FWC - Filipino Women's Council

28/03/2026

Residues of Touch: Migration, Labor, and Memory

An insightful workshop by Filipina artist Giah de los Reyes-Geronimo in Rome, as part of the symposium Plant Histories, Plantation Architectures, organized with the research group Voyaging Vapors. It reflects on how histories of colonization, plantation economies, and systems of extraction continue to shape the movement of plants, people, and labor today — with echoes of fascism and racism that continue to persist in different forms.

On the second day of the workshop, Giah invited the Filipino Women’s Council (FWC) to open the session with a reading. José Rizal’s powerful poem “The Song of the Wanderer” (1895) was chosen, creating a moment where past and present seemed to speak to one another — a reminder that these experiences are not new, but continue to be lived.

Participants reflected on how much of everyday work — care, repetition, and maintenance — remains invisible, yet sustains life. In many ways, this resonates deeply with the lived realities of migrant women.

A space for learning, reflection, and seeing differently.

08/03/2026

This message celebrates the strength found in every woman’s journey and the dignity that belongs to every life. It is a reminder that women everywhere are connected through resilience, care, and solidarity — walking different paths, yet sharing the same hope for a more just and compassionate world.

29/01/2026

NEW RESEARCH ON FILIPINO MIGRANTS IN ROME — AND WHY IT MATTERS TO OUR COMMUNITY

A recently published academic study by the Italian National Research Council (CNR–IRPPS), featured in the international journal Population, Space and Place (Wiley), looks at how Filipino migrants in Rome move from one neighborhood to another — and the reasons behind these choices.

The research shows that our community’s residential mobility is strongly linked to work in domestic and care sectors, family reunification, housing costs, and the lack of accessible public housing — not to a lack of integration.

One important finding is that Filipino migrants do not form “ghettos,” but instead make housing choices shaped by proximity to work and family responsibilities. The study introduces the concept of “employment-driven residential mobility,” recognizing how care work and everyday survival shape where we live.

We are proud that earlier community-based research and activities of the Filipino Women’s Council, particularly on transnational families and global care chains, were cited in this study and helped frame the analysis of Filipino migrants’ lived experiences.

This research confirms what many in our community have known for a long time: behind every move is a story of care, responsibility, resilience, and love for family — both here in Italy and back home in the Philippines.

Title: Toward a socio-anthropology of intra-urban residential (im)mobilities. The case of Filipino migrants in Italy
by Andrea Pelliccia, Stefano degli Uberti, Gabriele Maria Masi, Michele Santurro, January 2026

ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on residential mobility of Filipino migrants within Rome in the 2000s. The aim is to contribute to explaining the patterns and motivations behind the intra‐urban mobility of ethnic minorities highlighting the role of the socioeconomic background of the neighbourhood. We used an interdisciplinary quanti‐qualitative approach combining descriptive and multivariate analyses performed on original population register microdata on residential moves and ethnographic fieldwork to understand the dynamics of relocations from a multifaceted perspective.

Rome is an interesting case study because it is a Southern European metropolis and the capital of Italy, a country with a welfare regime and a housing system that peculiarly affects the residential segregation and mobility patterns of ethnic groups.
The findings show that the socioeconomic situation of the Filipinos’ previous neighbourhood ‘predicts’ the characteristics of the neighbourhood where they move, with a growing propensity of family groups to head to more peripheral, poorer neighbourhoods with a low–medium concentration of co‐nationals. Moreover, belonging to a socio‐occupational niche influences their choices and motivations for mobility and settlement, therefore the concept of ‘ethnic employment‐driven residential mobility’ is proposed.

25/11/2025

The Filipino Women’s Council stands with every woman and girl. Violence has no place in our homes, our workplaces, or our communities. This November 25, we raise our voices together to end violence and uphold the dignity of all women.

Kasama ang Filipino Women’s Council sa paninindigan laban sa karahasan. Walang puwang ang VAW — sa bahay, sa trabaho, o sa komunidad. Ngayong November 25, sama-sama nating itaas ang boses para sa dignidad at kaligtasan ng bawat babae.

Il Filipino Women’s Council riafferma il proprio impegno a tutela di ogni donna e ragazza. La violenza non può trovare alcuna giustificazione né spazio nelle famiglie, nei luoghi di lavoro o nelle comunità. In occasione del 25 novembre, rinnoviamo il nostro appello collettivo a porre fine a ogni forma di violenza e a promuovere il pieno rispetto della dignità e dei diritti di tutte le donne.

25/11/2025

30/10/2025

📢 Siamo felici di annunciarvi il programma della Conferenza di Presentazione della RODiL - Rete delle Organizzazioni della Diaspora nel Lazio, che si terrà il:

🗓 5 novembre 2025
🕙Ore 10:00 – 13:00
📍 Sede UIL, Roma

Vi aspettiamo numerosi!
Per info e adesioni: [email protected]

13/07/2025

01/07/2025

Italy to issue half million non-EU work visas over next three years

Published July 1, 2025 2:32am

ROME, Italy - Italy will issue nearly 500,000 new work visas for non-EU nationals from 2026 to 2028, a cabinet statement said on Monday, as part of a strategy to expand legal immigration channels in response to labor shortages.

A total 164,850 people will be allowed in next year, aiming to reach a cumulative total of 497,550 new entries by 2028.

It is the second such move Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made since she took office nearly three years ago as the head of a right-wing coalition. The government had already decided to issue over 450,000 permits to migrants between 2023 and 2025.

Alongside rules to allow in new workers, Meloni has taken a tough stance against illegal arrivals, moving to speed up repatriations and curbing the activities of charities rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

"The quotas were determined taking into account the needs expressed by the social partners and the actual applications for work permits submitted in previous years, with the aim of a programme that responds to the needs of businesses and is also realistic," the statement said.

Low turnout thwarts Italian referendums on citizenship, workers’ rights

An ageing population and a sagging birthrate highlight the need to attract foreign workers in the euro zone's third largest economy. There were some 281,000 more deaths than births in 2024 and the population fell by 37,000 to 58.93 million, continuing a decade-long trend.

Agricultural lobby Coldiretti welcomed the government's plan, saying it represented an important step to guarantee the availability of workers in the fields and the country's food production.

"The government will continue with determination to allow legal migration channels, benefiting important sectors of our economy," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told daily La Stampa on Sunday.

To counter the ongoing depopulation and maintain current levels of inhabitants, Italy would need to take in at least 10 million immigrants by 2050, according to research by the Osservatorio Conti Pubblici think tank. — Reuters

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05/06/2025

SA MGA KABABAYANG MAY ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP, TAYO PO AY BUMOTO NGAYONG WEEKEND hanggang LUNES!