Search

This article examines the relationship between Islam and migrant Turkish and Syrian women living in the Netherlands and their patterns of belonging, while also questioning the dynamics of identity. It reveals that religious Muslim migrants tend to exhibit their Islamic identity as a salient identity with self-representation of being Muslims. This is seen through the new ummah concept and their demands for a Sharia Council. This new definition of the ummah is discussed in terms of the sense of belonging it brings, asserting that religion cannot always function as a means of resistance, in that the religiosity of Muslims in the Netherlands is not an attempt to exclude themselves from the system, but rather a means by which they can be part of it. The article reveals that the new definition of the ummah is highly driven by migrant religious women in the Netherlands, who resist both the traditionalist and institutional understanding of Islam, while also rejecting their national ties. They aspire to create an Islamic space (dar'al Islam) for themselves within the ummah and seek to achieve this legally through a Sharia Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the sexual–racial violence faced by migrant women in public spaces in the city of Barcelona. Based on a gendered perspective, this study conceptualises public space as an area where women's rights to live a life free of violence are restricted and looks at sexism and racism as systems of oppression; further, the concept of a continuum of violence forms the theoretical basis of this article. Forty in-depth interviews were conducted with Latin American women living in the city of Barcelona. The study identified a continuum of violence that intensifies in the migratory context. Violence moves in a circular fashion from private to public spaces through a combination of sexism and racism perpetrated by (ex-)partners, strangers, and acquaintances. As a result, migrant women grapple with feelings of rejection and insecurity that hinder integration processes and condition their life in the city, experiences, and decisions regarding daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how sex and elder-care workers negotiate intimacy and ageing in their work. We find surprising similarities between sex and care work that derive from the ways in which Eastern European migrant women are sexualised in the sites of our studies: Italy and Finland. The bodywork and intimate labour conducted by the women is defined in part by the social status of their work in society, in part by the ageing bodies upon whom the work is done, and in part by the ways in which the bodies of the workers are gendered, sexualised and racialised. The article draws on interview and participant observation data collected during two ethnographic research projects with female migrants from post-socialist countries working as eldercare workers in Italy and in sex workers in Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization, population growth and climate-induced migration in the Global South, particularly in Bangladesh's coastal cities, have led to the proliferation of informal settlements, thereby intensifying pressures on the urban landscape and exacerbating food insecurity. In this context, urban migrants, particularly women, are most vulnerable to food insecurity due to the lack of livelihood opportunities. To address these food-related vulnerabilities, women often utilize their dwelling and neighbourhood spaces for food production, often referred to as 'foodscapes', transforming housing environments—a phenomenon that remains understudied. Thus, this research attempts to examine how these foodscape practices contribute to migrant women's household food security, using the Greenland slum in Khulna as a case study. This qualitative research employs a case study-based approach, utilizing interviews, focus group discussions and observation to collect both social and spatial data. The findings reveal that a wide variety of foodscapes prevalent in the Greenland slum are mainly home-based, establishing a deep spatial linkage with dwellings that contribute to household food availability and accessibility. The study also highlights socio-political, economic and physical factors associated with foodscapes and food security and provides recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the results of ethnographic research conducted in the municipality of Verona (Veneto Region, Northeast Italy), during 2018, aimed at analysing the reproductive health needs of migrant women, and their access to such services in the territory. The research highlighted that, in addition to many critical structural-organizational issues, there was an emotional obstacle to the use of services – that is, the feeling of fear. In this paper, therefore, we will try to reflect on the role exercised by fear in the relationship between migrant women and reproductive health services. We interpret this emotion not as the expression of an individual experience and feeling, but rather as an example of "embedded thinking"; the result of a social construction that reflects dynamics and power relationships, capable of transforming feelings into practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While understanding the diversity of women's lived experiences is a key focus area in the international feminist literature on family violence, research with migrant women in Australia remains limited. This article seeks to contribute to the growing body of intersectional feminist scholarship that examines how immigration or "migration status" impacts the dynamics of migrant women's experiences of family violence. The article examines precarity in relation to migrant women's lives in Australia and focuses on the ways that their specific circumstances contribute to and are compounded by the experience of family violence. It also considers how precarity functions as a structural condition that has implications in terms of various forms or patterns of inequality that can heighten women's vulnerability to violence and undermine their