Elsevier

Geoforum

Volume 36, Issue 2, March 2005, Pages 181-196
Geoforum

Skilled migration and cumulative disadvantage: the case of highly qualified Asian Indian immigrant women in the US

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2003.11.006Get rights and content

Abstract

The research on skilled international migration focuses primarily on the experiences of male migrants. Little work has been done on female migrants, especially those who migrated as dependents of highly skilled males. This paper presents some data on Asian Indian women in the US, and argues that these women suffer from cumulative disadvantage. The paper emphasizes that it is necessary to adopt a complex model involving the interaction of gendered/racialised immigration laws, workplace and household experiences in order to understand the experiences of these women.

Introduction

The migration of highly skilled people within transnational labour markets during the last few decades of the 20th century is often linked to the shift towards post-industrial economies in the west. These skilled immigrants have moved to provide expertise for global information, services, or knowledge enterprises (Beaverstock, 1994). The economic factors influencing such migration have been paralleled by political valorisation of certain types of migrants: those with expertise in medicine, science, technology and finance have been given preference through immigration quotas in several countries (Mahroum, 2000; Iredale, 1999; Salt, 1992). While the academic literature, in recent years, has begun to examine the nature of skilled migration, the focus is primarily on men who move through multiple global locations within and between multinational corporations (e.g. Findlay, 1995; Findlay and Li, 1998; Salt and Ford, 1995). Kofman (1999), among others, has argued that the migration of skilled women has not drawn much attention till recently, largely because of the widespread acceptance of the gendered migration model that assumes males move in search of jobs, while their wives and children follow later.

A growing body of scholarly work has begun to demonstrate that women migrate both as workers (e.g. Chang, 1997; Hardill and MacDonald, 2000; Ong and Azores, 1994) and as wives under family reunification clauses (Kofman, 1999). However, as Kofman et al. (2000) point out, little attention has been paid to what migrating as wives mean for women, especially for women with high human capital. This group remains relatively invisible within the literature on skilled migration; little attention is paid to whether these women change their status from dependent wives to workers, whether or not their jobs actually remain secondary to their primary roles as wives, and under what structural conditions such changes take place. In short, the gender sensitive literature emphasizes the need to look beyond the existing theoretical gap between ā€œskilled migrantsā€ (who are assumed to have the education and training necessary in modern white-collar work places) and wives (who are assumed to be primarily a part of the domestic sphere). This paper focuses on one such group of `wives'. It examines the experiences of a group of highly educated women from India who migrated to the US after 1965 under family reunification clauses. It traces their attempts to re-establish their careers and illustrates how these women, who migrate with at least a bachelor's degree, are affected by cumulative disadvantage. Gender/race hierarchies at the national level (e.g. within immigration laws) intersect with barriers within workplaces and households and affect these women negatively as they attempt to rebuild their careers. The experiences of these women also draw attention to the need to examine current conceptualisation of skilled migration.

Section snippets

Gender and migration

Gender scholars have documented how social structural arrangements within households, workplaces, and national policies affect the migration experiences of women (e.g. Ackers, 1998; Hondaganeu-Sotelo, 1994; Kofman and Sales, 1998; Raghuram, forthcoming; Simon and Brettell, 1986). Breaking away from models which emphasise rational decision making by individuals as the primary factor influencing migration, gender scholars focus on how structural conditions place women in positions of

Data

The analysis in this paper is drawn from two sources of data. First, I provide a gender reading of immigration laws based on information available through the US government (US Department of Justice, also see Purkayastha, 1999, Purkayastha, 2002a, Purkayastha, 2002b). This gendered analysis of the laws shows how initial categorisation of individuals affect their adjustment to the new country. Second, I draw on interviews from two projects on highly educated Asian Indians in the US. In keeping

Discussion

This paper suggests that the accounts of devalued credentials, inability to break into insider networks, underemployment, encountering glass ceilings in jobs, struggle to balance jobs and families described by these women are a result of more complex, interacting factors than are evident by focussing on either the household or work, or household and work without also looking at the immigration/naturalisation conditions. Larger scale barriers intersect with community and household dynamics in

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Parvati Raghuram for constructive suggestions that helped me hone some of my arguments.

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