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

ses - 1602352杰奎琳HaganHolly k Straut EppsteinerUniversity的北卡罗莱纳教堂希拉大量的工作-家庭奖学金已经进化到检查女性如何在美国相关工作和家庭做出决定。然而，尽管美国有大量女性移民，但很少有研究对外国出生的女性，尤其是500万无证女性的这些问题进行调查。无证、外国出生的女性的劳动参与率低于男性、有证移民女性和本土出生的女性。为了研究在不稳定的法律条件下，外国出生的拉丁裔妇女如何做出关于工作和家庭的决定，本博士论文研究了三个问题：1)拉丁裔移民妇女如何？他们的法律地位和家庭结构如何影响他们在美国新目的地社区的劳动力决策和机会？2)在法律地位不稳定的情况下，拉丁裔移民如何协商成为母亲？3)新目的地社区的女性如何解释和应对联邦、州和地方各级不断变化的移民政策和接收环境？为了回答这些问题，联合调查小组正在对北卡罗来纳州中部的拉丁裔移民母亲进行深入访谈，并在讨论移民项目和政策的社区会议上进行参与者观察。本项目将通过连接工作家庭和国际移民文献，发展对美国新移民目的地妇女劳动力决策的理解，并产生对性别和国际移民政策的新理解，为社会学知识做出贡献。这些发现将对研究国际移民、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具有重要意义。在美国政府的不同层级正在寻求解决与无证人口和混血家庭成员有关的权利和法规问题之际，这项研究尤为重要。

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.