efforts to ensure their safety and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hispanic women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) face unique disparities. They have poorer health outcomes and are less likely to seek help than their non-Hispanic counterparts. When women remain in relationships where IPV occurs and refuse to disclose or seek treatment, they may resort to self-silencing, which can also worsen health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop a theory that explains how self-silencing evolves among Hispanic women who experience IPV. Participants were recruited from two research studies focused on Hispanic women's health, and from snowball sampling, which involved referrals by previously registered participants. Data were collected via Zoom® and included individual interviews. A total of 25 women participated in this study. Analysis followed constructive grounded theory levels of analysis described by Charmaz and constant comparative methods described by Glaser and Strauss. A grounded theory entitled Bearing (Aguantando) With Intimate Partner Violence emerged from the data. The theory explains the main strategy Hispanic women use to deal with violence while remaining in a relationship where IPV occurs. The theory is constructed of four categories with subcategories. The results of this study provide an initial framework to understand the self-silencing process among Hispanic women who experience IPV. In addition, this study identifies different levels of interventions that can be useful for researchers and healthcare providers to promote Hispanic women's ability to become empowered, use their voices, and seek help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feminist researchers have diversified understandings of family violence by examining how women's experiences are influenced by gender and its intersections with other social inequalities. This article seeks to contribute to intersectional and transnational feminist scholarship on violence that examines the influence of structural factors such as insecure migration status on the nature of women's lived experiences in Western industrialized countries. It reports on findings from a study with migrant women who experienced family violence in Victoria, Australia when their migration status was "insecure," and examines similarities and differences in the forms and patterns of violence and abuse women described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gendered patterns and experiences in migration and acculturation research have recently started to gain recognition with the developments of intersectional and transnational/diaspora theories. Following advancements in the literature, the aim of the current study is to tackle gendered experiences of acculturation through readapting different social domains of RAEM (Relative Acculturation Extended Model) in making sense of the data from qualitative interviews with 24 Turkish migrant women across different European contexts. Findings suggest alternative lines in conceptualizing culture and thus, acculturation, in the case of Turkish migrant women, in addition to conceptualizing potential gendered peculiarities that may surface at the intersection of different positionalities across different social domains. Different consequences of how social domains intertwine in shaping women's acculturation strategies and the mismatch between their ideal and real strategies are discussed, with potential future leads and implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the experiences of asylum-seeking and forced migrant women in one of the satellite cities in Türkiye and discusses how gender affects women's precarious living and working conditions. Based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 migrant women from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria in 2019, our findings suggest that asylum-seeking women have limited access to economic and social resources available in the satellite city of Isparta due to gender inequalities. The findings of the study indicate that factors, such as (1) gendered and informal employment structure, (2) traditional gender roles, (3) crowded and patriarchal family structure, (4) loosened kinship and solidarity, (5) language incompetence, (6) restrictive migration management and (7) satellite city policies, all have a role in determining the experiences of these migrant women. These factors often prevent migrant women from accessing some basic services, social networks and employment opportunities, and push them to live precarious, impoverished and excluded lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Kyrgyz women in cross-border marriages under Türkiye's increasingly tight legal requirements for marriage migration. Although the main intention of the policy change was to prevent marriages contracted to gain residency permits in Türkiye, strict regulations can have an adverse effect on migrant women's position. Based on in-depth interviews with 24 key informants including Kyrgyz women, public employees, lawyers and staff of the Kyrgyz Consulate, this paper argues that legal and social difficulties weaken women's position in cross-border marriages and render them vulnerable to male violence. Under the strict control, migrant women embrace traditional gendered roles such as becoming religious and a "good housewife," having children as well as limiting their social relationships. Moreover, women do not seek official support against any male violence especially during the time of obligatory marriage period of three years to be able to apply for a citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper launches a discussion for using privilege to understand migrant self-employment. Migrants are a heterogeneous and complex group, yet migrant self-employment studies have not yet considered how privilege provides opportunities or gains. Using mixed-methods this paper explores the role of privilege in migrant self-employment. Life course histories are combined with full-population register data to understand