Migrant Women's Voices : Talking About Life and Work in the UK Since 1945

"Between 1945 and the new century millions of women, including mothers and migrants, joined the labour force. These changes are brought to life through the stories of migrant women, working in factories and hospitals, banks, care homes, shops and universities over a period of 60 years. Migrant Women's Voices is an autobiography of the post-war period as Britain became a multi-cultural society and waged work the norm for most women. McDowell illustrates the shift in migration patterns as post-imperial migrants to the UK replaced the immediate post-war pattern of migrants from war-torn Europe and who were then themselves joined by migrants from an increasingly diverse range of countries as the 20th century drew to a close."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover page ......Page 1 Halftitle page ......Page 2 Title page ......Page 4 Copyright page ......Page 5 Dedication ......Page 6 CONTENTS......Page 8 FIGURES......Page 10 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 11 1 The Working Lives of Migrant Women......Page 14 Finding employment in a changing labour market......Page 17 Women talking about employment, work and life......Page 20 Migrant origins......Page 22 Reading the text: stories of change and continuity......Page 23 Individual stories and world events: talk, memories and recollections......Page 26 The organization of the book......Page 31 2 Moving Stories: Journeys to the UK......Page 34 Leaving Latvia......Page 36 ‘Nursing’s what in those days a lot of ladies did’......Page 43 Twice migrants: India, East Africa and the UK......Page 49 Temporary migration......Page 53 ‘A little bit of dirty business’: moving within Europe......Page 55 Seeking asylum......Page 58 3 Making Things: Textiles, Toys, Shirts, Seat Covers and Engines......Page 68 Spinning and weaving in the 1940s......Page 70 ‘That solder stinks’: on the line in the late 1940s......Page 74 Manufacturing work at home......Page 75 Sewing seat covers: working for Ford......Page 78 ‘Hard to touch meat’: providing airline meals......Page 82 ‘The smell there, the plastic’: on the line......Page 91 On the blue shift: working for BMW......Page 93 4 Waged Domestic Work: Cleaning, Catering and Childcare......Page 98 ‘Now nobody wants to do the cheap work’: forms of domestic service......Page 100 Scrub the dishes and polish the floors: hospital domestic labour......Page 106 ‘I didn’t come to England to be a slave’: working as an au pair......Page 111 ‘The guests, they don’t see us’: agency work in hotels......Page 113 5 Body Work: Nursing, Occupational Therapy and Caring for the British......Page 122 ‘We did clean then’: nursing as the NHS was established......Page 123 ‘We thought we were doing the SRN’: nurses from the Caribbean......Page 127 ‘It was discrimination in a very subtle way’: Indian nurses......Page 130 ‘It’s a good thing to be kept on your toes’......Page 131 ‘I’ve never thought to call myself as an immigrant’: the NHS and travel opportunities......Page 135 ‘Go for nursing and get a job’: nursing in three countries......Page 137 ‘I knew it would be very different here’: working as an occupational therapist......Page 141 ‘Embarrassed to tell people I work in a nursing home’: institutional care work......Page 145 6 Brain Work: Banking, Medicine, Scientific Research and Teaching......Page 152 ‘The brokers are the beasts’: working in the financial sector......Page 153 ‘It’s another country’: Europe an women in finance......Page 157 ‘Work is where you are not yourself’: an Indian in UK financial services......Page 162 ‘England seemed like really old-fashioned’: web and software development......Page 166 ‘There’s a lot of pressure in academia’: university research and teaching......Page 170 ‘All I am good for is academic stuff’: challenging traditional stereotypes......Page 178 7 Serving the Public: Offices, Hotels, Shops, Salons and Buses......Page 184 ‘I was another pen pusher’: office work after the war......Page 185 ‘We opened a shop’: self-employment in the grocery trade......Page 186 ‘She’d pile me up with plates’: working as a waitress......Page 187 On the till: working for Tesco......Page 191 ‘Just laughing at us’: working in a family business......Page 193 ‘Tiring of the public’: working as a hotel receptionist......Page 195 ‘It’s difficult to find a job, especially if you are good looking’: model, secretary, receptionist......Page 198 ‘Customers, they can be aggressive’: driving buses......Page 200 Promoting Chinese culture: teaching the public in a museum......Page 204 8 Home Life: Housework, Family, Community and Retirement......Page 208 Establishing a home and a family......Page 210 Questions of language......Page 213 Finding childcare......Page 215 Housework......Page 218 ‘I don’t need him to live’: difficulties in marriage......Page 220 ‘The circle has come round’: community groups, hometown associations and volunteering......Page 221 Retirement and going ‘home’......Page 225 9 Afterword: British Identity and ‘the Other’......Page 230 Invented traditions and national identity: no place like home......Page 234 Hybridity or not?......Page 236 Public attitudes to the Other......Page 238 Last words......Page 239 Migration......Page 242 Social class......Page 244 Employment among non-British born populations......Page 245 Leisure and sport......Page 246 Housing, domestic appliances and consumer durables......Page 247 Appendix 2 Interviewees in Alphabetical Order......Page 250 Appendix 3 Post-War Immigration Legislation......Page 254 Some questions to think about while reading......Page 258 NOTES......Page 260 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 264 Index......Page 272 Between 1945 and the 21th century millions of women, including mothers and migrants, joined the labour force. This book is an autobiography of the post-war period as Britain became a multi-cultural society and waged work the norm for most women. McDowell illustrates the shift in migration patterns as post-imperial migrants to the UK replaced the immediate post-war pattern of migrants from war-torn Europe and who were then themselves joined by migrants from an increasingly diverse range of countries as the 20th century drew to a close