This study examines the experiences of highly educated South Asian immigrant women working as home-based entrepreneurs within ethnic enclaves in Toronto, Canada. The importance of their work and experiences need to be understood in the context of two processes. On the one hand, there is the neoliberal hegemonic discourse of “enterprising self” that encourages individuals to become “productive”, self-responsible, citizen-subjects, without depending on state help or welfare to succeed in the labour market. On the other hand, there is the racialized and gendered labour market that systematically devalues the previous education and skills of non-white immigrants and pushes them towards jobs that are low-paid, temporary and precarious in nature. In the light of the above situations, I argue that in the process of setting up their home-based businesses, South Asian immigrant women in my study negotiate the barriers they experience in two ways. First, despite being inducted into different (re)training and (re)learning that aim to improve their deficiencies, they continue to believe in their abilities and resourcefulness, thereby challenging the “remedial” processes that try to locate lack in their abilities. Second, by negotiating gender ideologies within their families and drawing on community ties within enclaves they keep at check the individuating and achievement oriented ideology of neoliberalism. They, therefore, demonstrate how the values of an “enterprising self” can be based on collaboration and relationship rather than competition, profit or material success. The concept of “negotiation”, as employed in this thesis, denotes a form of agency different from the commonly perceived notions of agency as formal, large-scale, macro organization or resistance. Rather, the concept is based on how women resort to multiple, various and situational practices of conformity and contestation that often can blend into each other.

This thesis focuses on the structural and behavioural factors that placed South Asian immigrant women living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Toronto Area at risk. Informed by Connell's social theory of gender (1987), this study examined the role of hegemonic masculinity in legitimizing male power and contributing to the HIV risk of these women. By conducting one-on-one interviews with 12 HIV-positive immigrant women, meaningful constructions of the women's narratives and accounts of their experiences relative to HIV were created. This study examined the intersection of power ideologies such as gender, race and class in specific contexts as they generated particular experiences that affected women's risk for HIV. Following a community-based research approach, a collaborative relationship was established with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention where qualitative methods of analysis and an inductive approach with an iterative process were followed. Factors such as isolation, economic dependence on their husbands, discrimination, racism, investment in psychologically and emotionally abusive relationships, combined with the absence of support from their family of origin exacerbated the women's risk of HIV infection. The strong ties exhibited by most of the women to their religious/ethnic communities helped sustain a gender-based social hierarchy. To facilitate dialogue and social change for South Asian women, gender and culture need to be situated in social and historical contexts. As such, programs should be understood within a larger critical understanding of the social power relations and history of Canadian immigration patterns. Using anti-racist frameworks, initiatives should address violence against women, while tackling interrelated issues (i.e., housing, poverty, etc.). This work draws attention to oppressions through the experiences of a community of women who are rarely given a voice within the context of research on HIV/AIDS. It will be also helpful for Ontario’s HIV prevention strategy and the field of women's sexual health.

This thesis focuses on the structural and behavioural factors that placed South Asian immigrant women living with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Toronto Area at risk. Informed by Connell's social theory of gender (1987), this study examined the role of hegemonic masculinity in legitimizing male power and contributing to the HIV risk of these women. By conducting one-on-one interviews with 12 HIV-positive immigrant women, meaningful constructions of the women's narratives and accounts of their experiences relative to HIV were created. This study examined the intersection of power ideologies such as gender, race and class in specific contexts as they generated particular experiences that affected women's risk for HIV. Following a community-based research approach, a collaborative relationship was established with the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention where qualitative methods of analysis and an inductive approach with an iterative process were followed. Factors such as isolation, economic dependence on their husbands, discrimination, racism, investment in psychologically and emotionally abusive relationships, combined with the absence of support from their family of origin exacerbated the women's risk of HIV infection. The strong ties exhibited by most of the women to their religious/ethnic communities helped sustain a gender-based social hierarchy. To facilitate dialogue and social change for South Asian women, gender and culture need to be situated in social and historical contexts. As such, programs should be understood within a larger critical understanding of the social power relations and history of Canadian immigration patterns. Using anti-racist frameworks, initiatives should address violence against women, while tackling interrelated issues (i.e., housing, poverty, etc.). This work draws attention to oppressions through the experiences of a community of women who are rarely given a voice within the context of research on HIV/AIDS. It will be also helpful for Ontario’s HIV prevention strategy and the field of women's sexual health.

