‘You’d stand in line to buy potato peelings’: German women\u27s memories of World War II

How do U.S. women immigrants remember their experiences of World War II? In what ways do these women choose to transmit their memories to the next generation? These are the questions explored in this study. Women immigrants have been treated as if they were insignificant actors in history and socialization (Kelson & DeLaet, 1999). Feminist scholarship challenges this portrait of women as insignificant actors, arguing against gender-biased perspectives on the immigration experience. Yet scholarly sources provide little information about the “real life problems” of women immigrants (Barber, 2005). Immigration research historically has tended toward historical and demographical data compilations, resulting in a database devoid of personal voice or lived experience (Errante, 2000; Heinemann, 1996). Researchers have largely ignored women immigrants‟ stories. Studying contemporary European immigrant women\u27s narratives of wartime experience can provide scholars with fresh perspectives on the World War II era. This article draws from both the feminist framework and oral history research methodology to record and analyze European immigrant women’s experiences with and memories of war and to illuminate scholars’ understanding of women as civilians during times of war. The researcher recounts 10 European women’s experiences of and memories about World War II. The study adds to the available literature by considering women’s experiences of war, as told by women, and as passed down to successive generations

“They Think We Have No Ears” – Muslim Women Immigrants’ Experiences in Germany

The continuous debate in the West about women wearing a hijab in the public sphere excludes the women themselves and does not enable a fair discussion of the topic. This study aims to benefit Muslim women by bringing their experiences to the forefront and providing them with an opportunity to voice their distress without concern. The study examines the experiences of Muslim women immigrants in three cities in Germany. These women experienced exclusion and felt marginalized, and believed they were unjustly treated in the public sphere, which purports to be liberal and enabling. Nevertheless, these women preserved their Muslim-Arab identity. The study recommends, among other suggestions, to display the Muslim women immigrants’ culture, showing where they live and establishing shared educational settings for German and Muslim girls and women

The 'invisible' immigrants: Greek immigrant women in Australia (1952–1972)

1952–1972 is considered as the twenty-year period of mass or chain migration, during which the greatest number of Greek immigrants arrived in Australia. Just under half of these immigrants were women, who arrived mainly as dependent siblings, daughters, wives or brides of male immigrants. In addition, approximately 9,000 women migrated independently as factory or domestic workers. Though Greek women immigrants are an integral part of the overall Greek migration to Australia, their history still remains marginal and has not been thoroughly investigated and reported on. Greek women are regarded as the “invisible” immigrants, whose individual migration experience is encompassed within the male-dominated migration discourse. In this article we examine aspects of the migration of Greeks to Australia during the period of mass or chain migration, with a special focus on the marginal representation of women immigrants within the migration discourse.This paper was originally presented at the Ninth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University, June 2011

Participation on the Margins of Immigrant Women’s Lives and Learnings

This study focuses on the participation and learning of five women immigrants in the Northwest US and the ways community-based organisations (CBOs) operated in their work and community lives. The study points to the ways that the women became assertive at work, moved from the private into the public sphere, and developed caring literacies in their communities

Body Weight Self-Perceptions and Experiences of Nigerian Women Immigrants

Low-income immigrants in the United States experience declining health with increasing length of stay in the country. Their declining health over time has been associated with increased smoking, obesity prevalence, and higher risk for developing diabetes and heart disease. How immigrants perceive their body weight and size, influenced by social interaction, culture, gender, and acculturation is also significant to healthy weight maintenance. Not knowing one\u27s healthy weight could result in body weight misperception and resistance to attaining a healthy weight. The aim of this qualitative study, based on the social constructivist framework, was to understand Nigerian women immigrants\u27 (NWI\u27s) body weight self-perceptions (BWSPs), their experiences with weight changes after immigration, and what it meant to them within their historical, immigration, and cultural contexts. Data were collected from audio recorded interviews of 8 purposefully selected NWIs living in Middle Tennessee. After a process of content analysis of transcribed interviews using NVivo, participants\u27 BWSPs were described and interpreted using hermeneutic phenomenology. The key findings of this research were that participants perceived themselves overweight compared to when they had just immigrated to the United States; believed that age, marriage, change in environment and food contributed to their weight gain; and were not accepting of their weight gain, which led them to eating healthier and moving more in order to lose weight. Findings from this research have social change implications for reducing health disparities by disseminating timely health information accessible to immigrants to educate them about nutrition and physical activity behaviors for healthy weight maintenance

Occupational segregation of immigrant women in Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyze occupational segregation in the Spanish labor market from a gender and an immigration perspective. In doing so, several local and overall segregation measures are used. Our results suggest that immigrant women in Spain suffer a double segregation since segregation affects them to a greater extent than it does either native women or immigrant men. There are, however, remarkable discrepancies among the segregation of immigrant women depending on their region of origin. Thus, immigrant women from the European Union (EU) have the lowest occupational segregation, while segregation seems particularly intense in the group of women from European countries outside the EU bloc and Asia (the levels of which are higher than that of Latin American and African women).immigration; gender; occupational segregation; local segregation; overall segregation

Inter-ethnic Partnerships: Key Characteristics, and What They Reveal about Successful Integration

Partnerships between immigrants and native-born citizens are commonly viewed as the product of successful social integration, as well as a possible driving force of economic success. Thus, immigrants living in inter-ethnic partnerships have on average a higher level of education, better occupational status, and higher income than those living in intra-ethnic relationships. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) show that immigrants in relationships with native Germans describe themselves on average as particularly communicative and open. However, in this area there is no difference between Germans in inter-ethnic relationships and those in German-German partnerships. Similarly, readiness to take risks and general life satisfaction are not above average among Germans in inter-ethnic relationships. By contrast, immigrants in inter-ethnic relationships evaluate themselves as particularly willing to take risks and interested in politics. In addition, they see themselves as less often subject to discrimination than immigrants living in intra-ethnic partnerships.Intermarriage, Big 5 Personality Traits, Migration

Understanding inclusive entrepreneurship:With special reference to women immigrants in Arctic Finland

A recent OECD report recognises that the limited scope for immigrant women to integrate into mainstream Finnish society has kept them out of the labour market. In fact, a woman with migrant background faces several challenges to get access to the Finnish labour force and this has prompted them to become self-employed in small business, particularly in the northern part of Finland. However, establishing a small business and its operation induces diverse problems in this remote, mainly rural region. An inclusive entrepreneurship policy may support improving their condition in entrepreneurship. The study explores the main factors hindering the financial and socio-cultural inclusion of women immigrants in Northern Finland. A thematic analysis of cultural and economic inclusivity, based on descriptive phenomenology, helps understand and reconstruct a policy of inclusive societies in the context of rural entrepreneurship