Precarious Work Experiences of Racialized Immigrant Women in Toronto: A Community-Based Study

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Precarious Work Experiences of Racialized Immigrant Women in Toronto: A Community-Based Study
Abstract
Despite their high levels of education, racialized immigrant women in Canada are over-represented in low-paid, low-skill jobs characterized by high risk and precarity. Our project documents the experiences with precarious employment of racialized immigrant women in Toronto. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with racialized immigrant women. Participants were recruited through posted flyers, partner agencies, peer researcher networks and snowball sampling. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using NVivo software. The project followed a community-based participatory action research model. Participants faced powerful structural barriers to decent employment and additionally faced barriers associated with household gender relations. Their labour market experiences negatively impacted their physical and mental health as well as that of their families. These problems further constrained women's ability to secure decent employment. Our study makes important contributions in filling the gap on the gendered barriers racialized immigrant women face in the labour market and the gendered impacts of deskilling and precarity on women and their families. We propose labour market reforms and changes in immigration and social policies to enable racialized immigrant women to overcome barriers to decent work.
Publication
Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society
Volume
22
Pages
122-143
Date
Autumn 2014
Citation
Premji, S., Shakya, Y., Spasevski, M., Merolli, J., & Athar, S. (2014). Precarious Work Experiences of Racialized Immigrant Women in Toronto: A Community-Based Study. Just Labour: A Canadian Journal of Work and Society, 22, 122–143. http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/volume22/pdfs/08_premji_et_al_press.pdf