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Focusing on Ethiopian women in Melbourne Australia, in this article, we address the under-researched yet significant issue of navigating the division of domestic labour in the context of migration. We analyse data derived from a larger project based on 40 interviews with Ethiopian immigrant women to explore their perspectives on housework and how they seek to negotiate this in their households in a social context that differs from that in their sending nation. Arguing that migration to Australia has presented Ethiopian immigrant women with the opportunity to seek greater equality in the domestic sphere, we nevertheless note that their efforts to alter the unequal division of domestic labour are to a degree constrained by socioeconomic factors and gender norms as shaped within their cultures of origin. Our findings also elucidate the ways in which participants' husbands selectively adhere to notions of culture in order to perform less housework. Our article contributes to the scant research that addresses how migrant women seek to renegotiate the division of labour in destination countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyse how domestic violence (DV) is understood and experienced among immigrant Ethiopian women in Melbourne, as well as the different conditions that contribute to their experiences of abuse and their responses to it. To do this, we draw on 20 interviews with participants, 7 of whom experienced intimate partner violence. Demonstrating that immigrant Ethiopian women find themselves in a social context with a set of values and understandings of family and DV that differs from their own, we argue that their responses to DV shows their selective acceptance of these values and state interventions. In exploring these themes, we contribute to the discussion about minority women's voices, values and priorities in relation to violence in the migration context. Our findings also highlight the limitations of mainstream approaches to DV, illustrating the extent to which interventions are constructed through reference to western perceptions of individuality and white feminism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]