A Muslim feminist leader said she hoped for a better life style for Muslim women migrating to Italy who suffer an isolated life from the rest of society.

“We are not integrated at all. Many of the women who came here 15 years ago have not moved one inch forward, they live in a ghetto, they don't speak Italian, they don't go to school and often they don't work,” Souad Sbai, the Muslim feminist leader, said.

Souad Sbai is 45 and has lived in Italy for 27 years. She is the head of the country's Moroccan women's association, a moderate Muslim group campaigning for women's rights. Along with other Muslim leaders she helped the Rome government draw up guidelines for immigrants.

About one million Muslim immigrants live in Italy who are mostly from North Africa, and about 40 per cent of them are women who often joined their husbands a few years after they came to start a new life.

But while men in the family usually find a job and learn at least some Italian, their wives tend to stay at home and look after the children. Many end up depending entirely on their partner who may have conservative views on whether they should go out or find a job.

HRB/KB