In the Twenty-First Century, the Face of the Immigrant is That of the Woman

The earliest immigrants to this country broke almost every chain that bound them to the Old World to start a new life in America.  They abandoned religions, traditions, languages, and political institutions – yet even as the world around them changed radically these immigrants leaned heavily one unchanging force: the family unit.

Even though our immigration laws have changed over the years (decidedly away from its “cornerstone” of family reunification) some things don’t change.

Recently, New America Media conducted a poll among immigrant women in the United States to gain an insight into what it means to be a female immigrant today. The results were fascinating, both for immigrant advocates and feminists.

The poll revealed that the great gender imbalance that once existed among immigrants is gone (with men historically comprising the vast majority of migrants to this country). Today, this balance has shifted to the point that women actually comprise half or more of the immigrants entering this country, and more than half of the migrant population worldwide.

This demographic change comes at a time in the US when our broken immigration laws are imposing an ever-increasing strain on families seeking to immigrate. Outdated visa quotas and bars on reentry have caused huge backlogs on visa processing resulting in families forced to wait decades to be reunited through out immigration system.

What this new data demonstrates is that these women are no longer staying behind and relying on money their husbands send from their foreign jobs; they are no longer waiting around for their husbands to bring them into the US; they are no longer allowing their families to remained fractured by our outdated immigration system. These women are leaving their villages in order to keep them intact.

The poll also suggests that along with this change in the demographics of incoming immigrants we are also seeing radical changes in the role women play within those immigrant communities. The survey sample included immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America but the results were all the same:

73% said that upon coming to the United States, they became increasingly independent, seeking new roles and rights. They report being more assertive, both at home and in public, than in their home country.
Almost one-third report having assumed head-of-household responsibilities now that they are here, and share equally with their husbands in making decisions from household finances to more intimate concerns like family planning.
Perhaps the most telling indicator of their role as family stewards is the fact that 58% of the women say they are the main drivers in their families when it comes to seeking citizenship.

It is women who are changing the meaning of migration from economic to civic; women who are the key figures in determining whether or not the new immigrant populations will find themselves (both literally and figuratively) “at home” in the American city in a lasting way.

Finally, the poll underlined just how much discrimination female immigrants face today, especially Hispanics. These women have overcome prejudice because of their language, race, gender and immigration status. We would do well to remember that America has always benefitted from our openness to immigrants precisely because of the “can-do” spirit that this poll captured among female immigrants today.