Exploring the Gender-Specific Needs of Female Refugees During Resettlement and Integration: A Case Study in Pittsburgh

Recently Pittsburgh has experienced a noticeable increase in the number of incoming refugees, which has put added pressure on local service providers to develop more efficient resettlement practices. While female refugee's experiences have been largely ignored, this study attempts to better understand the gender-specific needs of female refugees who resettle and integrate into Pittsburgh. I used Ager and Strang's (2004) Indicators of Integration framework, with a focus on the indicators of "employment," "social bridges," "language and culture," and "rights and citizenship," and adapted it to a gendered perspective to analyze data from two focus group sessions with 11 refugee women from Liberia, Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, and Morocco. I used an exploratory, inductive methodology to identify common themes, including women's changing roles within families and the importance of social connections. A better understanding of women's needs will help inform the local refugee-serving agencies create more gender-inclusive services.

Name thesis:degree_name

MA

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Kimura, Kristina Sue

Contributors dc:contributor

• Daniel Lieberfeld
• Matthew Schneirov
• Marco Gemignani

• Integration
• Pittsburgh
• Refugees
• Resettlement
• Women

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/747

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-1763