Exploring older women's citizenship: understanding the impact of migration in later life

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOANNE COOK
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Older Migrants ◽  
Black Caribbean ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Rich Countries ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTResearch on the ways in which having been an international migrant in later life shapes the welfare needs, preferences and expectations of non-native older people in rich countries is in its infancy, for both the ageing and migration fields have been slow to examine the experiences of older migrants. This paper focuses upon the welfare citizenship experiences of older women who migrated in later life to England, either as refugees or as post-retirement migrants. It reports findings from interviews and focus groups conducted with black Caribbean, Irish, Chinese and Somali older women migrants in Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK, as part of the Older Women's Lives and Voices Study. The paper explores their experiences of accessing welfare citizenship and the barriers they encountered in accessing mainstream services. In particular, it examines the unequal platform from which older migrants who do not speak English access welfare citizenship rights and services, and assesses the important constraints of discrimination and language differences. Despite the obstacles, the older women participants were actively pursuing their inclusion in welfare rights and services. The paper argues for more recognition of the important enabling role that informal systems of support provided by participation in community or cultural organisations plays in the welfare citizenship and agency of minority ethnic older women.

scholarly journals Gender and Migration in Greece: The Position and Status of Albanian Women in Patras

Finisterra ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (77) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Charalampopoulu
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Migration Process ◽  
Greek Society ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Impact

Greece has experienced major changes in its migration patterns.After a century or so of emigration, it has now become a country of immigration. Much academic research has concentrated on the impact this change has on Greek society. However, there is a tendency to ignore the role that gender plays in the migration process. This article addresses the issue of Albanian immigration to Greece, focusing on the aspect of gender. It presents the living and working conditions of Albanian women who migrate to Greece, especially to one of its cities, Patras. It examines the new migration process through the eyes of women migrants. It is centred on their narration about their journey to Greece, their decision to migrate, the problems that they face, their experiences and plans for the future: in short, their life stories. Finally, the article draws attention to the need for further research on issues concerning migrant women in Greece.

Embodying the Good Migrant in Ageing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle G. Ong
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Feminist Psychology ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Positive Identity ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the intersection of ageing and migration and focuses on older women migrants. What subjectivities are available to such individuals? How do they negotiate a positive identity despite their (increasing) distance from the ideal? This chapter discusses the ways ageing women migrants’ subjectivities are shaped by discourses around ageing and migration in both home and host countries; in particular, the way narratives of success in migration can be built on the embodiment of certain ideals around older people and migrants. It is based on two separate studies utilizing feminist psychology and indigenous Filipino psychology as a methodological framework.

scholarly journals Migrant Girls in Shenzhen: Gender, Education and the Urbanization of Aspiration

2015 ◽  
Vol 222 ◽  
pp. 320-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Goodburn
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Single Women ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Parental Concerns ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Primary School Age ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of rural–urban migration on primary school-age migrant girls in China, providing important data on this unexplored group as well as drawing several larger conclusions about the evolving relationship between migration and women's autonomy. Much recent literature has focused on Chinese young unmarried women migrants. However, there has been no attempt to distinguish the effect of migration on children by gender, and little research on the “new generation” of married women migrants. This paper focuses on two aspects of migrant girls' well-being, education and migration satisfaction, and compares girls' assessments with those of their parents, particularly their mothers. It analyses differences between the views of both girls and parents, arguing that specific parental concerns about daughters shape girls' futures in ways that do not apply to migrant boys. A further, broader, implication of this analysis is that certain benefits of migration, previously thought to apply exclusively to single women, extend also to married women, influencing mothers when forming goals for their daughters' futures.

scholarly journals Older women's reduced contact with food in the Changes Around Food Experience (CAFE) study: choices, adaptations and dynamism

