Abstract
Immigration policies and practices have differential impacts depending on the gender of the immigrant. In Caroline Bretell’s timely and well-crafted book, Gender and Migration, she skillfully details the interdisciplinary research that has emerged on the topic of gender and migration to the United States. In an effort to emphasize the gendered dimensions of sending and receiving countries, she weaves in discussions of research on gendered migration to and from other countries. In the past, the study of immigration focused primarily on the experiences of male migrants. However, Gender and Migration is part of a recent line of scholarship that examines the experiences of male and female migrants for whom globalization’s effects drive family members to migrate to the United States. Bretell argues that understanding gender relations is vital to a comprehensive understanding of the factors and consequences of migration, as gender identity shapes every aspect of the migration experience.
Bretell succeeds in providing a well-researched historical analysis that contrasts gendered dimensions of migration from the mid-19th and early 20th centuries with more contemporary movements to the United States. Each chapter examines a different gendered aspect of international migration by exploring the similarities and differences among mobility patterns. The first two chapters describe how migration to the United States has changed over time from predominantly males to waves of mostly females and to the present gendered-balanced flow. These patterns are influenced by gendered immigration policies and labor markets as well as by gender ideologies in sending societies. Bretell effectively illuminates how immigration laws, policies, and politics are embedded in heteronormative gendered inequities. For example, the U.S. Immigration Act of 1965 shifted immigration policy toward a focus on family reunification. Even so, it promoted a narrow heteronormative definition of family, allowing women to enter the United States as wives of the primary migrant, which relegated married women to the status of dependents upon male breadwinners (p. 47). Such policies continue to influence migration processes among migrants in the United States.
Chapter 3 discusses gendered, racial, and class-based inequities of the labor market, which Bretell contends shape the migration process and impact households and families in significant ways. The author argues that male and female migrants fill different occupational niches that reflect gender ideologies and labor demands in the United States. Bretell also provides evidence of immigrants, male and female, who demonstrate strong agency by overcoming structural gendered constraints, by acquiring high human capital, and by often entering the professional class as small-business owners. Chapter 4 shifts the focus to the immigrant family. Here, Bretell presents important contributions from the literature that demonstrate how migration impacts gender roles in the United States. For instance, the author describes how male migrants (those who leave behind family members) take responsibility for their own domestic lives in the United States; and, female migrants who often migrate alone serve as the primary breadwinner by sending remittances back home and taking on their husband’s previous duties. This pattern of remittances to families of origin from women in the United States ultimately results in a renegotiation of gender relations among transnational families.
One of the most compelling contributions of this book is Bretell’s call to action in the conclusion. She calls on scholars to continue the necessary work of bringing visibility to the issues of gender, migration, class, race and the migration experiences of gay and lesbian migrants, who are often overlooked in the research. The author encourages scholars to continue advancing the theoretical work on gender and migration by using comparative, intersectional, and binational approaches. Such approaches would show how immigration status intersects with gender, race, and class and how it plays a role in decisions to migrate and settle into new economic and political contexts. Gender and Migration is an accessible and worthwhile resource for students and scholars interested in understanding the causes and consequences of migration and the gendered dynamics of global mobility. Although not grounded in the field of social work, this book offers a significant contribution to social work scholars and practitioners. Social workers are currently serving the needs of immigrant populations, and those needs are likely to increase. As a result, social work educators and practitioners should be aware of the intersections of gender, race, and class and consider their implications for immigrant families’ needs. Therefore, Gender and Migration’s contributions bridge an important gap in the literature on immigration, gender, and social work practice.