This study focuses on the relationship between global economy and women&rsquo / s labor within a feminist standpoint by examining the personal and occupational experiences of immigrant women doing domestic work in Turkey. The main concern of this study is to investigate how working and living experiences of immigrant domestic women workers in Turkey are shaped by their illegal worker and immigrant status. The aim of this study is to listen to the personal experiences of immigrant domestic women workers from themselves, and understand their working conditions and social life experiences in Turkey. There emerged a trend in trading domestic workers between the poor and rich countries since 1990s where many parties, including governments, illegal recruitment agencies, and individual employers benefited. The high unemployment, poverty, shortfalls in living standards, and loss of government-sponsored public services due to the IMF policies implemented by the governments of developing countries severely affected poor and women. For their family survival, women of developing countries forced to migrate in order to seek domestic work in richer countries, where there is a high demand of middle class women for domestic workers. On the other hand, since domestic work is devalued as informal work, policy-makers do not pay sufficient attention, and provide a legal framework regulating the recruitment process and protecting the rights of immigrant domestic women workers. Therefore, immigrant domestic women workers are in a vulnerable position and open to exploitation due to their illegal and immigrant status. Turkey has been one of the domestic worker exporting countries since early 1990s mostly from post-Soviet countries. However, she neither has bilateral agreements with the sending countries nor a legal framework protecting the rights of immigrant domestic women workers. Hence, immigrant women are subject to arbitrary treatment and exploitation both in their workplace and outside, and remained invisible.

abstract: The immigration process changes personal narratives and professional trajectories and challenges identities and individual beliefs. Yet there is currently limited research on European women immigrants' transitions in the United States. This study examines personal and professional trajectories, in the United States, of Eastern European immigrant (EEI) women with prior educational attainment in their country of origin. This study examines the following issues: personal/social learning, developmental and professional experiences prior to and post migration, and social lives after the women's arrival in the United States. The study discusses the results of in-depth interviews with eight EEI women living in Arizona and California and recounts these women's life stories, gathered through open-ended questions that focused on areas of their personal and professional lives, such as childhood, marriage, immigration, education, family relations, socio-economic status, employment, child- rearing, and other significant life events. These areas impacted the women's creation of personal beliefs and their ability to develop new identities in the United States. The study examines EEI women's identity constructions within their life trajectory narratives. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2014

The official Swedish interpretation of the concept of citizenship is based on the social-liberal concept of citizenship. According to feminist critique, this interpretation of the concept contains male norms that lead to the exclusion of several groups from full citizenship. There is also a corresponding feminist critique which holds that in the womens´ movement and gender research there are strong norms as well, especially in the form of ethnocentrism. Also, the image of immigrant women in public debate is being questioned and the critics here raise the question of the responsibility of the society for integration. Swedish research on citizenship has focused very little on the situation of immigrant women, and this essay aims at helping to fill this empirical gap. In order to do so, a number of interviews with immigrant women living in Sweden are conducted in order to study how they experience their situation as citizens. These interviews support the view that, in spite of formal rights and possibilities, the citizenship of immigrant women isn´t fully successful. A number of factors in different areas and levels are obstacles to these womens full usage of their citizenship.