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHLEEN LANE ◽  
FIONA POLAND ◽  
SHEILA FLEMING ◽  
NIGEL LAMBERT ◽  
HILARY MACDONALD ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Social Engagement ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Formal Services ◽  
Food Experience ◽  
One Year ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
Dynamic Adaptability ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTMany older women reduce the amount of cooking and food preparation they do in later life. While cooking may be seen as traditionally associated with women's family roles, little is known about the impact of such reduced engagement with food on their lives. This paper presents the findings from a one-year qualitative study (Changes Around Food Experience, CAFE) of the impact of reduced contact with preparing and cooking meals from scratch for 40 women, aged 65–95 years, living in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus groups and observations. Women's reasons for reducing food-related activities included changes in health, loss of a partner or a caring role, and new patterns of socialising. Disengagement from cooking and shopping was not found to entail predominantly negative feelings, passive acceptance or searching for forms of support to re-enable more cooking from scratch. Accounts evidenced the dynamic adaptability of older women in actively managing changed relationships with food. In exploring new meal options, older women were not simply disengaging from their environments. CAFE findings linked women's engagement with their environments to how they were using formal services and, even more, to the value they placed on social engagement and being out and about. Through the connections they fostered with friends, family and community, older women actively enabled their continued involvement in their social, public and family spheres. Reduced contact with preparing and cooking meals from scratch, therefore, did not induce or imply passivity or debility in the CAFE cohort. By contrast, it involved their exploring new means of retaining what was important to them about food in the context of their lived situation and social connections with friends, family, the community and public spheres.

scholarly journals A regimes-of-mobility-and-welfare approach: The impact of migration and welfare policies on transnational social support networks of older migrants in Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Brandhorst
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Support Networks ◽  
Social Support Networks ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Older Migrants ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, I examine the implications of welfare and migration policies on transnational aged care arrangements of older migrants in Australia. The paper draws on the results of an ethnographical, biographical and network analytical study of transnational social support networks of older migrants in Perth. I present the developed typology of older migrants and their possibilities of transnational care through three case studies that exemplify each type, namely 'retirement migrant by choice', 'financial obstacles of traditional labour migrants', and 'mobility and welfare regime restrictions of refugees'. The case studies show, first, that the maintenance of social ties across national borders through which different forms of care are organised is constrained by the Australian mobility regime, where temporary migration schemes prevail and migration policies are increasingly restrictive. Second, transnational social support is affected by a welfare regime that is increasingly linked to the mobility regime, as the rights to social welfare and long-term care are often linked to citizenship. Third, inequalities in the possibilities of transnational care and inaccess to mobility are linked to migrants’ legal and socioeconomic status in the country of settlement and the position of their country of origin in the global geopolitical hierarchy. Based on these findings, I propose a 'regimes-of-mobility-and-welfare' approach for the study of transnational social support and family care, which considers the effects of ‘sedentary’ policies and the intertwinement of mobility and welfare regimes.

scholarly journals El reconocimiento del Código de la Familia Marroquí en Francia y su impacto sobre las mujeres migrantes marroquíes

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Félix Fernández Castaño ◽  
María Teresa González Santos
Keyword(s):  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Women Migrants ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Bilateral Agreement ◽  
Moroccan Family ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
Moroccan Women ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Family Code

Resumen: El presente trabajo pretende estudiar las tradiciones jurídicas francesa y marroquí, y su coexistencia en territorio francés, facilitada por la firma del Convenio Bilateral entre Marruecos y Francia. La aplicación de un doble sistema jurídico –francés y marroquí-, a la comunidad marroquí inmigrante en Francia, tiene unas repercusiones, que en el caso de las mujeres, las conduce a diversas situaciones que las relegan a posiciones de subordinación, dependencia y doble violencia. En función de todo ello, dos son los objetivos de este trabajo: el primero, se dirige a estudiar las tradiciones jurídicas en las que se basan los sistemas de derecho francés y marroquí, así como su funcionamiento conjunto; el segundo, es analizar el impacto que el reconocimiento del Código de la Familia Marroquí ejerce sobre mujeres marroquíes migrantes en Francia. La metodología está basada en una revisión bibliográfica que comprende una serie de textos especializados sobre el funcionamiento de los sistemas jurídicos desde de la perspectiva de la sociología del derecho (Carbonnier, 1994; Fariñas, 1991 y 1996; Soriano, 1997; Weber, 2005;). En referencia al impacto del reconocimiento del derecho marroquí en el país de destino, los análisis están fundamentados en bibliografías que se ocupan de los aspectos de género y migración. Abstract: This paper aims to study the French and Moroccan legal traditions, and their coexistence in French territory, facilitated by the signing of the bilateral agreement between Morocco and France. The application of a dual legal system -French and Moroccan-, to a Moroccan immigrant community in France, has an impact, which in the case of women, they lead them to various situations that relegate them to subordinate positions, dependency and double violence. Based on all this, there are two objectives of this work: the first is aimed at studying the legal traditions in which both systems, French and Moroccan law is based, and how they work together; the second, to analyse the impact that recognition of the Moroccan Family Code has on Moroccan women migrants in France. The methodology is based on a literature review that includes a series of texts specialized on the functioning of legal systems from the perspective of the sociology of law (Carbonnier, 1994; Fariñas, 1991 and 1996; Soriano, 1997; Weber, 2005) Referring to the impact of the recognition of Moroccan law in the country of destination, the analyses are based on bibliographies dealing with gender issues and migration.

