Challenging Barriers and Advancing Equity: The Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Women Employed in Hospitals

• In Event: 036 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Immigrant Labor Experiences in the United States

Abstract

Many female visible minority immigrants and refugees, especially in major metropolitan areas, are already employed in healthcare or care-sectors, but occupy the lowest-tier job positions, such as housekeeping, dietary aides, and care aids, that do not allow them utilize their training, skills, and experience. Underemployment of skilled female immigrants and refugees in the healthcare sector has negative impacts on these workers and their families. Yet many of these workers have skills, training and experience in healthcare job positions that are in high demand in health care and for which experts predict serious shortages in the near future.
Job positions with greater skill requirements in the healthcare sector – such as LPNs – generally provide substantially better wages and benefits than the contingent job positions many female immigrant women currently disproportionately occupy. Programs, policies, and reforms to enhance the support, mentoring, information, access to key advanced language and skills upgrading, could facilitate the more rapid ascension of newcomers into higher skill, high demand positions in the healthcare sector. Closing this gap and enhancing the opportunities for advancement of visible minority immigrant and refugee women in the healthcare sector would contribute to achieving greater gender equity as well as equity between racialized and non-racialized Canadians. It would also help address understaffing and improve the quality of care provided by the healthcare system to diverse populations, especially in Toronto and other major urban regions in North America. Research on the experiences of these immigrant workers contributes to broader debates on immigrant settlement and incorporation.

Author

• Dan Zuberi, University of Toronto