Together with the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science, and Research, Women without Borders (WwB) held a conference at Vienna’s Diplomatic Academy to address issues of immigration and integration, with a particular focus on the challenges of young Turkish women between the ages of 14 and 18. Many migrant children are facing identity struggles in their formative years, torn between an education system that encourages further integration and conservative family values that are holding them back. Also due to parental pressures, a growing number of Turkish girls neither attend school, vocational training, or pursue jobs, which leaves them feeling left out and torn, and makes them increasingly vulnerable to exploitation by people offering a false sense of belonging.

WwB assembled a team of experts including the social scientist Dr. Necla Kelek, the lawyer Seyran Ates, and the author Seap Cileli from Berlin for a series of engaging lectures on the subjects of immigration, integration, and education.