Elderly immigrant women suffer from a lack of social visibility, as testified by the rare studies devoted to this segment of the population. Though their situations vary, depending on their country of origin and their immigration path, they share a number of specific common traits. Often leaving their home country to join family members already in France, the majority of these women have limited access to the labour market due to their lack of job experience and their low level of education and qualification. The resulting material difficulties experienced at the time of retirement are aggravated for divorced, widowed or unmarried women who make up more than one quarter of the 45-70 age group. These difficulties are analysed in this article on the basis of a national survey conducted in 2003 across mainland France on a sample of 6 211 foreign women born abroad and aged between 45 and 70. The results of this survey highlight the vulnerability of a large proportion of the female immigrant population. Yet despite the obstacles blocking their access to the labour market, and despite frequent language difficulties, the women interviewed generally have a reserved though globally positive opinion of their life as an immigrant and of their social success. Indeed, they tend to be somewhat better integrated into French society than their male counterparts. Two hypotheses are suggested to explain this apparent paradox. Firstly, compared with fellow female citizens in their home country, many women have enjoyed an improvement in their status and a certain form of emancipation. Secondly, women's investment in the social success of their children may, in their eyes, make up for their lack of professional fulfilment. The female immigrant population is nevertheless facing difficulties that are liable to increase as it grows older. Public policies must take this problem into account.© la documentation francais.

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