Migrant Women

Most females are not respected and are heavily pressured by their parents. Many Chinese women are expected to be in arranged marriages and are not respected in their family or the work-place. Woman that aren’t even born yet suffer from infanticide. If the parents came to find that they were having a girl from ultrasound- they would abort that child and try for a boy causing pre-birth ultrasounds to be banned. “Negative social consequences, particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy took effect.” (Document E) “I hate to say it but the one-child policy should party be blamed for some social issues in youth today.” “She wished she has a brother or sister to share all the attention.” (Document F) This evidence supports the claim that the one-child policy was a bad policy because women have always been culturally no preferable, causing unborn females to be aborted.

“We may look and act modern in many ways, but we can’t escape what we are... obedient chinese daughters.” This quote sums up the world that May and Pearl live in, that no matter the culture, no matter the time period, and no matter the situation, your gender decides your fate or does it? The theme of gender and how they dictate our roles in society run rampant in Shanghai Girls by Lisa Lee. Lee’s novel covers a great deal about the immigrant experience and the struggles they had to go through to adapt to their new environment but one thing they didn 't need to adapt was the parts they played in their families. The importance of this traditional society,where the men are the breadwinners and the women the caretakers are first shown in how Pearl and Mays family worked. The father was expected to make money and take care of the household, while the mother, May and Pearl were off fooling around. When the situation turns dire, the father does not conform to his role to help his family and takes the easy way out and sells off his daughters. However the father did not account for his daughters refusing the offer he already made to pay back his debts. This caused a thunderstorm of confusion and trouble, which led to the death of respect, Pearl had for her father. For in this critical moment, the father wet himself and could not muster out a word but the mother brilliantly stepped in and defused the situation. “I see hardness in her that I’ve never seen before.”,

Because of his efforts and the ripple-effect they created, Chinese women, who make up 49 percent of the Chinese population and 46 percent of the labor force, have obtained a higher proportion of management than women in many Western countries (Hu). While those who possess anti- communist sentiment continue to focus on societal restrictions, it is more important to recognize the benefits of the ideological underpinnings on which communism was founded and enabled to strive for equality so quickly. The newly established Constitution of the PRC and the Marriage Reform Law swiftly demolished China’s strict social structures and allowed women to escape traditional mentalities (Hu). In doing so, unprecedented progress in achieving equality was made under the communist reign, faster and more efficiently than can be touted by even today’s most democratic and free

Illegal, Latina immigrant women experiencing domestic violence are highly unlikely to report this violence to law enforcement and are unable take legal action against their husbands. These women live in constant fear of being discovered and deported and consequently are unlikely to view law enforcement as a helpful resource. Immigrant women are more likely experience domestic violence due to a number of factors. Because of their illegal status, these women are more likely to live in poverty which, according to Bergen, means that they are more likely to experience male to female interpersonal violence (Bergen 2005). High in-home stress coupled with the constant fear of being discovered and deported also leads to a higher likelihood of violence (Barnett, Miller-Perrin, Perrin, 2011). Even if these women want to leave their home and take action against their husbands, most are economically dependent on their partners. While the United States has the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA, which can aid illegal immigrants experiencing domestic violence in obtaining a visa, the fear of deportation keeps many women from seeking aid from social services and law enforcement. The lack of resources and fear ultimately allows domestic violence to perpetuate amidst an already vulnerable, invisible population.

All over the globe, violence and discrimination against women and girls violates their human rights and severely compromised their perception of equality. Culture, false beliefs and ancient traditions, such as early marriage, the nuclear family, gender-based discrimination, which lead to violence against women and femicide, destroyed young girls ' mental and physical wellbeing and self-esteem by supporting the ideas that gender-based discrimination and inequality is acceptable in our societies.

stools, so they wouldn’t fall into the fire place. Pioneers who lived on the Midwestern plains put babies in wooden boxes then secured them to the poles of their plows. Southern dirt farmers put pegs into the ground at the edge of the field they were working on and tied their children to the pegs to prevent them from running too far. African American mothers often had to take care of the white children along with their own which often led to the older black children helping to take care of their younger siblings. The African mothers would sing white babies to sleep while their own children had to comfort themselves. Migrant labor mothers had to give their babies shade in the beet fields where they were working, they would make tents for them.

