Roma housing deprivation and segregation in Italy: An intersectional analysis of social navigation strategies of Romanian Roma migrant women and men

Roma people in Europe experience racism and various forms of discrimination: exclusion from the formal labour market, limited access to education and healthcare, and housing deprivation and segregation. At the same time, they respond to this situation by displaying a variety of creative micro-practices and daily forms of resistance, skilfully navigating constraints and opportunities. In this article we focus on how Romanian Roma migrants experience and challenge housing deprivation and segregation in Italy, where thousands of destitute Roma live in either informal settlements, constantly targeted by forced evictions, or within state-funded camps. More specifically, we ask how these adverse housing conditions are navigated differently by Roma women and men. Drawing on the concepts of ‘intersectionality’ and ‘social navigation’, we analyse 24 life stories collected in Italy, as part of a research project investigating the effects of public policies on destitute Roma migrants in France, Italy, and Spain. We argue that, despite both Roma women and men experience housing deprivation and segregation, they navigate these unfavourable circumstances through strategies shaped by their gendered social location and its intersection with age and parental responsibilities. Our analysis shows that Roma migrant women predominantly reconcile informal economic activities with a performance of feminine domesticity and obedience. Especially young women resort to marriage and separation as tools to navigate different housing arrangements. Finally, mothers navigate state institutions and informal settlements in the attempt to preserve both their children’s safety and family unity. In contrast, Roma migrant men leverage their relatively privileged status in the public space, by more easily negotiating access to the formal labour market, including at a younger age. Men with parental responsibilities also prioritise their children’s safety, but the targeting of male-specific socialising practices in state institutions can make them reassert the relative behavioural freedom that they enjoy in informal settlements.