Immigrant Women’s Experiences

Every year, thousands of immigrants, especially from third world countries, cross their borders into the more developed countries looking to better their lives. A significant number of the immigrants are women. The tribulations women immigrants endure in the foreign countries is despicable. As a result, many women from different countries have decided to write about their experiences as immigrants, especially in America.

The US is full of opportunities and therefore a country full of immigrants. Even the people who are regarded as citizens can trace their ancestral roots to another country. For many centuries, immigrants in the United States of America, the so-called natives have looked down upon women. There are some instances in the United States’ history where African American women were denied the chance to shop in same shopping malls as the white women.

It is not only the African Americans women that have been subjected to discrimination in this nation, but also women from Asian countries experience overwhelming challenges to settle in this nation. The tendency of keeping their tradition, especially in the dress code has been a problem to a majority of Asian immigrants. There have been instances where Asian immigrants have found it difficult to attend some social functions.

Immigrants have for a long time been denied some of their basic human rights. There have been cases where women immigrants have been denied their wages after working. Some employees even find it difficult to pay immigrants the same wages as the “natives.” In some extreme cases, women immigrants have been denied job opportunities that they were qualified to secure. Immigrants from Mexico have found it difficult to be accepted in the U.S as most people view them as drug peddlers and therefore handle them with suspicion.

Harassment of women immigrants is not surprising because many immigrants are treated as second-class human beings who have no rights whatsoever. There have been cases where women immigrants have been assaulted at their places of work, after refusing to do the extra things they instructed to them. This case is familiar with the immigrants working as waiters in bars. Most of the immigrants, especially those who move to the U.S. have minimum education levels. As a result, they tend to get jobs that are not restrictive in terms of level of education. These jobs are despised by other people and that is the reason why the women in these positions are discriminated against, sometimes not because of the backgrounds but because of the jobs.

Immigrants who have succeeded in the foreign countries have had to work extremely hard to achieve in their different fields. The ones who have made it as writers had to struggle to convince the publishers that their work was worth publishing.

Annotated Bibliography

DuBois Carol Ellen and Dumenil Lynn. Through Women’s Eyes: An American History With Documents. New York: Bedford Books, 2008. Print.

The authors provide rich insight into the predicament of women in history. Women have endured discrimination in various sectors of the society but have recently overcome this challenges and gained success in various fields. The reason why I used the source is because it combines a number of experiences from different women have endured discrimination

Zahra Hojati, Ph.D. Marginalization and Leadership: Iranian Immigrant Women’s Challenges in Canadian Academia and Society. Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education. Vol 2, No 2 (2012).

This article is ideal as it provides unbiased insight into the challenges endured by women, especially those with Iranian roots in Canada. The women face a myriad challenge of succeeding in academics and the Canadian society owing to the discrimination they face in these areas.

Samuel, Edith. “Acculturative Stress: South Asian Immigrant Women’s Experiences in 

            Canada’s Atlantic Provinces” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 7.1 (2009).  

The article provides an unbiased account of the evils of women’s discrimination. The journal is well researched and based on verifiable f.............