Real decisions, genuine authority, honest inclusion: Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs calls for the Nordics to better recognise migrant leadership

Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs describes herself as a very unusual migrant.

When we think of migrants, we often picture people fleeing war, seeking opportunities, or moving for love. I am none of those.

She first arrived in Sweden at the age of 17 as an exchange student, then returned to Pennsylvania in the USA. Years later she came back to Sweden – this time with her husband and daughter – in the pursuit of a social contract. 

– I came because I believed in what the Nordic welfare state promised: gender equality made real, parents able to spend time with their newborns without losing their careers, reliable childcare, paid leave when children are sick. I wanted that future for my daughter, and for myself as a woman who wanted both family and work.

Before her arrival, she already had a career many would envy: a decade in higher education, seven of them at Harvard University, a M.Ed. from Boston University, and a bachelor’s degree from Franklin & Marshall College. Yet she was told, point blank, that none of it mattered because it was not in Sweden.

Imagine the arrogance of believing that all the lives beyond your borders do not exist or are not worthy of recognition.

To navigate the system, she took a second master’s degree at Stockholm University – less a pursuit than a concession to rules that refused to see what came before.

Åland – a living laboratory for the Nordic model

Five years ago, the family relocated to Åland, where Alyssa works within sustainability with particular focus on identity, meaning and inclusivity and chairs Åland’s largest civil society organisation, Ålands Natur & Miljö.

Sweden taught her what it feels like to be discounted; Åland has shown her the system in miniature.

– Ålands small scale makes everything visible in real time: decisions, gaps, possibilities. That clarity has sharpened me both as a migrant advocate and as a political scientist. In Åland, I see the Nordic model not as a monolith, but as a living laboratory.

As a Western, native English-speaking woman fluent in Swedish, she recognises that she holds privileges that many migrants lack. However, she has never felt fully integrated either.

–  On paper, I should have had every advantage: education, language skills, a Western passport. And yet, even with those privileges, I still fell through cracks I never expected. If it was difficult for me, how much more relentless must the obstacles be for those without the same scaffolding? 

Migrant leaders see the whole landscape

All members of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum have specific recommendations they emphasise for the Nordic Council of Ministers. Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs highlights the importance of migrant leadership. 

Too often, migrant leaders are only invited at the final stage for symbolic reasons. Instead, they should be involved from the beginning with real authority. 

Excluding migrant leaders means losing valuable perspectives and insights. According to her, living as a native in one’s own culture can create a kind of blindness. To see the whole picture, especially in integration, it is essential to include the migrant perspective, which offers a much broader view.

– Lasting social transformation rarely begins in the centre; it almost always sparks at the edges, in civil society and community life. The centre may consolidate it later, but the first embers are lit on the margins.

She describes migrant leaders as threshold-crossers who understand the entire landscape – the rules, realities, and the gaps between them. We live in the seams between being an insider and an outsider. For her, this seam is where she belongs. 

– If I move too close to the centre, I lose perspective, and I want to be someone that anyone can approach. If you’re an immigrant, I’ll understand your position, and if you’re in power, you’ll get a straightforward, honest answer from me. 

Nordic inclusion is sometimes only skin-deep

Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs argues that in the Nordics, patterns of exclusion run deeper than rhetoric. On the surface, we say everyone is welcome and claim to promote inclusion – but in practice, it often doesn’t hold. 

Nordic feminism was one of the beacons that drew her across the Atlantic. She recalls joining a feminist association in Sweden, believing it the obvious way in. 

– Association life is often touted as the gateway to belonging. I was not engaged, despite speaking Swedish and reaching out. Their words of inclusion rang hollow because the practice was absent. They just kept talking amongst themselves, while no one engaged with me or showed any genuine interest. They assumed we had the same struggles, unable to see what an immigrant woman might need.

She says this personal example reflects a broader pattern: in the Nordics, inclusion can sometimes be superficial, which is also evident in hiring and leadership. To bring about genuine change, Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs argues, bold actions are needed. Employers cannot recruit in the same way as before and then be surprised when they fail to attract qualified immigrants.

– But the Nordics are known for consensus and conformity – not for bold moves. Of course, you shouldn’t hire people just because they’re foreign; you should find qualified immigrants – preferably before they lose faith in the system – because they are out there.

