‘If I Count Everything That Is against Me. It Is My Colour. It Is That I Am a Woman’: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Racialised Older Migrant Women in Finland

Critical race scholars in social work have underlined the importance of race. However, research in social work with older people have often bypassed analysis of the significance of race and racialisation as barriers that marginalised groups encounter due to their complex identities. The lived experiences of older racialised women in Finland are not sufficiently explored to understand how racialisation has an impact in their ageing. This article aims to address the gap in scholarship on how accumulated experiences of racism from the personal to structural levels throughout the life-course contribute to inequalities in ageing of migrant women. It investigates how older women from non-European migrant background narrate their experiences of racialisation in their everyday lives in Finland. It utilises the theoretical concepts of race, racism and racialisation to interpret the research findings. The article presents empirical findings from semi-structured interviews with twenty older women, which were analysed using a thematic analysis. The article concludes that it is key to recognise racism and its ramifications for ageing migrants in structures beyond the personal level. This study sheds light on the need to better understand the structural inequalities, intersecting identities and the lived experiences of older racialised women to promote social justice.The concept of race and racism is often omitted in mainstream social work discourses and more euphemistic terms such as diversity, ethnicity, culture and migration are substituted instead. This article explores how older women from non-European migrant background in Finland narrate their experiences of racialisation in their everyday lives. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with twenty older women, it uses the theoretical concepts of race, racism and racialisation to guide the interpretation of the research findings. We explore the challenges experienced by these older women on the grounds of race and consider what implications these findings have for social work knowledge and practice. The article suggests that it is key to recognise racism and their ramifications for ageing migrants in structures beyond the personal level. This study sheds light on the need to better understand the structural inequalities, intersecting identities, and the lived experiences of older racialised groups to promote social justice.