migrant self-employment and to provide a sense of privilege in process. Findings reveal theoretically and empirically how privilege shapes self-employment for women migrants in Sweden with certain groups benefitting more from privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic work has emerged as a widespread occupation amongst rural women migrating to urban cities in India for lucrative employment. Their accommodation is fraught with a challenging adjustment to the city as a space which is unfamiliar and isolating. I focus on the nature of the city and how migrants re-define it. Through this article I try to delineate the interrupted lives, or rather, the broken biography of the female worker as migrations from rural to urban areas create socio-cultural disruptions to her story. I postulate this disorienting exposure to an unfamiliar urban setting as an important requisite in situating her labour in middle/upper-class homes. Paid domestic work has commonly been understood as extensions of unpaid housework. She is familiarized into doing tasks by her urban employers. This familiarization however, at an ideological level, rhetorically questions female domesticity as she is re-trained into gendered roles that society has historically believed to be hers. Ethnographic research conducted at Jeevanlalbasti/working-class neighbourhood, located in an urban residential area of south Delhi, attests to this. Oral history as a methodological tool has allowed this study to account for upheavals experienced in social lives and interpret local histories of migrant domestic workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, women who domestically relocate from rural or less developed regions to major cities are at a higher risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) than their non-migrant counterparts. Few studies have focused on Chinese domestic migrant women's help-seeking for IPV and their use of different sources of support. The present study aimed to identify factors that influence migrant women's help-seeking decisions. In addition, we also examined factors that contribute to migrant women's use of diverse sources of support for IPV. A sample of 280 migrant women victimized by IPV in the past year at the time of the survey was drawn from a larger cross-sectional study conducted in four major urban cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Using a multinomial logistic regression model and a zero-inflated Poisson model, we found that factors influencing migrant women's help-seeking decisions and their use of diverse sources of support included socioeconomic factors, IPV type, relationship-related factors, knowledge of China's first anti-Domestic Violence Law, and perception of the effectiveness of current policies. We discuss implications for future research and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, there have been major changes in the organisation of social reproduction. As middle-class women have entered the workforce in large numbers, and state provision of childcare and other welfare services has been scaled back under neo-liberalism, there has been an unprecedented outsourcing of household labour to the market. The resulting commodification of social reproduction has not liberated women from the demands of housework but has largely shifted this work away from women in the Global North towards migrant women workers from poor and heavily indebted countries of the Global South. At the same time, there has also been a huge increase in internal migration within Global South countries, as newly wealthy middle classes in the cities are being serviced by poor rural women. Commodified domestic labour relies on the existence of gendered and racialised migrant workers. This article examines the domestic workers' strike as an effective and urgent mode of political action given the massive and growing concentration of migrant women in domestic work. This requires a reassessment of earlier feminist strategies based on a nuclear family model and current advocacy strategies that, influenced by foundations, have rejected the strike tactic in favour of limited legal strategies. This article draws on my empirical research on domestic workers' movements in the USA and India in order to highlight emerging strategies of labour movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on intimate partner violence among migrants and their experiences with the criminal justice system in Portugal is not extensive. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study conducted among seven migrant women who had been victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Portugal and eleven professionals from different services working with these violent situations. The data were collected through semistructured interviews with these participants, in five districts across the country. Its main aim was to explore migrant women victims of IPV experiences and perceptions of the criminal justice system in Portugal, drawing from an intersectionality approach, as well as the views of professionals intervening and providing support to this population. Research findings show that women's perceptions and expectations are affected by previous experiences in their home countries. A comparative exercise was constantly conducted between both contexts, affecting their decision to approach the criminal justice system and shaping their perceptions of the effectiveness of its intervention. The role of children in the decision to leave the relationship was central, particularly when in interaction with the unawareness of Portuguese law. This research holds potential for a significant impact on policy making and good practice with female migrant victims of IPV. For instance, it can successfully guide policy making in the field, by addressing the gaps in knowledge regarding IPV victims and their intersecting vulnerabilities, to ensure the criminal justice system and the community are prepared to consciously respond to this phenomenon and its impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the participation