Denmark: Bonus for language classes

Denmark: Bonus for language classes


The Danish Liberal Party is proposing giving immigrant women who finish Danish-language and democracy classes, as well as family and educational guidance 15,000 kroner (~2,000 euro).

The aim is to get 10,000 women, who today live isolated from Danish society, out of their homes and into the labor market. The bonus will be given to immigrant women who don't get welfare and who are typically supported by their husband.

The party's integration spokesperson Karsten Lauritzen said that they don't intend to interfere in the family's choice, but they are making an offer that both the women and their husband can understand. Some of the women want to be part of Danish society, but are kept out by their husbands via a form of social control.

He's relying on new research that shows that some of the women who come through family reunification, for example from Turkey and Pakistan, and have been in Denmark for 15-20 years, live without any real contact with the outside world.

The Liberal Party looks like it will have quite the political majority for the proposal, as the Conservatives, DPP, Social Democrats and Social Liberals all think it's a constructive suggestion.

Henrik Dam Kristensen, integration spokesperson for the Social Democrats, thinks a bonus is a good idea, and that this current government hasn't been active enough in getting these women into the labor market.

Several integration researchers doubt, though, whether a welfare bonus will make a difference for this group of women.

Senior researcher Kræn Blume Jensen of the AKF (local government research institution), says that he's not sure whether a bonus is the way forward. It might work for some, but he's uncertain whether it will reach the great masses.

Source: JP (Danish)

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