Work and Family Conundrums: Work and Family Conundrums: A Transnational ViewA Transnational View

What are some of the factors that might account for differences in the ways in which women experience and negotiate work and family life?

Factors Shaping Experiences of Factors Shaping Experiences of Work & Family LifeWork & Family Life

Race Ethnicity Class

Immigration/Legal Status Social/Kin Networks

Labour Force Experience

Education Geography

Access to birth control and safe/legal abortion

OverviewOverview

• Gender and labour migration• Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program • Role conflict• Effects of the balancing act: commonalities

and contradictions

Gender and Labour MigrationGender and Labour Migration

• Canada is increasingly reliant on a temporary workforce

• Women constitute approximately half of labour migration flows– Debt and structural adjustment programs

increased unemployment, shrinking traditional industries, decreased social spending

– Secondary poverty– Constraints of gender

Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP)Program (SAWP)

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

197819801982198419861988199019921994199619982000200220042006

Source: Depatie-Pelletier 2008

SAWP workers are normally not SAWP workers are normally not allowed to:allowed to:

• Stay in Canada after their contract or ever become citizens

• Change employers• Appeal a decision to be fired, repatriated, or

expelled from the program • Bargain collectively (legally forbidden in Ontario)• Stay in Canada if they are too sick or injured to

continue working• Integrate into their communities• Determine where/with whom they live

Gender Discrimination on the SAWPGender Discrimination on the SAWP

• Women receive fewer and shorter contracts• Assigned to tasks that women are deemed to

be naturally better at• Mexican women are required to be single

mothers in order to qualify• No maternity leave, rarely able to access

parental benefits• Repatriation can occur if found to be pregnant• Stricter farm rules applied to women

Role ConflictRole Conflict• Role conflict refers to the psychological effects of being

faced with sets of incompatible expectations or demands• Women are much more likely than men to experience role

conflict and role overload• Mexican women are required to be single mothers in order

to qualify for the SAWP, making them particularly likely to experience role conflict

“They told me my baby was sick…he wasn’t getting better. So what could I do? I was going to go home and my sister said, “don’t come back because if you do you will be here with the baby, but if the baby is still sick, what will you do with no money?” But money isn’t enough for the love of a child. A child doesn’t need money, rather affection and love. What if one day he says to me, Mama, I needed you, not money.”

“I send money to my parents and my son, but it’s not enough, because I need to be there… So yes, there isn’t enough money, but what’s really missing is oneself, as a mother, one’s presence.”

Effects of “Balancing Act:”Effects of “Balancing Act:”Commonalities and ContradictionsCommonalities and Contradictions

• Self-esteem and personal satisfaction• Identity, Community, and Social Support• Health

• Must consider factors such as socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, education, labour-force experience, immigration status, etc.

Self-Esteem and SatisfactionSelf-Esteem and Satisfaction• Paid work can be a source of increased self

esteem and personal satisfaction• Expansion hypothesis: multiple roles increase

sense of mastery, self esteem, identity and the social and economic rewards

• Women on the SAWP discuss contradictory feelings of pride and threatened self-esteem

“I am doing this also for pride, to show them, that I don’t need anyone to get ahead, that I am someone and I am worth a lot and I can do this on my own.”

“All of us are replaceable. And this…this… damages our self-esteem. All of us would like for our bosses to be loyal to us the way we are loyal to them. But when you are no longer of any use, plain and simple, you’re gone – period.”

Identity, Community, and Social Identity, Community, and Social SupportSupport

• Paid work is associated with more social involvement and an independent identity

• However, the kind of work and the power relations involved can make a difference:

• Migrant workers on SAWP considered by many scholars to be “unfree labour”

• Displacement and disruption of social and support networks

• Interpersonal tension and rivalry

“The fear we feel of losing our spot weakens our strength and unity. What power do we have? There is nothing we can do. Our government doesn’t fight for us and even some people betray each other to look good for the boss.”

“(In Canada) there’s no one to say, here, have a taco; you have to care for yourself. If you don’t cook for yourself, you don’t eat. No one cares for you. Here you are worth nothing. If something were to happen to you, no one would care. You are important to nobody.”

Women, Work, and HealthWomen, Work, and Health

• Studies in the U.S show that employed women appear to be happier and healthier than homemakers, except when they have infants to care for

• Employed women have lower risk of heart disease than either homemakers or women unable to find steady work

Women, Work, and Health:Women, Work, and Health:Physical HealthPhysical Health

• Agricultural work has the highest incidence of workplace fatalities and disabling injuries in the U.S

• SAWP workers face significant barriers to accessing health care, despite being covered by OHIP

• Lack of access to birth control, STI testing, prenatal care

• Reported high incidence of miscarriage and birth defects

Women, Work, and Health:Women, Work, and Health:Mental HealthMental Health

• Studies have found migrant workers to be at “extraordinary risk” for mental health symptoms due to:

Discrimination/poverty/limited mobility/poor housing conditions/inadequate social support/traumatic life events

“Canada is bad for my mental health. Because of Canada I now appreciate the freedom and ability to grow I have in my own country. Here if I have the will to do something, learn something, I am held back, because I think what Canada needs from the Mexican people is a labour force, just labour power.”

Women, Work, and Health: Women, Work, and Health: Gender DimensionsGender Dimensions

• Stress and anxiety over adequate care of children• Gender discrimination• Sexual Harassment • Unwanted pregnancies• Social stigma related to single motherhood, sexual

activity, violations of traditional gender roles• Increased surveillance and more limiting farm rules

Questions?Comments?