and interactions of migrant women and experts who attended health parties. Based on data from participation observations and semi-structured interviews from participants of health parties, we examine how health parties may be considered an innovative bottom-up community program that could influence how migrant women focus, learn, and discuss health issues as well as interact with health care. Through a qualitative analysis, the article demonstrates two ways of organizing health parties and different approaches to the health expert role, and how this impacts the social setting and interactions of a health party. In the Norwegian setting, migrant women are considered by health authorities to be the most difficult group to reach due to cultural and language barriers. Health parties may represent an alternative for bridging these barriers and may create a useful context for active participation and learning about health for migrant women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the boundaries encountered by women fleeing domestic violence in countries located outside the Council of Europe ('CoE') when claiming non-refoulement before the Strasbourg Court. The main argument is that these boundaries are embedded in the different standards the Court applies in its Article 3 ECHR case law. To develop this argument, the article conducts an exemplary critical analysis of A.A. and Others v. Sweden in comparison with, firstly, Opuz v. Turkey and secondly, Othman v. UK. The first comparison exposes a territorial bias in the case law. It shows that the risk assessment is much more lenient in cases of women seeking international protection in CoE Member States, than in cases of women who suffer domestic violence within their CoE home States. The second comparison reveals a gender bias in the jurisprudence of different types of non-refoulement cases. The assessment of available protection from an established risk is separately assessed in cases of men fleeing harm from State actors, but not in cases of women escaping 'private' harm. As a result, migrant women's rights are limited by two intersecting and mutually reinforcing inequalities – both as migrants and as women. Taken together, these biases make the purportedly absolute prohibition of torture as laid down in Article 3 ECHR malleable in respect of migrant women. In order to respond to these dissonances, the article suggests a reformulation of the real risk assessment in migrant women's cases: It should consist in a two-step assessment, establishing first the risk and then the available protection, and be guided by due diligence standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant women victims of domestic violence might face a stark choice between leaving an abusive relationship and tolerating the abuses so that they can preserve their residence rights in the host country. EU law suffers from some major limitations in addressing this situation. In view of the EU ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women ('the Istanbul Convention'), will the EU be required to take new measures in light of the demands imposed by Article 59 of the Istanbul Convention that addresses the residence rights of migrant women victims of violence? By clarifying these demands and juxtaposing them with the relevant EU law standards, this article shows the divergences and convergences between the two regional European legal orders. It also forwards concrete suggestions as to which EU rules might need to be modified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the contested meaning of home in shaping the sexual subjectivities of Indonesian migrant domestic workers by investigating their imagined future home. It points to the question of how individuals negotiate their sexualities when subjected to particular gendered positions. The author suggests that a transnational perspective is needed for understanding the sexuality of migrant women, who negotiate between the same-sex pleasure they obtain in Hong Kong and the family expectations they are supposed to fulfill in Indonesia. For these migrant women, sexuality is malleable because it is a continuing process of relating gendered positions to sexualities, and relating the future to the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article launches a frame to investigate the inequalities underlying the human rights violations migrant women may experience. Drawing on intersectionality theory and on Ratna Kapur’s concept of ‘normative boundaries of belonging’, the article puts forward the notion of ‘intersecting borders of inequality’. The notion interrogates three types of borders that may construe migrant women as outsiders or lesser members in society: formal, normative and practical borders. The article demonstrates that scrutinising the ways in which these borders intersect illuminates some of the structures disadvantaging migrant women and invites imagining wider responses to tackle these disadvantages. To illustrate these arguments, the article uses examples of the European Court of Human Rights’ case law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the articulations of migration and gender, from the vantage point of women whose feminist experiences have been both enriched and challenged by migration and vice versa. It presents the results of a qualitative research study of five Latin American women who migrated to Barcelona and felt close to feminisms. The author draws on feminist and postcolonial approaches to migration studies that highlight the active role women play in migratory processes as well as how intersectional variables of ethnic origin, socioeconomic class, education and family contexts are articulated, configuring different power relations and resources in specific sociohistorical contexts. The results challenge widespread stereotypes about migrant women by revealing a rich diversity of profiles, motivations and migratory pathways, as well as how informants' experiences of social activism across national borders have transformed their subject formation processes and re-positioned them as active