Introduction
The issues related to female migration are, to some extent, ‘new’ to Greece, and as such they have triggered, since the early 1990s and more so since 2000, intense activity in terms of research, estimates and commentaries. On the part of the Greek state, following an initial phase of ‘surprised concern,’ there has been a continuous production of legislation and a gradual development of migration policy, mainly aiming to police and control the influx of migrants. Popular concern has also been expressed through the press and electronic media, initially inciting defensive and racist reactions towards migrants and later addressing their conditions of settlement and integration.
After almost two decades, a considerable bulk of research pertaining to migration to Greece has been amassed, to which this report refers, while a number of conferences, public discussions, publications, NGO activities etc. testify to growing interest in the subject. Much of this research is produced in the context of public institutions, some of which were specifically set up for the purpose of conforming with EU requirements. The researchers involved are, as a rule, trained abroad (at the undergraduate and/or postgraduate level) and are well-versed in European and international debates, in which they participate and contribute. In this respect, it is rather difficult to identify ‘specifically Greek’ (or any other ‘nationality’, for that matter) theoretical concepts and analytical categories, even though local experiences raise specific questions or issues, which in turn inform and diversify theoretical formulations.