Migrant women in Australia.

Abstract

The author compares the status of non-English speaking (NES) migrant women with that of their native-born counterparts in Australia. She concludes that "Australian born women and migrant women have certain experiences in common; low economic position, being the target of discriminatory practices in education and in work, and their overall marginality in the power structure. In addition their jobs have much in common: for all women are disadvantaged compared with men in terms of earnings, occupational status, and job mobility. However,...NES migrant women tend to be employed in much lower-level, lower-status, and lower-paying occupations than Australian born women.... They face circumstances unique to their ethnic groups which they share with the men of their ethnic groups. Migrant women, even more than indigenous working class women see the family as a site of solidarity and supportive alliance against a hostile or new environment...."