Renegotiating Gender Identities and Sexual Bodies: Zimbabwean Migrant Women’s Narratives of Everyday Life in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kezia Batisai ◽  
Lylian Manjowo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Migration Research ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
And Migration

A wide range of literature reveals that women in many African societies have historically been faced with the challenge of patriarchy and lack of freedom in their households—a challenge also mirrored in institutions of education, the economy, law and politics. This gendered position produces gendered inequalities which lead women to experience poverty more severely than men. The feminisation of poverty has over the years resulted in the feminisation of migration, which implies a change in women’s migratory identities and roles, where women are increasingly migrating as independent migrants rather than to rejoin male family members. Often, women migrate due to a desire for greater autonomy and a decrease in social restrictions on their productive and reproductive bodies. They also migrate to enhance their economic opportunities and seek new survival strategies in their endeavour to cater for their family’s needs and those that pertain to their being. It is against this backdrop that this article explores the experiences of migrant women and the strategies they employ as they, against all odds, renegotiate and reconstitute their gendered identities and sexual bodies in order to survive the complex realities of living in a “foreign” space. The article focuses on 15 Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences of feminised poverty that pushed them out of the boundaries of their homeland, and the sexual and gendered livelihoods that emerged as part of their survival strategies in South Africa. As the article engages with Zimbabwean migrant women’s experiences prior to and after moving to South Africa, it is at work to illuminate how sexuality and migration shape and reshape one another. The article analyses the role of sexuality in gender and migration research that has not been given the pre-eminence it should in the Global South. Overall, the article reveals that the often subsumed and hidden role of sexuality in gender and migration research adds another complex layer of vulnerability to the bodies, identities and roles of Zimbabwean migrant women in South Africa.

scholarly journals Gender and Trajectories of Marital Breakdown: Accounts of Chinese Immigrant Women in Canada

Affilia ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. 088610992110709
Author(s):  
Yanqiu Rachel Zhou ◽  
Christina Sinding ◽  
Lisa Watt (1972–2018) ◽  
Jacqueline Gahagan ◽  
Evelyne Micollier
Keyword(s):  
Personal Growth ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Life Circumstance ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
Marital Breakdown ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Chinese Immigrant Women ◽  
The Relationship

The relatively sparse literature has documented various challenges international migration poses to martial stability, yet we know little about immigrant women's experiences with marital breakdown. Drawing data from a qualitative study of Chinese economic immigrants to Canada, this article explores women's experiences of navigating the processes of this life circumstance, and of how gender—including their senses of changing gender roles in post-immigration and postmarital contexts—plays out in these trajectories. The results of this exploratory study illustrate the value of transcending dichotomous conceptions of the relationship between gender and migration, and of opening spaces in which to better understand immigrant women's increasingly diversified life trajectories and the range of barriers they encounter along the way. The study also reveals multiple opportunities for social work contributions: tackling systematic barriers to settlement, facilitating social support in the community, and recognizing individuals’ diverse trajectory potentials (including the potential for this typically unwelcome event to be integrated as personal growth and transition).

Gender, Sexuality, and Migration

Sociology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhacel Salazar Parreñas ◽  
Carolyn Choi ◽  
Maria Hwang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The State ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Migration Research ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
And Migration

Women have always migrated. Yet, earlier gender and migration debates on the “feminization of migration” have largely downplayed this reality, implying that women have only recently begun to migrate. To the contrary, as early as 1984 Mirjana Morokvasic reminded us, in an article titled “Birds of Passage Are Also Women,” that female migrants began outnumbering male migrants entering the United States as early as the 1930s (Morokvasic 1984, cited under Overview). As Martha Gardner’s exhaustive historical analysis of immigration regulations illustrates—Gardner 2006, cited under Gender and the State—the United States had historically curtailed the migration of independent women, thus limiting women’s migration as dependents who followed male family members. Since then, women migrants have crossed international borders and entered the United States and other advanced capitalist societies as independent migrants, responding primarily to the demand for their labor as nurses, domestic workers, factory workers, and sex workers. Pioneering feminist migration scholars in the 1980s first questioned the invisibility of women in mainstream knowledge production of migration. While they initially called just for the inclusion of women, since the 1990s scholars have demanded the incorporation of a gendered perspective in mainstream migration research, urging an examination of the various ways gender constitutes migration. Contemporary scholarship on gender and migration has focused on the constitution of gender in the macro context by analyzing the ways gender informs the political economy of migration. Focusing on the meso level, a larger group of scholars has interrogated how migration reshapes gender relations and accordingly the position of men and women in institutions such as the migrant family. Finally, others have examined the micropolitics of gender by examining the subjectivities of migrant women, particularly as mothers or cosmopolitan adventurers. Since the 1980s, we have also witnessed growing recognition of the global scope of women’s migration and the decentering of the United States and the West in contemporary empirical investigations of migrants’ gendered experiences. These works highlight how women migrate as workers, wives, and students to not only North America or Europe but also to Latin America and Asia. Migrant women also originate from disparate countries and regions, with larger groups coming from Mexico and Central America, Southeast Asia, in particular, Indonesia and the Philippines, and eastern Europe. However, gender and migration scholarship’s focus on women’s experiences has been criticized for privileging heteronormative assumptions about gender and for neglecting to incorporate the perspectives of men and sexual minorities. Masculinity studies have attempted to address such gaps in existing gender and migration scholarship by challenging the primacy of Western hegemonic masculinity. Likewise, the literature on sexuality and migration has challenged heteronormative assumptions underpinning migration theories and conceptualizations, insisting that sexuality is central to the regulation of migration and migrant experiences. This annotated bibliography provides an overview of the study of gender, sexuality, and migration. It begins with studies that provide a big picture of the study of gender and migration. It then proceeds to highlight how gender shapes institutions of migration (the state, family) followed by case studies of different groups of migrant women (students, brides, sex workers, domestic workers). Finally, it addresses thematic issues central to our understanding of gender and migration (trafficking, sexuality, masculinity). The dominance of US-centered studies in gender and migration research is reflected in this bibliography.

