Deconstructing Essentialism: Migrant Women in Stratified Labour Markets

Description

This book proposes an original approach to analyse the social and professional trajectories of migrant women with tertiary education. It focuses on the role of essentialism in stratifying labour markets based on gender, class and racialisation, and in limiting migrant women's employment opportunities. Based on multi-sited fieldwork conducted in France and Italy, the book highlights how essentialism influences the assessment of working capacities, stressing that skills are socially constructed and valued depending on who embodies them. It also emphasises that migrant women and labour market gatekeepers are not only passively accepting essentialism, but some are also resisting and eventually challenging this process. Deconstructing essentialism enables us to better understand the mechanisms that produce stratifications and aids in designing paths towards more equal access to employment. Acknowledgments Contents List of Tables List of Schemes 1: Studying Stratifications and Essentialism in the Labour Market References 2: “I Became a Migrant from Eastern Europe”. Essentialism and Migrant Women with Tertiary Education 2.1 Who the Skilled Are 2.2 The Literature on Migrant Women with Tertiary Education 2.3 A Conditioned Access to Stratified Labour Markets 2.4 Focusing on Essentialism References 3: “First the Europeans, Then Maybe the Filipinas, Then you”. Perceiving Stratifications and Essentialism 3.1 Feeling Essentialised: Migrant Women’s Perspectives Black Migrant Women and White Walls The Otherness of Women from European Non-EU Countries 3.2 Recruiters’ and Social Workers’ Perspectives Migrant Women’s Otherness in the French Context Explicit Preferences in the Italian Context 3.3 Accessible Positions Accessing Feminised and Racialised Sectors A Useful Essentialised Otherness 3.4 The Variable Geometry of Stratifications Diversified Employers Recruiters’ Levers Social Workers’ Orientation References 4: “She Wanted me to Take a Dictation Exercise”. Essentialism and the Embodiment of Skills 4.1 Embodiment in the Recruitment and Selection Process The Social Construction of Migrant Women’s Bodies Subjectivity in the Recruitment and Selection Process 4.2 Assessing Embodied Skills The Global Hierarchy of Foreign Education Assessing Experience Gained Abroad Embodied Language Skills Assessing Soft Skills 4.3 Scrutinising Migrant Women’s Bodies Floating Racialisation and Otherness ‘She Has to be Pretty’ Eroticisation of Migrant Women Bodies References 5: “I can’t Limit my Life to your Prejudices”. Coping and Resistance Strategies 5.1 Coping, Resisting and Challenging Essentialism Differentiating and Distancing Resistance Thinking Strategic Avoidance Migrant Women’s Mobility Power Confronting Verbally Proving One’s Worth Acting Collectively 5.2 Coping with Labour Market Stratifications Accepting Stratifications Circumventing Recruiters’ Essentialism Attempting to Remove Barriers Surfing Stratifications References 6: “Maybe This Will Be Useful for the Future”. Expanding Research on Essentialism References Index