Culture, Class, and Work Among Arab-American Women (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Read examines the labor force activity of Arab-American women, a group whose work experiences provide an exception to accepted theories. The employment rates of Arab immigrant women rank among the lowest of any immigrant group, while the rates of native-born Arab-American women resemble those of U.S.-born white women. These differences cannot be explained by Arab-American women's human capital characteristics or family resources, but are due to traditional cultural norms that prioritize women's family obligations over their economic activity and to ethnic and religious social networks that encourage the maintenance of traditional gender roles. Read's findings challenge assumptions about variations in ethnic women's labor force participation. Arab cultural values play an important role in determining the position of women of Arab descent in American society. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 1 Introduction......Page 10 Statement of the Problem......Page 12 Origins of Diversity: Arab-American Immigration......Page 14 Research Objectives......Page 16 Organization of the Study......Page 17 2 Theoretical Significance of Women's Labor Force Participation......Page 20 Structural and Cultural Explanations of Ethnic Diversity......Page 22 The Evolution of Ethnic and Gender Studies: Recognizing Intraethnic Diversity......Page 27 Summary......Page 31 3 The Case for Arab Americans......Page 34 Determinants of Arab-American Women's Labor Force Activity......Page 35 Hypotheses......Page 42 Data and Methods......Page 43 4 Arab-American Women in Comparative Perspective......Page 50 U.S. Census Data......Page 51 Arab-American Survey Data......Page 53 Immigrant Selectivity and Arab-American Women's Success......Page 56 Cultural and Class Diversity......Page 60 The Impact of Nativity: Variations in Cultural Assimilation......Page 76 Challenging Myths of U.S. Muslim Women......Page 87 Portrait of an Achieving Ethnic Population......Page 94 5 Determinants of Arab-American Women's Economic Achievements......Page 96 Ties that Bind: Ethnic Homogamy, Religiosity, and Women's Employment......Page 97 Cultural Influences on Labor Force Commitment......Page 104 Gender Traditionalism's Cultural Underpinnings......Page 110 Education, Occupation, and Women's Earnings......Page 115 Summary......Page 121 Women's Achievements and the Universal Sisterhood......Page 124 The Gendered Consequences of Culture......Page 126 Summary and Future Research......Page 128 Appendix A......Page 130 Appendix B......Page 142 References......Page 144 A......Page 160 D......Page 161 F......Page 162 I......Page 163 M......Page 164 R......Page 165 W......Page 166 Z......Page 167 Research on the economic and social adaptation of immigrants occupies a substantial area in social science literature (e.g., Foner, Rumbaut, and Gold, 2000; Portes and Rumbaut, 1996, 2001). Jenn̓an Ghazal Read. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 135-150) And Index.