Entre 1945 et 1967, le Canada accueille une des plus importantes vagues d’immigration de son histoire : presque trois millions d'immigrants. À la même époque,la vie des femmes est souvent représentée comme immuable, jusqu'à leur éveil soudain à la fin des années1960. Il est pourtant difficile de croire qu'elles n'accordent aucune attention à l’arrivée de milliers d'immigrants chaque année. Leur vécu entre 1945 et 1967 est beaucoup plus complexe et nuancé que les représentations de leur apolitisme et de leurs préoccupations maternelles ne le laissent supposer.Cette thèse étudie le rôle de femmes – immigrantes,politiques, salariées, femmes au foyer, membres d'associations et de groupes minoritaires – dans l'évolution des politiques d'immigration entre 1945 et1967. Ces politiques offrent la possibilité de vérifier si,lorsqu'il s'agit d'un domaine considéré comme moins directement lié aux intérêts proprement dits des femmes, celles-ci s'y intéressent, trouvent des espaces pour en débattre, essaient de transmettre leurs avis aux décisionnaires et sont écoutées. Un engagement lié aux politiques d'immigration suggère un effort de la part des femmes pour sortir de la sphère privée, sphère assignée comme leur place principale et appropriée.Analyser le niveau d'implication des femmes dans les politiques d'immigration interroge les représentations et les assignations des femmes de l'époque ainsi que les tendances culturelles, les relations sociales et les jeux de pouvoir qui les produisent. Il permet d'autre part d’exposer les barrières érigées contre l'implication des femmes dans l'espace public politique et les discours qui les dirigent vers le foyer. / Between 1945 and 1967, Canada received one of the largest waves of immigrants in its history: nearly three million people. In contrast to this intense activity, the lives of women during that same period are often represented as being immutable – until their awakening in the late 1960s. It is difficult to imagine, however, that they paid little attention to the arrival of thousands of immigrants each year. In reality, the lived experience of women between 1945 and 1967 is much more complexand nuanced than the representations of their apoliticism and maternal essentialism suggest. This thesis studies the role of women - immigrants,politicians, professionals, housewives, members o fassociations and minority groups - in shaping immigration policy between 1945 and 1967. Examining a domain considered as being somewhat outside of' women's interests' offers the possibility of determining the true range of their interests, the spaces available to women for discussing and debating different issues and their means of conveying their views to decisionmakers.An engagement with immigration policy wouldsuggest an effort on their part to go beyond what isconsidered to be women's appropriate sphere.Analyzing the level of their involvement in immigration policy provides a method for interrogating the representations and socially assigned roles of women of the period as well as the social relations, power hierarchies and cultural tendencies that produce them.This analysis also promises to expose the barriers to women's involvement in the political public sphere and to deconstruct the discourses that circumscribe their actions.

Runt om i Sverige finns invandrade kvinnor som har organiserat sig genom att ingå i nätverk för att dags- och nattvandra i sitt bostadsområde. I samhället existerar stereotypa föreställningar att “invandrarkvinnor” är lågutbildade hemmafruar med många barn. Det finns även en föreställning att socioekonomiskt utsatta människor är passiva med ett obefintligt föreningsliv. Den svenska medierapporteringen från segregerade förorter handlar återkommande om en ökad kriminalitet, dödsskjutningar och andra oroligheter. Syftet med vår studie är att öka kunskapen kring de bakomliggande orsakerna till invandrade kvinnors organisering i nätverk för nattvandring i förorten. För att uppnå detta syfte har vi genomfört två fokusgruppsintervjuer samt två observationer med nattvandrande kvinnor i Stockholmsområdet. För att få ytterligare perspektiv kompletterade vi med två enskilda intervjuer dels i Stockholm och i Helsingborg vilka båda av dessa respondenter har anknytning till och insyn i nätverken. Materialet analyserades med hjälp av teoribegreppet socialt kapital. Vårt resultat visar att dessa kvinnogrupper är homogena när det kommer till ålder, etnicitet och hemspråk men att det även finns kvinnogrupper som organiserar sig över dessa gränser. Vi fann att den ursprungliga gemenskapen och det gemensamma hemspråket är av stor betydelse för kvinnorna. Dock tenderar detta att medföra att den homogena gruppen blir inåtblickande, isolerad och sluten för “andra”. Resultatet visar även att ur organiseringen skapas det ett “eget rum” där kvinnorna kan få vara sig själva. Organiseringen i nätverken för nattvandring stärker kvinnornas sociala kapital och främjar deras hälsa. Resultatet visar vidare att kvinnorna är en resurs inom det civila samhället vilka på eget bevåg driver ideellt socialt arbete. Vi menar att detta bör tas tillvara, särskilt av socialtjänsten som enligt lag ska främja jämlikhet i livsvillkor, öka deltagande i samhällslivet, frigöra och utveckla enskildas och gruppers egna resurser. / Around Sweden there are immigrant women who have organized themselves by joining networks to organize themselves in night walking in their neighbourhood. In society there exist stereotypies imaginations “the immigrant women” as low-educated housewives with many children.  At the same time they are viewed as socio-economically disadvantaged with a non-existent association life. At the same time Swedish media reports and expresses an increase in crime, death shooting and disturbance in Sweden's segregated / polarized suburbs. We have chosen to meet immigrant women who have organized themselves in networks for night walks in their suburb. The purpose is to increase knowledge about underlying causes behind their organization. To achieve this goal, we conducted two focus group interviews as well as two observations with night-walking women in Stockholm. To gain further perspectives, we complement the observations with two individual interviews with people (both Stockholm and Helsingborg), both of which have connections to and transparency in networks in the suburb. The material was analyzed using the concept of social capital. The results showed that there are women's groups that are homogeneous regarding age, ethnicity and mother tongue. But there also exist women's groups who organize across these boundaries. We found that the original community or affinity that women have within the homogeneous group is of great importance for them. This tends to make the group look inward, separated and isolated from "others". The result shows that organization creates an "A room of one's own" where the women can be themselves. Organizers in the night-walking networks strengthen women's social capital and promote well-being. The results of the study showed that women are a valuable resource within civil society, which, on their own initiative, drives non-profit social work. We see the importance of this being utilized, chosen by the social service, which by law should promote equality in living conditions, be active participation in social life and develop the resources of individuals and groups.

