Women

New from IMR: Generational Differences, Work, and Social Change

The Winter 2019 edition of the International Migration Review (IMR) is now available online and in print through paid or institutional subscription. This edition is sorted thematically into four sections. The first section is about enforcement and uncertainty facing immigrants. The second section has articles that examine family and social change, including an article on ethnic and generational differences in gender role attitudes among immigrant populations in Britain. The third section analyzes selectivity and immigration policy. The fourth section features two articles about gender and work, one about migrant domestic workers in Spain and one about itinerancy among Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers. Lastly, this edition has four new book reviews, which are free to access.

On the Shoulders of Grandmothers: Gender, Migration, and Post-Soviet Nation-State Building

Alexander Tymczuk of the University of Oslo reviews On the Shoulders of Grandmothers: Gender, Migration, and Post-Soviet Nation-State Building by Cinzia D Solari. Using in-depth interviews and ethnographic data collected in three countries, Solari shows that Ukrainian nation-state building occurs...

Domestic Economies: Women, Work and the American Dream in Los Angeles

Rhacel Salazar Parreñas of the University of Southern California reviews Domestic Economies: Women, Work and the American Dream in Los Angeles by Susanna Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum examines how two groups of women—Mexican and Central American domestic workers and the predominantly white,...

Romance on a Global Stage: Pen Pals, Virtual Ethnography, and “Mail Order” Marriages

Genelle Gaudinez of the University of Southern California reviews Romance on a Global Stage: Pen Pals, Virtual Ethnography, and “Mail Order” Marriages by Nicole Constable. Nicole Constable explains that by the year 2000 more than 350 Internet agencies were plying...

On the Move: Women in Rural-to-Urban Migration in Contemporary China

Li Zhang of the University of California, Davis reviews On the Move: Women in Rural-to-Urban Migration in Contemporary China by Arianne M. Gaetano and Tamara Jacka. Arianne M. Gaetano and Tamara Jacka explore the impact of migration on the identities,...

Marriage Without Borders: Transnational Spouses in Neoliberal Senegal

María Hernández-Carretero of University of Olso reviews Marriage Without Borders Transnational Spouses in Neoliberal Senegal by Dinah Hannaford. Dinah Hannaford writes a multi-sited study of Senegalese migration and marriage that showcases contemporary changes in kinship practices across the globe engendered by the neoliberal demand for...

Breaking Down Barriers and Welcoming the Stranger: 2019 Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative Conference

On March 12 and 13, 2019, 181 representatives of Catholic immigrant-serving organizations from around the country convened at Santa Clara University School of Law to take part in the Center for Migration Studies’s (CMS’s) annual Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative Conference....

Access to Justice in a Climate of Fear: New Hurdles and Barriers for Survivors of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence

Kathryn Finley, managing attorney for the Tahirih Justice Center’s greater Washington, DC office, writes on the particularly high hurdles and barriers faced by immigrant survivors of violence in accessing the US legal system. This paper relies on examples gathered from Tahirih Justice Center’s direct work with immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. It also reviews the dynamics of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking for immigrant victims, and the immigration remedies available to victims of these crimes. Additionally, this paper explores the detrimental impact of the administration’s enforcement initiatives on immigrant victims of crime and on public safety.

Is Regular Migration Safer Migration? Insights from Thailand

This paper challenges the assumption within international development programming that regular and orderly migration is also safer for migrants. Based on data collected from Cambodian, Burmese, Laotian, and Vietnamese labor migrants recently returned from Thailand, this paper illustrates the limits of regular migration to provide meaningfully “safer” experiences. It observes that migrant workers who move through legal channels do not systematically experience better outcomes. While regular migrants report better pay and working conditions than irregular migrants, they also systematically report working conditions that do not meet legal standards, and routinely experience contract substitution. Regular migrants also have a higher likelihood of experiencing exploitation, contract breaches, harassment, abuse, and involuntary return. These findings challenge mainstream development discourses seeking to promote safer migration experiences through expanding migration infrastructure. The paper recommends: 1) re-examining the conflation of “safe” with “regular and orderly” migration and advocating for practices that increase migrant safety, 2) focusing on broadening rights offered to migrant workers, and 3) strengthening and expanding oversight of labor standards and migrant regulations.

2018 Whole-of-Community Conference | Session V: Refugees, Dreamers, Unaccompanied Minors, and TPS Beneficiaries

In July 2018, scholars, researchers, community organizers, service providers, local officials, leaders of faith communities, immigrant advocates, and others gathered together for a three-day event on how diverse groups in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana are working together to meet the...