They are in silence : refugee women's narratives.

Abstract

THEY ARE IN SILENCE: REFUGEE WOMEN'S NARRATIVES Erin E. Herbert April 11, 2011 This work explores the personal narratives of a group refugee women recently resettled in Louisville, Kentucky, participating in the Family Center program at Kentucky Refugee Ministries. This research shows that both local and national refugee resettlement policies are complicit in the marginalization of refugee women. These policies falsely construct refugee women as a universalized other, silencing the diverse experiences and needs of women resettled in the United States. In tum scholarship and an aid discourse that positions refugee women's employment as supplementary to male income is based on assumed social constructions of gender inconsistent with many refugee women's experiences both before and after resettlement. Yet, many of the discriminatory practices in refugee resettlement can be diminished by an incorporation of women's voices into the refugee aid discourse.