Women, Migration, and Aging in the Americas

Women, Migration, and Aging in the Americas analyzes how immigrant women have coped with life after they settled in the Americas, from the 19th-21st centuries. It explores their empowerment processes, the type of gender inequalities they faced, and their destinies as they aged; whether they resided in the destination country throughout their lives or returned to their home country. The book shows that many immigrant women were able to secure their wellbeing autonomously as they aged, after they retired, and/or when they became widows. The authors offer new research material on immigrant women's aging experiences, their innovative conclusions contrasting with the historiography that has often argued that aging immigrant women were dependent upon their husbands and later their children (especially their daughters) for survival. They consider inter- and intra-continental female migration and compare immigrant women's aging experiences, analyzing diverse groups who migrated within the Americas or from other continents (Europe and Africa in particular) to the Americas. Each chapter analyzes the issue using different sources, methods, and approaches to measure the correlation between these women's geographical, cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds and their life experiences as women, wives, mothers, and aging widows. The authors show that many of the immigrant women assumed power, responsibilities, autonomy, and perhaps independence within the household, and therefore could make decisions for themselves and their families. This book will be of interest to researchers, scholars, and graduate students of migration studies, gender studies, women's studies, care studies, history, sociology, and social anthropology.

Marie-Pierre Arrizabalaga is Professor of American Studies at the Institute of International Studies and Modern Languages of CY Cergy Paris Université, France, and member of AGORA research group.

1. Introduction Part I. Women, Households, and Aging 2. French Immigrant Women and their Aging Experiences in California, 1880-1940 3. Aging French-Canadian Immigrant Women in the U.S. in 1910: North American Comparative Perspectives 4. The Grandmother Exception: The Role of Family Relationships in the History of U.S. Immigration Policy and Practice Part II. Isolated Women and Aging 5. Open or Closed Horizons? Personal Accounts on the Emigration/Transfer of Basque Nuns to the Americas 6. Women and War: Aging, Migration, and Violence in the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands Part III. Women and Aging as Transnational Experiences 7. From Providing Care to Requiring Care: The Impact of Migration on the Elderly in Paraguay 8. The Importance of Integration in the Life Stories of Immigrant Women from Piaxtla, Mexico, Who Live in the United States 9. Peule Female Migration to the Americas and their Return to Guinea in Old Age: Evolution of Gender Relations in the Mamou Region