Gender and Migration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Syswerda
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Muslim Identities

While much of the literature about Muslim identities has tended to focus on British-born Muslims in densely populated ‘Muslim’ localities, the experiences of Muslim migrants living outside such localities have been largely overlooked. This leaves unanswered questions about the role of ‘other’ women – that is, women from diverse religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds – in shaping Muslim migrant women’s sense of self and their attitudes towards post-migration life. This chapter seeks to address this oversight by exploring the ways in which recent Muslim migrant women to Scotland construct new identities in relation to the ‘other’ women whom they encounter in their post-migration, everyday lives, including friends, neighbours and local community members. Thus, this chapter steps off from what is now a ‘relatively widespread understanding of the self as a relational achievement’ (Conradson and McKay, 2007: 167).

scholarly journals The Role of Cultural Beliefs, Norms, and Practices in Nigerian Women’s Experiences of Sexual Abuse and Violence

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780122110001
Author(s):  
Chinyere Elsie Ajayi ◽  
Khatidja Chantler ◽  
Lorraine Radford
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Rape Myths ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Male Privilege ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Bride Price

This study aims to explore if and how cultural beliefs, norms, and practices might contribute to Nigerian women’s experiences of sexual abuse and violence. In-depth narrative interviews were conducted with 12 women of Nigerian origin living in the Northwest of England who had experienced sexual abuse and violence. Women’s accounts were analyzed thematically, and drawing upon a feminist-intersectional conceptual framework, analysis reveals that male privilege defined by gendered role and expectation, religious beliefs, rape myths, and bride-price with the associated practice of libation may have contributed to women’s experiences of sexual abuse and violence.

Embodiment, agency, unmet need: Young women’s experiences in the use and non-use of contraception in Khayelitsha, South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Sarena Hayer ◽  
Kira DiClemente ◽  
Alison Swartz ◽  
Zipho Chihota ◽  
Christopher J. Colvin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences

An Examination of Women's Perspectives on Power

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia L. Miller ◽  
A. Gaye Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Personal Authority ◽  
Women’S Perceptions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Men's Experience ◽  
The Way

Historically, theoretical and popular conceptions about power have not included or addressed women's experiences. This study adds to the growing body of knowledge about women by examining women's perceptions of and relationship to power. One hundred twenty-five women, ranging in age from 21 to 63, were asked to define and explore power through a variety of structured and open-ended questions. The results showed that women's definition of power differed significantly from their perception of society's definition of power, as well as from the way power has traditionally been conceptualized. More theoretical and empirical attention should be given to understanding the role of personal authority in both women's and men's experience of power.

scholarly journals The essential role of physiotherapists in providing rehabilitation services to people living with HIV in South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Cobbing ◽  
V. Chetty ◽  
J. Hanass-Hancock ◽  
J. Jelsma ◽  
H. Myezwa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Education Courses

Despite increased access to highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) in South Africa, there remains a high risk of people living with HIV (PLHIV) developing a wide range of disabilities. Physiotherapists are trained to rehabilitate individuals with the disabilities related to HIV. Not only can South African physiotherapists play a significant role in improving the lives of PLHIV, but by responding proactively to the HIV epidemic they can reinforce the relevance and value of the profession in this country at a time when many newly qualified therapists are unable to secure employment. This paper offers recommendations that may help to fuel this response. These ideas include enhancing HIV curricula at a tertiary level, designing and attending continuing education courses on HIV and researching Southern African rehabilitation interventions for HIV at all levels of practice. furthermore, it is vital that physiotherapists are at the forefront of directing multi-disciplinary responses to the rehabilitation of PLHIV in order to influence stakeholders who are responsible for health policy formulation. it is hoped that this paper stimulates discussion and further ideas amongst physiotherapists and other health professionals in order to improve the quality and access to care available to PLHIV in South Africa.

South Africa at a Turning Point?

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Zuern
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
State Collapse ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Electricity Provision

South Africa is at a crossroads. The state has not adequately addressed dire human development needs, often failing to provide the services it constitutionally guarantees. As a result, citizens are expressing their frustrations in a variety of ways, at times including violence. These serious challenges are most readily apparent in poverty, inequality and unemployment statistics, but also in electricity provision, billing and affordability as well as a recent spate of racially motivated attacks which highlight the tension both among South Africans and between South Africans and darker skinned foreigners. The country has, however, been on the brink before and avoided the worst-case scenario of full-scale civil war and state collapse. Far too often South Africa's past successes have been attributed to the role of one man, Nelson Mandela. While Mandela was indeed an extraordinary human being who rightly deserved the international awards and accolades as well as the deep admiration of so many, South Africa's triumphs as a society and a state are the product of both cooperative and conflicting contributions by a wide range of actors. A central question at the present juncture is how well equipped domestic actors and institutions are to address the crisis. The following pages seek to provide some insights and through the perspectives of three authors to consider causes and possible responses.

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.

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