The economy of China boomed once Deng opened its market to foreign investment. It was this shift that caused Wong to start to feel “schizophrenic” (186), and made her reflect on exactly who she was and what she truly believed in. It was also here that a small sentiment of democracy begin to upheave.

Rural women struggled under the double burden of both work and child rearing (Roberts, 1999). And, infamously, the one-child family policy, which required most Chinese families to have only a single child, robbed women of any control over their own bodies. This paper will recount the history of the Chinese government’s struggle with its growing population, culminating in the one-child policy, describe the goals and enforcement methods of the policy itself, examine the effectiveness of the policy, outline the government’s shift to its new, current two-child policy, and argue that the one-child policy shows the continuation of female repression in China, despite the Communists’ promises.

For this oral history course I will explore the topic of immigrant’s laborers and their story as me and two other students of the class, have been selected to be internes for The Immigrant Workers Center and contribute to the creation of a collection of stories from immigrant laborers to add clips to the organisation’s website. I am particularly interested by this project, as I already have some knowledge about immigrants and their struggles due to my parents, yet I seek to learn more and hear new stories, new perspectives and new experiences about immigration. The knowledge about the immigrants’ difficulties and concerns that I have comes from my parents and their friends, who are partly Ukrainian and Congolese. Now I want to hear from

The article by Maureen Anthony et al. (2008) analyzed the health needs of migrant workers. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of family composition, employment, patterns of migration, and the services needed by migrant farmworkers. The study was conducted in 3 counties in Michigan. In order to gather data researchers conducted interviews and surveys with farmworkers. There were 1,314 family members that participated in the research. Those interviewed listed language as the main barrier to health care followed by the cost of healthcare, transportation problems, conflicts with time, as well as the hours of operation. These farmworkers also believed the most beneficial service to be dental care. It is estimated that 300,000

With China’s one-child policy in play for so many years, it has had a big impact on the overall population. As it’s found typical that married couples in urban areas

a partner of their choosing, rather than the old tradition of a mate being selected

The emergence of the market economy has spurred unprecedented waves of rural to urban migration seeking emplotment. One particular group of women that have migrated, especially for factory work, are dagongmei, or “working girls,” young female migrants. As explored in Leslie Chang’s book Factory Girls and her TED talk, it is important to listen to the voices and lived experiences of the migrants themselves, rather than speak for them or assume them to be helpless victims of capitalist exploitation. It is important to recognize that many of these women choose to migrate for a variety of reasons, some to get away from the family, some to gain a sense of independence, others to escape a difficult rural life. As explored in her book Made in China, Pan Pun Ngai does agree that it is true that many women eagerly migrate for work voluntarily, and usually do not view their circumstance as being one of victimhood. In fact, many view the label of dagongmei as not an identity to be ashamed of, but rather a new identity and sense of self for the millions of young country women

Many issues are addressed in Shanghai Girls. The main one is the social and political conditions of Chinese people at the time (1930-50’s) living in the United States, and how difficult it was for them, especially for women, to find their place. Another important issue is the importance of the family, more precisely the role each member plays and how they must obey the patriarch.

There have been significance changes in these practices and they remain significantly distinct in Urban and rural areas. For instance, free marriage is promoted now. Rural women, unlike before have more freedom, they have their own choice in migrating to the new cities to work where they are often seen as the “cheap” labor. Unlike traditionally, women are economical independent of their husbands. There is huge gap between urban and rural China, especially when it comes to the gender equality. This fact, adds further complexity in explaining the marital and family situations. Rural china still reflects on following their ancestral customs whereas the urban China is following the footsteps of the developed nations. There is increasing preference for nuclear family. Furthermore, urbanizations have changed beliefs of people when it comes to children. Having children was considered first priority before, but now most of these