Older Women and Sexuality: Experiences in Marital Relationships across the Life Course

2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Hurd Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Sexual Interest ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Sexual Scripts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Sexual Experiences ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTRates of sexual activity have been found to decline over the life course, as individuals experience marital transitions and the loss of partners, health problems, and decreased sexual interest. This article compares and contrasts earlier- and later-life sexual experiences and examines the changing meanings that older women ascribe to sexuality over the life course. Qualitative data from a study involving 24 women aged 52 to 90 who were remarried after age 50 illuminate a shift, as individuals age, from an emphasis on the importance of sexual intercourse and passion to a greater valuing of companionship, cuddling, affection, and intimacy. Situating the discussion in the context of changing cultural norms and sexual scripts, the article investigates the impact of health conditions on the women's sexual relationships as well as the women's tendency to have later-life sexual experiences more positive than were their earlier sexual experiences.

A sense of dignity in later life: a qualitative study on the views of older women migrants from minoritised backgrounds

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roiyah Saltus ◽  
Christalla Pithara
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Older Women ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Minority Ethnic

Purpose – Research evidence indicates the need for studies that explore the salience of dignity from the perspective of older people from a range of ethno-linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Drawing findings from a mixed-methods study on social-care expectations of community-dwelling older women from black and minority-ethnic backgrounds, the purpose of this paper is to explore the interrelationships between life-course events (such as migration) and the roles adopted by the women throughout their lives, which shaped their understanding of dignity. Design/methodology/approach – Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 32 older women in Wales were conducted in the participants’ first languages. The interview schedule was developed, piloted and peer-reviewed; it covered the themes of migration, perceptions of dignity, dignity in later life, perceptions of care and care with dignity. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. This paper focuses on what dignity meant to older women and how a sense of dignity was fostered in later life. Findings – For the participants, a sense of dignity in later life was shaped by migration to the UK, and their shifting, transnational understanding of growing old in the UK and of the perceived worth and value of the roles they played. Although some women also saw other platforms (such as work and their status as professionals) as being of importance, a sense of purpose fostered in their roles as wives, mothers and grandmothers, and as mentors and guardians of cultural knowledge, underpinned their understanding of dignity, and reinforced their sense of acknowledgement and worth. Fostered from an early age through interactions with the family and close community (religious, cultural or ethnic), respect for older people was revealed to remain a key element of the participants’ personal and cultural value systems, as were the ways in which respect should be both earned and manifested. The sense of heightened vulnerability, because of advancing age, and the impact of cumulative negative encounters and racialised micro-aggressions, were real and pressing. Practical implications – Given the changing demographic of the older population throughout Europe and the world, there is a need to raise awareness among policy makers and practitioners of the importance of dignity from a range of perspectives – providing first-hand accounts that bring these to life, and data that can be used to help develop effective interventions. Originality/value – This paper adds to the understanding of dignity from a transnational, multi-ethnic perspective; the potential impact of multiple social positions (being old, being a woman, being a migrant and being from a minority-ethnic group) on the perception of being treated and regarded as important and valuable; and the need to raise awareness among policy makers and practitioners of the importance of dignity from a range of perspectives, providing first-hand accounts that bring these to life and that can be used to help develop effective social-care interventions.

Syrian Crisis and Migration

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinar Yazgan ◽  
Deniz Eroglu Utku ◽  
Ibrahim Sirkeci
Keyword(s):  
Human Mobility ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Host Countries ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future

With the growing insurrections in Syria in 2011, an exodus in large numbers have emerged. The turmoil and violence have caused mass migration to destinations both within the region and beyond. The current "refugee crisis" has escalated sharply and its impact is widening from neighbouring countries toward Europe. Today, the Syrian crisis is the major cause for an increase in displacement and the resultant dire humanitarian situation in the region. Since the conflict shows no signs of abating in the near future, there is a constant increase in the number of Syrians fleeing their homes. However, questions on the future impact of the Syrian crisis on the scope and scale of this human mobility are still to be answered. As the impact of the Syrian crisis on host countries increases, so does the demand for the analyses of the needs for development and protection in these countries. In this special issue, we aim to bring together a number of studies examining and discussing human mobility in relation to the Syrian crisis.

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