subjects of political action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of 60 women migrants in the US and their information and communication technology (ICT) based communication practices within their networks. Drawing on transnational feminist theory and the extended case method, differences amongst the participants emerged. Those participants who migrated with abundant human, social and cultural capital reserves used their greater online presence, technological resources, and digital aptitudes to connect to their families from a far through ICTs, which had the effect of widening their networks. Their intensive and widespread use of ICTs with family and friends fueled their aspirations to move onwards or return to their countries with greater leverage. Those participants with marginal levels were not online and they used domestic landlines to contact their away-families. They connected more with local co-ethnics and institutions on a face-to-face basis, thereby strengthening their community bonds. They concentrated their few resources on making social and economic investments for the next generation, and therefore could afford little in-depth contact with their families abroad. The findings have implications for expanding education initiatives and communication infrastructures, as well as relaxing restrictive immigration policies that keep families physically apart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid influx of married immigrant women from low-income Asian countries is a concern in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. In South Korea, 1 in 10 couples includes a Korean man and a migrant woman, increasing the need for prenatal and postnatal care interventions. Studies published in English or Korean after 2000 were retrieved from 8 databases and reviewed via a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of prenatal and postnatal psychosocial and educational interventions in Korea. Of 3583 records, 10 studies (1 randomized controlled trial [RCT] and 9 non-RCTs) involving 408 married immigrant women fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of the non-RCTs showed that prenatal and postnatal care interventions were effective in improving family support, knowledge regarding self-care management and infant rearing, and self-efficacy regarding self-care management and infant rearing. Subgroup analysis showed that interventions involving husbands and individualized care were most effective. This study illustrated the extent to which strategies are needed for developing prenatal and postnatal care interventions for married immigrant women. Further studies should explore other factors and identify the most important factor for improving the effectiveness of such interventions. Robust study designs published in peer-reviewed journals are required for examining the effectiveness of these interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores contemporary photography and film works that highlight same-sex intimacy among female Southeast Asian migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. My discussion expands upon feminist migration scholarship by examining how these projects document new migrant socialities and, further, how they invite reflection on the often transient intimacies they depict. As I show, the works render legible and validate sexual and romantic affiliations among migrant women that are commonly elided from their public representation. Yet the visual narratives move notions of intimacy beyond the frameworks of permanence, domesticity, and heteronormativity to interrogate how such framings intersect with concepts of good citizenship and market logics of privacy that foreclose the visibility of non-normative migrant socialities. What is more, by circulating “improper” images of migrant women's same-sex intimacies, the photography and film works mobilize alternative value economies through which the women's experiences are rendered legible without being made appropriable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a social movement strategy, intersectionality is used to foster the inclusion and representation of minority groups. In this article, we examine how Québécois women’s organizations use intersectionality as a tool to include immigrant and Native women. We argue that intersectionality can entail different practices with potentially conflicting goals. We conclude that social movement scholars would benefit from paying attention to intersectionality and to how it is practiced by activists and organizations. Indeed, a focus on intersectionality sheds light on the tensions inherent in the processes by which organizations construct collective identities, formulate political demands, manage internal conflicts and build alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional interpreters in Australia have little opportunity to undertake education on issues of violence against women. This article observes a lack of awareness of gender violence–related issues among community interpreters. It then notes examples of gender-related problems arising in the work of interpreters assisting migrant women. It repeats Maree Pardy’s call for interpreter education, but diverges from her 1995 work by explicitly recommending this education be informed by feminist principles. It observes that, although community interpreters are key to migrant women accessing social services in Australia, the profession resists calls for specialized education. This resistance occurs in a country that is recognized internationally for its progressive public service interpreting policies. We question why this is the case, and suggest that adherence to a peculiarly superficial notion of “impartiality” dulls the profession’s responsiveness to the reality of male violence. We draw on government and non-governmental organization (NGO) reports, as well as interpreting scholarship using a gender lens, to theorize the need for feminist education of professional community interpreters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Migrating and establishing a new