The life of women immigrants in the United States

Women Immigrants

Problems Faced by American Women in the United States

One of the first immigrant women, the Statue of Liberty that stands on Ellis Island, is over 100 years old. She was a gift from France as a result of the rocky alliance that was achieved between the two countries. According to the National Park Service, "the Statue of Liberty has grown to include freedom and democracy as well as this international friendship" (U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d.). But this female Statue has come to represent far more than the values of the United States and the friendship between the United States and France. Instead, it represents the refuge that the United States gives to many. In fact, at the base of the statue are the famous words: "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breath free" (Jewish Women's Archive, 2009a). Although these lines have been quoted many times by those who wish to comment on immigration policies in the United States, they are not often attributed. Indeed, they were written by the Jewish-American woman poet who "faced the challenge of belonging to two often conflicting worlds" (Jewish Women's Archive 2009a). Indeed, she was faced with "unequal treatment of both," and "her complicated identity has obscured her place in American culture" (Jewish Women's Archive, 2009a). Although Lazarus was not an immigrant, in fact her family "traced their ancestry back to America's First Jewish settlers" (Jewish Women's Archive, 2009b), she faced the frustration of many American women immigrants in that her culture often clashed with American culture. Indeed, as a demographic group, women immigrants faced and continue to face problems that are much different than men's. Although immigration encourages diversity, the minority groups brought into the United States by immigration are not necessarily met with the openness suggested by Lazarus's poem. Instead, discrimination is rampant, especially among the minority groups in the minority group -- demographic groups like women and homosexuals.

A survey of the problems encountered by women immigrants begins with an examination of the roles that the play, and the way immigration emphasizes, fabricates, and maintains those roles. For instance, Sullivan (1994) argues that women have traditionally been neglected in the United States' "debate over immigration" because they are seen as "tied immigrants" (para. 1). Thus, Sullivan (1994) writes that women are seen as immigrating "because of the opportunities offered to other, usually male, members of the family" (para. 1). For this reason, neglect and misinterpretation, as well as the opportunities that have passed them by, are some of the problems that women immigrants have had to face. This stereotype was propagated by the fact that "conventional demographic wisdom" suggested that women tended to travel over short distances, but because modern transportation has eased the burden of movement, this stereotype must change. Furthermore, while a traditional assumption was made, regarding the "principal motive for migration" as economics, many now seek to immigrate for other cultural reasons (Sullivan, 1994, para. 5-7). Furthermore, with women achieving many goals in the career force, women have begun to enter the United States as skilled workers (Sullivan, 1994, para. 9). Thus, stereotyping, or the belief that they come to the United States because of the needs of their families, has been a problem with which many women immigrants must deal. Because of this, women immigrants may not be seen as capable as men or as skilled. While stereotyping against women has along history in the United States, the modern woman continued to be seen without the feminist movement that has colored the rest of the female population.

Furthermore, women immigrant workers have faced challenges in nearly every arena. Although scholarship largely ignored women immigrant's stories for much of literary history, their resurgence during the 20th century revealed few differences from the narratives of men. Women immigrants who migrated during the later part of the 20th century did so largely to become workers in the new country. They experienced many problems that were not associated with male workers, especially those women who were not working in skilled jobs, but rather blue-collar occupations. Women faced challenges when organizing for political and union rights that men did not necessarily face. In addition, domestic work, a field that was largely reserved for women, saw the collision of public and private realms, with sexual, cultural, and personal implications (Schneider 2003). Thus, immigrant women not only faced the challenge of remaining anonymous, fighting against the stereotype that they were simply wives and others pulled along by other immigrants, but also the much more difficult task of surviving in the work world. This may, indeed, account for the fact that fewer immigrant women than men have high levels of education, including bachelor's degrees and post-graduate degrees (Grieco 2002).

Of course, many women who immigrate to the United States do, in fact, exemplify these stereotypes. That women come to the United States as wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters is not, in itself, a problem, but the abuse of immigrant women is a subject of much discussion. Immigrant women are at risk for abuse in the United States for many reasons. Some may have "a cultural background that teaches them to defer to their husbands," some have trouble with the English languages, and some "do not know their rights in the United States" ("Spouse and What Partner" n.d.). Many immigrant women, rightly or no, believe that they will be deported if they disobey their husband's wishes. For instance, women who come to the United States living in or as a result of an arranged marriage bay be stripped of their belongings and even their passports upon entering the country. Husbands will insist that their wives rely on them for everything, attempting to prevent them from going off on their own ("Spouse and What Partner" n.d.). Mail order brides, or women who enter the United States to marry a stranger in exchange for legal status, can suffer gruesome abuse at the hands of their husbands, who have control over them, as their legal status is in question if they seek a divorce (Anderson 1993). Although the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments were enacted in order to prevent this sort of spousal abuse, they do not put an end to all domestic violence and difficulties. What they do, however, is establish the fact that abuse, especially domestic violence, has been an immigrant women's issue for quite some time ("Spouse and What Partner" n.d.). Although the abuse of immigrant women is now no greater than domestic violence throughout the United States, some argue that immigrant women's situations are "exacerbated by their specific position as immigrants, including limited host-language skills, lack of access to dignified jobs, uncertain legal statuses, and experiences in their home countries" ("Spouse and What Partner" n.d.). Though perhaps more pronounced in the United States, the problem is also of concern for women immigrants to other Western countries, like Canada (Pinedo and Santinoli 2001). Despite this history, violence continues to be a problem for women migrating to the United States. Indeed, the problem increases for women who enter this country illegally. Bell (2008) tells the story of a woman who emigrated from Mexico illegally with an abusive husband. He constantly threatened her, telling her that if she tried to leave him he would report her to the authorities. Because she did not want to go back to Mexico, and she was worried that she would loose custody of her children. Finally, though, she decided to appeal for legal immigration through the Violence Against Women Act. Now, she is succeeding, having opened her own business and still seeing her daughters (Bell 2008). But with the Department of Homeland Security changing requirements for immigration and legalization, some worry that this common problem will be exacerbated (Lee 2008).