In the introduction to A Seventh Man, its author expresses a need for a separate book on the experiences of women migrant workers. This inspired Bertien van Manen to publish Vrouwen te gast, her first book of photographs, in which she portrayed in a rather formal and aloof way not only foreign women workers, but also wives of migrant workers who came to the Netherlands for reasons of family reunification. Turkish, Moroccan, Tunisian, Spanish, Yugoslavian and Italian women were photographed in their struggle to survive in an alien culture. Bertien van Manen took photographs of their often primitive living conditions, work, festivities and leisure activities. The book is an appeal to the women’s rights movement in general and particularly the women’s branch of the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging – FNV (Federation of Dutch labor unions) to take action.

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