Diaspora of Disaffection: Gender role reproduction among trailing wives of Indian skilled professional migrants and its impact on their mental health and wellbeing

Rapid globalisation has resulted in large-scale high-skilled migration from India over the last few decades. Conradson and Latham (2005) defined the term ‘middling migrants’ as a diverse category of mobile migrants who can be categorised as skilled immigrants in a higher-income category. The gendered dimension of the phenomenon is less well explored and the female spouses in this process of migration remain largely invisible (Conradson & Latham, 2005; Raj, 2003). As wives of professional Indian migrant men, the spouses are themselves often professionals and highly educated but, following migration, their professional life often faces a disruption or change in their professional identities creating a strong undercurrent of disaffection, with distinct implications for their mental health and wellbeing. The changes occur within a global context, where these ‘spouses’ occupy a contradictory, gendered positioning within the Indian diaspora, creating complex intersectionality. A qualitative transnational study employing in-depth interviews and narrative methods for data collection has been conducted as part of this thesis to explore this phenomenon. I interviewed 23 Indian female ‘trailing spouses’ of high-skilled migrant professionals living in New Zealand (NZ), Australia, the United States (USA), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study analysed narratives of trailing wives via a critical feminist epistemological framework. My analysis focused on the women's experiences through the journey of migration, the transitions they experienced, and the challenges faced by them while reproducing traditional gender roles within the household and community. My research revealed themes such as distinct migration motivation, professional and intellectual isolation, gender role reproduction within the household structure, loss of independent social capital, impacts on family relationships, and mental health. My findings indicated complex Intersectional subjectivities experienced by the women in their gender, class, ethnic and national identities. In this thesis, I have argued that gender structures within the family, diaspora community and state policy create an invisible vulnerability for the female trailing spouses. My research has guided my recommendations for future research and action on the issues addressed in my thesis, including gender-sensitive visa policies, further organisational support for spouses of skilled migrants, evolved and active role of diaspora communities and further research through specific and cross-comparative feminist studies to comprehensively understand the challenges and pathways to change. My thesis can be considered a small-scale research with a preliminary in-depth exploration of gender role reproduction among Indian trailing wives of skilled professionals living in different global locations and its associated impact on their mental health. It also advances scholarship in gender relations, particularly in the skilled temporary worker literature and explores some of the issues that need further research to understand this growing specialised population in many countries. The findings from this study enrich the literature on gender studies by using perspectives and theoretical frameworks from different disciplines like business, psychology and migration to produce a comprehensive analysis of the experiences of trailing spouses and the gendered structures inherent in them. My research aims to address the concerns beyond the realm of acculturative psychology which has dominated the feminist migration literature till now. I argue for the need for an intersectional critical feminist lens in re-evaluating the contemporary global landscape of gender in migration.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Guha, Poulamee

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Beddoe, Liz
• Simon-Kumar, Rachel

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/70108

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/70108