IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/gjhsjl/v12y2020i12p130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Highly Skilled South Asian Migrant Women in Australia: Hidden Economic Assets

Author

Listed:
  • Najia Syed
  • Cathy Banwell
  • Tehzeeb Zulfiqar

Abstract

Finding a balance between work and family life is challenging for many women, particularly migrant women living in Australia without family support. This study provides insights into their dilemmas, difficulties and strengths in terms of household responsibilities and employment pressures. Design- Qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten South Asian skilled mothers living in Canberra, Australia. Findings- Participants were positive about contributing to their family’s income and gaining financial independence. However, as skilled migrant women, they struggled to use their work skills due to increased demands of domestic responsibilities. They often negotiated work and family life by seeking low-prospect careers. Conclusion- The socio-cultural factors faced by South Asian migrant women have a significant impact on their work-life balance. Deskilling, increased work pressures and lack of support may negatively impact their career aspirations and well-being. Flexible policies can help mitigate these barriers to help migrant women maintain a work-life balance.

Suggested Citation

  • Najia Syed & Cathy Banwell & Tehzeeb Zulfiqar, 2020. "Highly Skilled South Asian Migrant Women in Australia: Hidden Economic Assets," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 130-130, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:gjhsjl:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:130
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/download/0/0/44079/46404
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/view/0/44079
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elizabeth Broderick, 2012. "Women in the Workforce," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 45(2), pages 204-210, June.
    2. Thomas Liebig, 2007. "The Labour Market Integration of Immigrants in Australia," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 49, OECD Publishing.
    3. Dinh, Huong & Strazdins, Lyndall & Welsh, Jennifer, 2017. "Hour-glass ceilings: Work-hour thresholds, gendered health inequities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 42-51.
    4. Catherine Hakim, 2003. "A New Approach to Explaining Fertility Patterns: Preference Theory," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 29(3), pages 349-374, September.
    5. Nicole M Fortin, 2005. "Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour-market Outcomes of Women across OECD Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 416-438, Autumn.
    6. Lesleyanne Hawthorne, 2015. "The Impact of Skilled Migration on Foreign Qualification Recognition Reform in Australia," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 41(s1), pages 173-187, August.
    7. Kalwant Bhopal, 1998. "How Gender and Ethnicity Intersect: The Significance of Education, Employment and Marital Status," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 3(3), pages 29-39, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joanne S. Muller & Nicole Hiekel & Aart C. Liefbroer, 2020. "The Long-Term Costs of Family Trajectories: Women’s Later-Life Employment and Earnings Across Europe," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(3), pages 1007-1034, June.
    2. Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya & Izhak Schnell & Nabil Khattab, 2018. "The exclusion of young Arab women from work, education and training in Israel," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 157-173, January.
    3. Martin Schröder, 2020. "Men Lose Life Satisfaction with Fewer Hours in Employment: Mothers Do Not Profit from Longer Employment—Evidence from Eight Panels," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 317-334, November.
    4. Marco Colagrossi & Claudio Deiana & Andrea Geraci & Ludovica Giua, 2022. "Hang up on stereotypes: Domestic violence and an anti‐abuse helpline campaign," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 585-611, October.
    5. Bottazzi, Laura & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2021. "Stereotypes in financial literacy: Evidence from PISA," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    6. Tendai Zawaira & Matthew W. Clance & Carolyn Chisadza, 2020. "Social Institutions and Gender-Biased Outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 2020101, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    7. Victor Gay, 2023. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility. A Verification and Reproduction of Fernández and Fogli (2009)," Post-Print hal-04194417, HAL.
    8. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8651 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Iga Magda & Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska, 2019. "Gender wage gap in the workplace: Does the age of the firm matter?," IBS Working Papers 01/2019, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    10. María Davia & Nuria Legazpe, 2015. "Educational attainment and maternity in Spain: not only “when” but also “how”," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 871-900, December.
    11. Benjamin Bennett & Isil Erel & Léa H. Stern & Zexi Wang, 2020. "Paid Leave Pays Off: The Effects of Paid Family Leave on Firm Performance," NBER Working Papers 27788, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Katie Meara & Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2020. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 271-305, January.
    13. Lepinteur, Anthony & Flèche, Sarah & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2016. "My Baby Takes the Morning Train: Gender Identity, Fairness, and Relative Labor Supply Within Households," IZA Discussion Papers 10382, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Richard Duhautois & Christine Erhel & Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière, 2018. "State Dependence and Labor Market Transitions in the European Union," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 131, pages 59-82.
    15. James Raymo & Marcia Carlson & Alicia VanOrman & Sojung Lim & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Miho Iwasawa, 2015. "Educational differences in early childbearing," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(3), pages 65-92.
    16. Estefanía Galván, 2022. "Gender Identity and Quality of Employment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 409-436, April.
    17. Jaanika Meriküll & Maryna Tverdostup, 2020. "The Gap That Survived The Transition: The Gender Wage Gap Over Three Decades In Estonia," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 127, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    18. Brahim Boudarbat & Marie Connolly, 2013. "The gender wage gap among recent post‐secondary graduates in Canada: a distributional approach," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 1037-1065, August.
    19. Alessandra Fogli & Laura Veldkamp, 2007. "Nature or nurture? learning and female labor force dynamics," Staff Report 386, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    20. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2013. "On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 469-530.
    21. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:gjhsjl:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:130. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.