Doctoral Dissertation Research: Constrained Choices: Negotiating Work, Family, and Legality

Jacqueline Hagan霍利·K·施特劳特·埃普斯泰纳北卡罗来纳州大学查佩尔希拉分校大量的工作-家庭学术研究已经演变成研究美国女性如何做出与工作和家庭相关的决定。然而，尽管美国存在大量女性移民，但很少有研究研究外国出生的女性，特别是500万无证女性。无证、外国出生的妇女的劳动力参与率低于男性、有证件的移民妇女和土生土长的妇女。为了研究在外国出生的拉丁裔女性如何在不稳定的法律条件下做出关于工作和家庭的决定，这项博士论文研究考察了三个问题：1)拉丁裔移民女性如何？S的法律地位和家庭结构如何决定她们在美国新目的地社区的劳动力决定和机会？2)拉美裔移民如何在不稳定的法律地位条件下谈判成为母亲？3)新目的地社区的女性如何解释和回应联邦、州和地方各级不断变化的移民政策和接待背景？为了回答这些问题，联合PI正在对北卡罗来纳州中部的拉美裔移民母亲进行深入采访，并在讨论移民计划和政策的社区会议上进行参与者观察。该项目将通过将工作-家庭和国际移徙文献联系起来，发展对美国新移民目的地妇女劳动力决定的理解，以及产生对性别和国际移徙政策的新理解，来促进社会学知识。这些发现将与国际移民、性别、工作和职业的学者以及地方、州和联邦各级的政策制定者和移民服务组织相关。在美国政府不同级别都在寻求解决与无证人口和混合身份家庭成员相关的权利和法规之际，这项研究尤其重要。

SES-1602352Jacqueline HaganHolly K. Straut EppsteinerUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel HillA large body of work-family scholarship has evolved to examine how women in the United States make decisions related to work and family. Yet despite the significant presence of female immigrants in the United States, few studies have examined these issues among foreign-born women, particularly the five million women who are undocumented. Undocumented, foreign-born women have lower labor force participation rates than their male counterparts, documented immigrant women, and native-born women. To examine how foreign-born Latina women make decisions about work and family under precarious legal conditions, this doctoral dissertation research examines three questions: 1) How do Latina immigrant women?s legal status and family structure shape their labor force decisions and opportunities within new destination communities in the United States? 2) How do Latina immigrants negotiate motherhood under conditions of precarious legal status? 3) How do women in a new destination community interpret and respond to shifting immigration policies and contexts of reception at federal, state, and local levels? To answer these questions, the co-PI is conducting in-depth interviews with Latina immigrant mothers in central North Carolina and participant observation at community meetings that discuss immigration programs and policies. This project will contribute to sociological knowledge by bridging the work-family and international migration literatures, developing understanding of women's labor force decisions in new immigrant destinations in the United States, and generating new understanding of gender and international migration policy. These findings will be relevant for scholars of international migration, gender, and work and occupations, as well as policymakers at local, state, and federal levels and immigrant-serving organizations. This research is particularly important at a time when different levels of the U.S. government are seeking to address rights and regulations related to the undocumented population and members of mixed-status families.