life in another culture can have diverse health effects especially for women. This article explores the struggles and social adjustment issues that might constitute negatively to the health of West African migrant women living in Australia. Design: Qualitative storytelling. Audiotaped voluntary stories from 20 West African migrant women living in Sydney, Australia were transcribed and analyzed. Findings: Three themes are presented for discussion: (1) But it is different here: life in a new country; (2) I have to do it all by myself: communal versus individual living; and (3) They don’t listen to parents: perceived threats to the family unit. Conclusion/Implication for Practice: The demand for and the importance of nurses and midwives in supporting migrant families is demonstrated by findings suggesting that social adjustment into the Australian culture has a significant impact on both the nuclear and extended family unit of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes the notion of ‘marginalised elites’ to examine highly skilled migrant women, a group that has been neglected by feminist participatory research. It asks what principles and methods can be used towards inclusive practices in studies of migration and social exclusion. The paper contributes to the literature by designing and critically evaluating the method of Minga biographic workshops, which create inclusionary spaces of data collection and critical analysis with highly skilled migrant women living in Switzerland. Using this case study, the paper questions notions of privilege, power and positionality commonly used in feminist participatory approaches. Minga workshops enhance spaces of inclusion, become ‘spaces of personal transformation’, question the perceived inferiority of migrant women, and produce original scientific insights on social exclusion. These results point to the role of academics as facilitators of personal transformation, and the need to closely consider the added scientific value of feminist participatory methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that evaluates the psychosocial determinants of depression and anxiety in migrant women in the perinatal period. It shows that anxiety and depression are over represented in migrant women during the period, with somatic symptoms as common presentations for emotional distress. It identifies barriers to help-seeking and treatment such as the reluctance to share personal information with an unknown clinician and the perception that limited assistance is available.

The article shows how visibility and the emancipation trajectory of Islamic migrant women in the Netherlands can strengthen the gap between the Dutch as emancipated self and Islamic migrants as the unemancipated other. It presents the downside of the visibility within a culturalist discourse and focuses on the shortcomings of migrants and the argument over the right to break taboos. It challenges the assumptions of the dominant discourse in an effort to empower migrant women by addressing issues such as alliances, isolation and suppression.

"I have a stomach full of words, but I just can't say them" is a statement often uttered by migrant women in contemporary China. Using this as a point of entry, this article explores the paradoxical role that the Dagongmei's Home, a Beijing women's organization that promotes the rights and interests of female migrants, plays in producing identities for its members and in channeling their voices into the public arena. The Dagongmei's Home is both a site of articulation and a cage that limits and contains the marginal voices of migrant women. By "hailing" its members into subjectivity as the dagongmei (working sister), the organization empowers these women to speak in otherwise closed spaces. However, since the women can only speak as dagongmei, they end up reproducing the state's discourse of modernization. Nevertheless, a community-based drama workshop set up by a British woman in collaboration with the Home becomes an unlikely site of resistance as migrant women break the script of strong women sacrificing for the nation's economic development, thus doing dagongmei subversively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the complex experiences and positions of migrant women in the ‘nursing profession’ in a southern European country, Greece. It looks at ways in which a rudimentary welfare state and a large informal economy have created the demand for les infirmières exclusives and for ‘quasi-nurses’. The supply and use of their services, on the one hand, helps perpetuate this informal welfare system and, on the other, has implications for migrant women themselves as, inter alia, it contributes to their deskilling, exploitation, marginalization and exclusion. The multifarious degrees and forms that these processes take, to a large extent, depend on the cross-cutting of gender, ethnicity and class, as sexism intersects with different forms of ‘othering’ and racialization processes in the destination country. The position of these women is also located in terms of ethnic and national boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the complexity of feminized domestic labor in the context of global migration. I view unpaid household labor and paid domestic work not as dichotomous categories but as structural continuities across the public and private spheres. Based on a qualitative study of Filipina migrant domestic workers in Taiwan, I demonstrate how women travel through the maid/madam boundary-housewives in home countries become breadwinners by doing domestic work overseas, and foreign maids turn into foreign brides. While migrant women sell their domestic labor in the market, they remain burdened with gendered responsibilities in their own families. Their simultaneous occupancy of paid and unpaid domestic labor is segmented into distinct spatial settings. I underscore women's agency by presenting how they articulate their paid and unpaid domestic labor and bargain with the monetary and emotional value of their labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]