Migrant Women's Voices: Talking About Life and Work in the UK Since 1945

by Linda McDowell

Overview

Between 1945 and the new century millions of women, including mothers and migrants, joined the labour force. These changes are brought to life through the stories of migrant women, working in factories and hospitals, banks, care homes, shops and universities over a period of 60 years.

Migrant Women's Voices is an autobiography of the post-war period as Britain became a multi-cultural society and waged work the norm for most women. McDowell illustrates the shift in migration patterns as post-imperial migrants to the UK replaced the immediate post-war pattern of migrants from war-torn Europe and who were then themselves joined by migrants from an increasingly diverse range of countries as the 20th century drew to a close.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474224482
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/25/2016
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Linda McDowell is Professor of Human Geography and Professorial Fellow of St John's College, University of Oxford, UK, and Honorary Fellow of the Gender Institute at the London School of Economics, UK. She is the author of Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities (2009) and Working Lives: Gender, Migration and Employment in Britain, 1945-2007 (2013). She is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Working Lives
1. Post-war Dislocation
2. Coming Home?
3. Post-independence Exile
4. Short Term Careerism and Temporary Migration
5. A Colder World?
Appendix
Doing Qualitative Research
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A collection of the stories that women tell other women about how to fit into the world ... McDowell gives a platform for [migrant women] to tell the story in [their] own words, which is one of this book's greatest strengths.
Times Higher Education

A meticulously researched oral history ... What is particularly valuable about this collection is McDowell's willingness to set the experiences of unskilled migrants alongside those with professional qualifications and careers.
History Today

This book is a treasure trove of voices usually unheard.
Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

The huge and sustained increase in women's economic activity rates is widely regarded as the social revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. In Britain, first and second generation immigrant women were in the vanguard of this change. Linda McDowell uses interviews collected over several decades with over 70 women migrants from a variety of countries and backgrounds to provide a fresh lens on this cataclysmic shift. The interviews, brilliantly woven together, provide compelling stories of loss, struggle, fortitude and hope as well as palpable evidence of migrant women's contributions to British society. There are powerful implications here for current concerns about caring for our aging population, sustaining social services and evaluating the benefits of immigration.

Jane Humphries

What do immigrant women say about their work in Britain? Until now, we didn't know, because no one cared to ask or listen. This captivating book gives voice and visibility to generations of immigrant working women in Britain. From textile mill workers of the 1940s, shopkeepers of the 1950s, to the nannies and investment bankers of the 1990s and software developers of today, the narratives reveal experiences of loss, displacement and exploitation, but also aspirations, dignity and achievements. A must read for anyone wanting to understand the texture of life and work in Britain today.

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo

McDowell enables women from generations of immigration to tell their sadly unchanging stories of disgraceful exploitation and discrimination. From wartime refugees from Eastern Europe and hopeful women from the Caribbean, brought by the government to rescue the economy and build health and welfare services after 1945, to 21st century migrants from many cultures and countries, they have made indispensable contributions to sustaining the NHS and other essential services, even banking. Whatever their colour or skills, they have faced hostility and consignment to lower-paid, lower-status work than they merit.

Patricia M. Thane