Chilenare är den största sydamerikanska invandrargruppen i Sverige som började sin flykt hit efter militärkuppen år 1973. Cirka hälften av de chilenska invandrarna är kvinnor och majoriteten har tagit sig till Sverige på grund av flykt eller anhöriginvandring. Många av dem var vid migrationen lågutbildade och kunde sällan fler språk än spanska. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur chilenska invandrarkvinnor har reproducerat socialt kapital. Detta undersöks genom att ta del av deras berättelser om hur de upplevde vägen till etableringen på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. Forskningsfrågorna lyder som följer: 1) Hur tog sig chilenska invandrarkvinnor till sin arbetsmarknadsetablering? 2) Hur skapade sociala nätverk socialt kapital? Vilka resurser har de innehållit? 3) Vilka sociala aktörer har påverkat arbetsmarknadsetableringen för chilenska invandrarkvinnor? De teoretiska begreppen som används är Bourdieus kapitalbegrepp, Granovetters styrka i svaga länkar, samt Putnams överbryggande och sammanbindande socialt kapital. Utifrån dessa begrepp har jag skapat en konceptuell modell. Till studien har det använts en kvalitativ metod i kombination med en egocentrisk nätverksanalysmetod. Studiens resultat visar att de chilenska invandrarkvinnorna har haft det relativt lätt att etablera sig i den svenska arbetsmarknaden och nyttjat både svaga länkar och informella arbetssökningsmetoder för att hitta jobb. Undersökningsresultat visar också att sammanbindande sociala nätverk är av stor betydelse för de chilenska invandrarkvinnorna. Resultat visar att socialt och kulturellt kapital förlorade sitt värde i början av migrationen men som med tiden gick att återskapa. / Chileans are the largest South American immigrant group in Sweden that began their escape after the military coup in 1973. About half of the Chilean immigrants are women and the majority have made it to Sweden due to exile or family reunion immigration. Many of them had basic school education. At the time of migration Spanish was their only language. The purpose of the study is to investigate how Chilean immigrant women have reproduced social capital. This is examined by taking part in their stories about how they experienced the path to establishment in the Swedish labor market. The research questions are as follows: 1) How did Chilean immigrant women made their way to their labor market establishment? 2) How did social networks create social capital? What resources have they contained? 3) What social actors have had an impact on the labor market establishment of Chilean immigrant women? The theoretical concepts used are Bourdieu's capital concept, Granovetter's “strength of weak ties”, and Putnam's bridging and bonding social capital. The study has used a qualitative method in combination with an egocentric network analysis method. The results of the study show that Chilean immigrant women have found it easy to establish themselves in the Swedish labor market and have used both weak links and informal job search methods to find jobs. Survey results also show that “bonding” social networks are of great importance to the Chilean immigrants. Results show that social and cultural capital lost value at the beginning of migration but over time could be recreated.

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