Indian Immigrant Women and Work: The American Experience

Ramya Vijaya will present perspectives from her recent book “Indian Immigrant Women and Work: The American Experience”, co-authored with WWU Political Science professor Bidisha Biswas. The book investigates the work trajectories and related assimilation experiences of independent Indian women who have chosen their own migratory pathways in the U.S. Narratives about women immigrants tend to be narrow, primarily viewed either as family migrants following the path chosen by men, or victims of desperation, forced into the migrant path due to economic exigencies. This book widens the narrative by focusing on a group of independent, high-skilled women immigrants. Though they may be a relatively privileged and empowered group, their lives intersect with the gender constraints of labor markets in both India and the U.S., which provides a unique perspective to the immigrant assimilation narrative.

VIDEO

Sponsored in part by: The Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, WWU

Date

Quarter

Fall

Speaker Bio

Ramya M. Vijaya is a professor of economics at Stockton University, New Jersey, and while also teaching in the interdisciplinary global studies minor. Her research is in the area of labor markets, globalization and feminist political economy.