What Will I Tell My Daughter? Immigrant Women Who Relocate For Their Spouse: Issues and

Challenges

Randean Kopytko

Canada looks to immigration population

economic growth (Guruge & Collins, 2008)

Immigrants arriving at railway station, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Oseredokhttp://www.oseredok.org/ucec/uofm/01c.shtml, Accessed August 10, 2012

15

15 years aggressive immigration strategy• thousands of newcomers

relocate with spouses and families

American Diversity Photo, Hispanically Speaking News,http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com; Accessed August 10, 2012

Provincial Nominee Program

• increase number of skilled newcomers• promote immigration

• settle in smaller urban and rural areas

(Carter, 2009)

Towns and smaller cities, www.immigratemanitoba.com, Accessed August 10, 2012

Canada-Manitoba Immigration Agreement 1996

administer federally funded settlement services

retain control over the Provincial Nominee Program

(Free Press, 2012)

Signing, the old-school way. Photo by qwrrty via Flickr, http://www.treehugger.com, Accessed August 10, 2012

long distance Gifford Fellowship

Winnipeg bridge monument by night, By: Marc Evans / www.picasa.com, Accessed August 15, 2012

lack of support employment challenges credential recognition gender stereotypes

have a baby

St Andrews Castle with Sea, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Andrews_Castle_Scotland.jpg, Accessed August 15, 2012

{W}omen are often socialized to place family first and personal goals second

when it come to critical household matters (Cooke, 2001, p. 445)

Adult EAL Temp jobs

Familial milieu Language

“Who was crying this week? ”

Randean Kopytko, August 15, 2012

“explore in depth how the

experience of moving shapes women’s lives and how the psychology of

women shapes their moves”

(McCollum, 1990, p.17)

Jackson NH covered bridge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/, Accessed August 15 ,2012

Divorce

Burlington, Vermont; http://en.wikipedia.org, Accessed August 15, 2012

There is reason to suspect that women play a far more complex role-especially in migration

within advanced capitalist countries where women are more likely to have a more

specialized role in the economy”(Hiller & McCaig, p.458).

Did movers experience a sense of choice about moving? Did they exercise that choice or abdicate it to others? Did they make a choice responsive to their own wishes and needs or only to the needs and wishes of others? Did coupled women share the decision to move with their partner? Did they seek involvement as a woman making decisions to safeguard or enhance their own well-being, or as wives helping a husband make the decision that would serve his goals? (McCollum, 1990, p. 27/28)

Evaluationof the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program

adapting to climate 25% language problems 25%

challenges when accessing education and training 24%

missing family support, country 17% problems getting credentials recognized

26/27

Forty percent strongly disagreed with the statement “There are good opportunities

here for me” and another twenty percent disagreed. Over fifty

percent believed that it would be easier for them to find a job some

other community (Carter, 2009, p.99).

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

explore the struggles and successes that immigrant women face

when they relocate for their spouse

to provide insight regarding how adequately their needs are being considered

and met by the Province of Manitoba

CURRENT RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1)What are the main considerations affecting women’s decisions to move?

2)What were their successes and challenges during and after relocating?

3)What types of services might relocating women benefit from?

DIRECTIONS OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW

Beilby and Beilby

McCollum

Hiller & McCaig

METHODOLOGY

-“interest in how different people make sense of their lives” a qualitative approach will be employed (Bogdan & Knopp Biklen, 2007, p.7).

- I will examine a social phenomenon; through key episodes or testimonies that would facilitate the use of, “narratives to optimize the opportunity of the reader to gain an experiential understanding of the case” (Stake, 1995, p. 40).

-intent of this study is to document the experiences of immigrant women who have relocated for their spouse because their voices and perspectives have been underrepresented in the literature and to inform policy and programming.

-case studies are in-depth explorations either of individuals or small numbers of entities that focuses on, “relationships among different phenomena or examine trends over time”(Polit & Tatano Beck, 2006, p. 242).

METHODOLOGY