment, which was to ensure their income until they find a job consistent with their education. Most of them believed that their work does not enjoy high social prestige and is associated with relatively low wages.