A stratified analysis of the ICT-based communicative practices and networks of migrant women

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of 60 women migrants in the US and their information and communication technology (ICT) based communication practices within their networks. Drawing on transnational feminist theory and the extended case method, differences amongst the participants emerged. Those participants who migrated with abundant human, social and cultural capital reserves used their greater online presence, technological resources, and digital aptitudes to connect to their families from a far through ICTs, which had the effect of widening their networks. Their intensive and widespread use of ICTs with family and friends fueled their aspirations to move onwards or return to their countries with greater leverage. Those participants with marginal levels were not online and they used domestic landlines to contact their away-families. They connected more with local co-ethnics and institutions on a face-to-face basis, thereby strengthening their community bonds. They concentrated their few resources on making social and economic investments for the next generation, and therefore could afford little in-depth contact with their families abroad. The findings have implications for expanding education initiatives and communication infrastructures, as well as relaxing restrictive immigration policies that keep families physically apart.