The complexities of belonging: home, church and work as arenas for (dis)empowerment among Ghanaian women in Norway

Migration studies on women’s empowerment and belonging have largely remained distinct. This article explores how working-class Ghanaian women in Norway negotiate belonging and empowerment. Utilizing in-depth interviews, participant observation and informal conversations with eight mothers living in Bergen, it adopts an intersectional lens to examine how race, gender, class and migrant status intersect to shape their lives, particularly within the key spatial arenas of ‘home’, ‘church’ and ‘work’. Findings highlight that while ‘home’ is an arena of cultural and religious continuity, political resistance, and empowerment through motherhood, it can also reinforce traditional gender roles and exacerbate disempowerment. The women actively fostered their children’s self-worth as African and Ghanaian amidst racial discrimination, embracing Ghanaian and Christian norms. ‘Church’ offers a sense of belonging through spiritual solace and social connections, bolstering mental fortitude and fostering empowerment. Conversely, ‘work’ is an arena where experiences of racism, lack of recognition and social isolation foster feelings of not-belonging, undermining participants’ agency and economic advancement. For these women, (dis)empowerment and belonging are therefore inextricably linked. The study concludes that navigating belonging and empowerment as a Black African woman in Norway often requires self-censorship and collusion with racial discrimination, highlighting the need for greater attention to intersectional experiences in integration policies and the specific challenges faced by working-class migrant women. We bridge this gap by proposing the Spatialized Belonging-Empowerment Loop, demonstrating how Black migrants must continuously regenerate ‘power-within’ in private arenas to sustain belonging amid public racialized exclusion.