Results won’t change if policies remain the same

The familiar refrain is that immigrants need to try harder. Bittner-Gibbs calls that a misdiagnosis: systems that appear neutral on paper often exclude the very people they claim to welcome.

– We focus plenty on immigrants and them not doing their part, which is generally not true. When people lack an outside perspective, they may genuinely fail to recognise bias, racism, or discrimination.  There is no such thing as a neutral policy. Neutrality is branding. Every rule, every law, is written by those with power – always.

And despite very different backgrounds, all immigrants in some ways face similar prejudices and challenges. At her daughter’s swim lessons in Hässelby, she once sat beside a Somali mother.

– At first glance, we could not have seemed more different. She was covered head to toe; I was in shorts and a tank top. We laughed about the contrast, but what I remember years later from our conversations during the lessons was that as mothers our dreams for our daughters were strikingly alike. 

Natives seemed to find their conversation strange – as if she belonged to the dominant group – yet without gestures of genuine inclusion, that belonging was paper-thin.

– Over twelve years I have spoken with migrants from literally every corner of the world, and the resonance is startling: eerily consistent stories of Nordic exclusion, personal reserve, pressure to conform, severe risk-aversion. The paths of others are often far harder than mine in ways I cannot begin to fathom. But the overlaps, the echoes between groups, are undeniable.

Fewer metrics – more meaning

Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs emphasises that migrant leadership is practical, not abstract. She indicates that immigrant leaders possess a unique ability to identify gaps, mediate between differing viewpoints, and convert needs into practical solutions. These skills are strategic assets for governance that pay for themselves many times over.

– We need to recognise that lived experience is its own set of skills and merits. Just because it cannot be listed on a CV or a diploma, and there are no metrics to measure it, does not mean it is irrelevant. We also need metrics that measure meaning – trust, belonging, dignity – not just budgets and headcounts.

She advocates for straightforward entry routes into decision-making, without endless “local apprenticeships” before influence is granted. Migrant leaders need real authority, not symbolic seats. She points to the leadership pages of Nordic NGOs and boards. 

They publish glossy strategies on inclusion. Yet how often do you see immigrant board members? It becomes a credibility issue.

Cross-sector partnerships, where migrant leaders co-create solutions alongside public officials, are equally vital for trust – and trust and the feeling of belonging are aspects Bittner-Gibbs says we need to focus more on.

The spirit of the law

Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs is very reluctant to regard her home country, the USA, as a role model for how Nordic societies should be organised. However, in at least one respect, she supports the need for an American spirit of flexibility and adaptation.

– One thing Americans used to discuss a lot, and still do, is the spirit of a law. What was the original purpose behind a policy or a law?

This offers some flexibility. Bittner-Gibbs observes that attempting to eliminate all fringe cases and loopholes for freeloaders by strictly adhering to the protocol, as is common in the Nordics, could hinder the integration process of some decent and hardworking individuals and ultimately harm them. Principles should never come before people.

– When drafting a new immigration law, I believe a panel of immigrants should review it. Even if the law is well-intentioned, the immigrants can easily point out everything that could potentially go wrong; sometimes, they are even more informed than the most seasoned immigration jurists. They have most likely all been caught in the web of laws and policies with unintended consequences, despite not being the freeloaders the law aims to prevent.

Authentic migrant leadership is about widening the doorway for others

For Bittner-Gibbs, lasting inclusion requires consistency beyond election cycles.

– It demands sustained investment, step by step, with resources and political agreement.

But integration is not only about being welcomed.

– Integration also means choosing to engage. The tragedy is that many stop engaging because they no longer believe they are welcome. Early entry matters – but those who have been here the longest are the living archives of the system. They should never be dismissed as “bitter.”

Authentic migrant leadership, Alyssa Bittner-Gibbs states, isn’t about securing your own position; it’s about shaping the future. Her vision of migrant leadership is a collective one.

– Authentic leadership is not racing ahead and pulling others in afterwards. It is navigating the maze together, with allies and fellow migrants. What I refuse is the American pattern of one wave of immigrants climbing upward only to trample the wave that follows. Leadership, to me, is widening the path so no one has to walk it alone.

Read the recommendations from The Nordic Migrant Expert Forum.

Text: Sebastian Dahlström
Photo: Martin Thaulow