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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Job transferability of Chinese immigrant women in Vancouver : their voices Chiu, Siu-Miu Luda
Abstract
The raising of immigration standards for entry into Canada in recent years has resulted in many Chinese immigrant women from Hong Kong being admitted as "independent applicants", on the strength of their academic standing, official language proficiency, and professional training. However, many of them are not able to access jobs for which they would seem to have the appropriate credentials. No studies have yet systematically examined the barriers these women face in the job market in Vancouver. A literature review shows two main approaches to the problems of immigrants adapting to life in their new country. The cultural approach concentrates on the effects of the immigrants' own culture on the adaptation process, and the cultural conflicts between the mainstream culture and the culture immigrants bring with them. The structural approach emphasizes the impact of the social structure of the host country on immigrants, and examines structural barriers which bar immigrants from moving upward in the labour market. The first approach concentrates on immigrants and their culture while the second focuses on the structural constraints experienced by immigrants. The present research argues that examining employment issues of immigrants from only one of these two approaches is inadequate. Both perspectives are important. other informal barriers which could not be categorized under these two approaches should not be ignored. This is a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with 20 Chinese immigrant women from Hong Kong. The research problem is limited to the employment experiences, as well as to the meanings of events and processes, described by these women. The central questions are: (1) What do Chinese immigrant women who come as "independent applicants" experience in the workplace in Vancouver? (2) What does their work in Vancouver mean to them? And (3) What are the factors, in terms of cultural barriers, structural barriers or other elements, that affect these women in the process of job transferability? Suggestions to eliminate barriers are proposed, and recommendations for further studies are presented.
Item Metadata
Title |
Job transferability of Chinese immigrant women in Vancouver : their voices
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1994
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Description |
The raising of immigration standards for entry into Canada
in recent years has resulted in many Chinese immigrant women from
Hong Kong being admitted as "independent applicants", on the
strength of their academic standing, official language
proficiency, and professional training. However, many of them
are not able to access jobs for which they would seem to have the
appropriate credentials. No studies have yet systematically
examined the barriers these women face in the job market in
Vancouver.
A literature review shows two main approaches to the
problems of immigrants adapting to life in their new country.
The cultural approach concentrates on the effects of the
immigrants' own culture on the adaptation process, and the
cultural conflicts between the mainstream culture and the culture
immigrants bring with them. The structural approach emphasizes
the impact of the social structure of the host country on
immigrants, and examines structural barriers which bar immigrants
from moving upward in the labour market.
The first approach concentrates on immigrants and their
culture while the second focuses on the structural constraints
experienced by immigrants. The present research argues that
examining employment issues of immigrants from only one of these
two approaches is inadequate. Both perspectives are important.
other informal barriers which could not be categorized under
these two approaches should not be ignored.
This is a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews
with 20 Chinese immigrant women from Hong Kong. The research
problem is limited to the employment experiences, as well as to
the meanings of events and processes, described by these women.
The central questions are: (1) What do Chinese immigrant women
who come as "independent applicants" experience in the workplace
in Vancouver? (2) What does their work in Vancouver mean to
them? And (3) What are the factors, in terms of cultural
barriers, structural barriers or other elements, that affect
these women in the process of job transferability? Suggestions
to eliminate barriers are proposed, and recommendations for
further studies are presented.
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Extent |
17917448 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-04-08
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0055441
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1994-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.