Gendered Immigration, Work, and Self: A Life-History Study of Taiwanese American Women

• In Event: 4284 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 12. Globalization, Immigration and Gender

Abstract

Immigration is a gendered process. Numerous studies have examined how men and women differ in their experiences of immigration and how gender relations are reconfigured during the settlement processes. Few discuss how individuals’, especially women’s, senses of self are influenced by the drastic changes that immigration brings to their lives. This study analyzes how immigration creates gendered life trajectories for highly-skilled Taiwanese women that largely constrain their choices for work and family, which, in turn, re-shape their understanding of themselves. Data are based on 45 life-history interviews with middle-class Taiwanese immigrant women in a Midwest urban region. Findings suggest that immigration “housewifelizes” highly skilled women. Because of the male dominance in family relocation decisions and dependent visa restrictions, married professional Taiwanese women become foreign housewives when they immigrate with their families. Their lost careers lead to a sense of lost self in the new land. Many struggle to find true purposes for themselves. Two divergent work paths emerge after their children reach the school age: one group of women re-enters the U.S. labor force in a practical field, whereas the other remains homemakers for the rest of their lives. Both groups’ perceptions of work, family, and self-worth are no longer the same.

Author

• Chien-Juh Gu, Western Michigan University