Ajay Chaudry

Negotiating motherhood and work: a typology of role identity associations among low-income, urban women

Increasing international migration and an expanding low-wage economy call for continuous research into the work–family experiences of low-income and ethnic minority women. Most research highlights that these women are disproportionately exposed to challenging employment conditions while lacking the supports working and middle-class women rely on. To better capture variation in work–family decisions and well-being under significant structural and social constraints, researchers need to consider womens understanding of themselves as mothers and workers, and their perceptions of the interplay between these roles. Building on role identity theory and the concept of gendered moral rationalities, this paper proposes a five-fold typology of mother–worker role identity associations that captures complexity in work–family identification processes among low-income, ethnically diverse women. The analysis is based on ethnographic data from 25 mothers in New York City who were visited 12 times over a period of 9 months. It examines womens experiences as mothers and workers, their role expectations, and the type and quality of social relationships that sustain these roles. We distinguish dissociated, equivalent, compartmentalized, integrated, and facilitative role identity associations and discuss how this typology facilitates our understanding of low-income mothers’ work–family decisions and experiences.

US Children with Parents in Deportation Proceedings

While policy makers and researchers generally focus on the effects of deportation on crime rates and deportees, the effects of parental deportation and detention on children are often overlooked. This chapter seeks to fill this gap, finding that parental arrest often leads to loss of earnings, dependence on public assistance and charity, and increased family hardship. In addition, the resulting separation results in significant trauma and stress for both children and parents. Using in-depth interviews conducted over 2 years, the authors were able to track children and parents during the immediate and longer-term aftermath of a workplace raid or other parental arrest. They found that detained migrant parents reported increased stress, anxiety, and mental health challenges, as well as increased physical health challenges. Parents also reported that a majority of children in the study exhibited important behavioral changes. It is clear that current US immigration policies have substantial consequences for families with children, which will require large-scale policy changes in order to ameliorate these effects on immigrant children, many of who are US citizens.