TY - JOUR
T1 - Norwegian women's experiences of 20th-century migration to England
T2 - Narratives of changing gender roles
AU - Christensen, Karen
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This article discusses migratory gender roles within a north/north movement context. Using the case of older Norwegian women migrating to England while young, actively making migration part of their lives, it combines life course theory and migration theory about transnationalism, and presents three migratory life trajectory typologies. These are developed from life course interviews, based on class and gender role differences. One, upper-class based, is about transnational marriage as a key to leaving a small Norwegian community and becoming a ‘European’ housewife. Another, working-class based, is about using an au pair job as a stepping stone to migration and marriage, doing family-life-adapted paid work in Norwegian workplace ‘niches’. The third, middle-class based, is about using the migratory process for strengthening a professional identity. The article shows how a feeling of transnational ambiguity is exceeded the more the migratory gender role is about realising one’s own potentials, moving towards gender equality.
AB - This article discusses migratory gender roles within a north/north movement context. Using the case of older Norwegian women migrating to England while young, actively making migration part of their lives, it combines life course theory and migration theory about transnationalism, and presents three migratory life trajectory typologies. These are developed from life course interviews, based on class and gender role differences. One, upper-class based, is about transnational marriage as a key to leaving a small Norwegian community and becoming a ‘European’ housewife. Another, working-class based, is about using an au pair job as a stepping stone to migration and marriage, doing family-life-adapted paid work in Norwegian workplace ‘niches’. The third, middle-class based, is about using the migratory process for strengthening a professional identity. The article shows how a feeling of transnational ambiguity is exceeded the more the migratory gender role is about realising one’s own potentials, moving towards gender equality.
KW - Female primary migrants
KW - Gender roles
KW - Life course
KW - Ambiguity
KW - Female primary migrants
KW - Ambiguity
KW - Transnationalism
KW - Life course
KW - Gender roles
U2 - 10.2478/njmr-2019-0034
DO - 10.2478/njmr-2019-0034
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1799-649X
VL - 10
SP - 18
EP - 33
JO - Nordic Journal of Migration Research
JF - Nordic Journal of Migration Research
IS - 1
ER -