Femininity, mobility and family fears: Indian international student migration and transnational parental control

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the migration of Indian-trained nurses enrolled in a post-graduate critical/geriatric care programme at a Canadian public college. Calling upon recent literature on gender, modernity and mobility in India, I examine the extent to which skilled transnational migration is shaped by gender relations established in India. While feminized international migration suggests increased autonomy of female migrants, this research highlights two important dimensions of such migration. The first is that family migration strategies are major determinants of the occupational choice and migration processes that daughters engage in, and the second is that the moral subjectivity of daughters is maintained through transnational methods of care and control.

Brokering International Education and (re)producing Class in Mumbai

“…backgrounds. Following previous studies that have highlighted gender as central to migration experiences and trajectories, including international student experiences (for example: Pessar and Mahler, ; Kofman and Raghuram, ; Walton‐Roberts, ; Sondhi and King ), our student samples contained equal proportions of men (50%) and women (50%) in order to capture potential gendered difference. However, there were no perceptible gendered differences in students’ discussions of brokers.…”

Hiding in Plain Sight: The Absence of Consideration of the Gendered Dimensions in ‘Source’ Country Perspectives of Health Worker Migration

“…The feminization of migration is particularly striking for health workers who are themselves disproportionately female, and with female nurses encompassing the dominant health worker migrant group (Brush and Sochalski, 2007;Walton-Roberts, 2015b). Indeed, women migrants are over-represented globally in health and care sectors in which care-work has typically been undervalued because of its gendered female nature (Folbre, 2012).…”

Depression, a Hidden Mental Health Disparity in an Asian Indian Immigrant Community

“…Even AI women seemingly more connected to U.S. culture by getting advanced education often experience similar challenges. A recent study [ 16 ] noted that Indian nursing students might erroneously be considered independent and autonomous based on their skill level and immigration status. However, in actuality, these women were found to be under the care and containment of their distant families in India, who had orchestrated their migration for the improved socio-economic status of the family or collective interests.…”

“…Women are expected to balance their immigration and its intrinsic “freedom” by maintaining gendered patriarchal values, demonstrated by their dedication to their responsibilities of home and husband, thus safe-guarding family honor. Fear of social penalty, being disavowed by their families, or violence if perceived to be behaving inappropriately is distressing to AI immigrant women [ 16 ].…”

“…Though it may seem that AI women in the U.S. are somewhat “freed” of the pressure traditional women in India face, they are keenly aware of high expectations of their new families in the U.S. as well as from back home in India. Indeed, families in India often fear that the women will conduct themselves dishonorably due to the perception that with emigration they will inherently have increased mobility and engagement with Western society [ 16 ] and begin to adopt some of what are considered less desirable values and behaviors. However, in reality, AI immigrant women often face a controlling spouse and in-laws instead of newfound freedom.…”