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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 examine the experience of migrant Ethiopian women in Footscray. Drawing on interviews with 14 Ethiopian women who have significant connections with Footscray, an inner city, gentrifying suburb in Melbourne, Australia, we elucidate their lived experience of navigating Footscray's complex and layered public spaces. On one hand, the women experience a profound sense of belonging and comfort in central Footscray – feeling at home because of the Ethiopian population that spends time there, the Ethiopian shops, coffee houses, and through their use of shared public space. On the other, Ethiopian women experience insecurity and harassment in Footscray. Our paper demonstrates that the experience of 'feeling comfortable' is never settled and must continue to be negotiated in and through the experience of vulnerability and harassment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]