The Labour Market Prospects for Pakistani and Bangladeshi Women

Abstract

This paper examines change and diversity in the lives of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women using qualitative interviews based in Oldham and secondary analysis of the Fourth National Ethnic Minority Survey. There was clear evidence of change across generations. Most of the older women had not been born in the UK and many were limited in their ability to speak English. This, together with a lack of formal qualifications, posed a considerable barrier to seeking paid work outside the home. In addition, many women had heavy family responsibilities that were compounded by material hardship. However, younger women who had been educated in the UK and had no language barrier saw paid work as a means to independence and self-esteem. Multivariate models showed that women with higher qualifications were much more likely to be economically active than women without qualifications or with overseas qualifications. However, the presence of dependent children had a strong negative effect. These factors also influenced the economic activity of white women but with much smaller differentials. Even with higher-level qualifications, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women experience considerable barriers to employment and have high levels of unemployment. Whilst most women subscribed strongly to the centrality of the family, it is clear that the majority will follow very different routes through the life-course from their mothers. Adherence to the lslamic faith was not, of itself, seen as a deterrent to women's participation in the labour market.

Engendering the fertility-migration nexus: The role of women's migratory patterns in the analysis of fertility after migration

“…However, for female migrants of some nationalities the transition to work rarely occurs even when their children are grown up, as community norms and cultural values tend to prevent these women from being involved in paid work. In some communities participation in the job market is discouraged based on the belief − which may be held by the women themselves as well as by their husbands and families − that the male partner should be the breadwinner (Dale et al 2002;Aston et al 2007;Read 2004).…”

Transnational Marriages and Second-Generation Women’s Employment

“…In Norway, the reported employment rate for second-generation women of Pakistani descent is just below 60 per cent (Østby 2013) 1 . This is lower than the female average in Norway, which is above 80 per cent, but substantially higher than the employment rate for Pakistani immigrant women, which is below 35 per cent (Østby 2013: see also Dale et al 2002). In transnational marriages among the second generation, the spouses may have been raised in societies with contrasting gender norms and practices concerning women's employment.…”

“…Participation in the labour market is used as a key indicator of integration, and a pertinent question as the second generation comes of age is whether the low rates of female employment that have characterised many immigrant groups will be reproduced in the second generation (e.g. Cheung 2014; Dale et al 2002). When second-generation women marry men from their parents' country of origin, there seems to be a fear in public and political discourse that the migrant husbands will impede processes of integration because they can bring with them patriarchal understandings of gender and uphold the so-called traditional family practices that will keep their wives out of the labour market.…”

Economic activity in the South-Asian population in Britain: the impact of ethnicity, religion, and class

“…However, we should also not underestimate the impact of culture and attribute all the ethnic differences in employment to structural (class) differences. To explain our view further, take the example of Muslim women in the UK who, it is suggested, are less likely to become economically active due to religion and cultural values and norms (Abbas, 2003, Ahmad et al, 2003, Dale et al, 2002, Holdsworth and Dale, 1997, and when they become economically active, they are very selective in terms of what job they are prepared to do. The decision of a Muslim woman to become economically active and what job she is willing to do very often lies within the cultural norms of the family and expectations of the community (Herzog, 2004).…”