Gender and Migration: Armenian Women’s Experiences 1990 to 2010

• In Event: 469 - Section on International Migration Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Gender and Migration

Abstract

This thesis is an in-depth examination and analysis into the lives of Armenian women migrants to the United States from 1990 to 2010, which has been an unexamined growing phenomenon and constitutes a disruption in conventional gender relations within Armenia. The work disrupts the idea of a more homogenised Armenian diaspora in places like the U.S. Through my research I found that some Armenian women have become the sole breadwinners in their families, defying traditional gender roles and expectations. I also discovered that migration and exposures to lived experiences outside of Armenia provoked a re-examination of Armenian nationality and culture. The thesis also looks more generally at the conditions and attitudes of women in Armenia which have led to migration. Examining the differences and similarities in female and male migratory patterns uncovers the skill levels of the women I interviewed, the type of work available to them, and the cultural changes they negotiate in moving from one society to another. I place the work they do outside the home in the wider context of their domestic responsibilities; this shows how many women have been forced to become breadwinners in addition to their domestic duties. This project fills the void that many scholars have left untouched. I provide research and data about Armenian women’s lived experiences, shed light on their migration from home and often times back, and the resilience of Armenian women.

Author

• Carina Karapetian Giorgi, Pomona College