Mental health immigrants

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Egerton University *

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201

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Sociology

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Nov 24, 2024

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1 Immigrant Women and the Mental Health Issues They Face in Canada Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Code Professor’s Code Date

2 Immigrant Women and the Mental Health Issues They Face in Canada Introduction Over the past decades, there has been an increasing number of immigrant women arriving in Canada. Thus, there has been need to cater for the mental health wellness of the ever increasing population of immigrant women in Canada. Mental well-being is an issue that affects individuals within a society in a variety of ways and the immigrant women arriving in Canada are no exception. According to a research that was recently conducted, international migration constituted 79.6 % of Canada’s increase in population growth in the period 2017-2018. This is a significant population of Canada and hence the need to critically analyze and evaluate the mental health of the immigrant women. The studies and research conducted on the mental health of immigrant women in Canada will be essential in coming up with policies and laws that will be key promoting their mental health. According to numerous studies that have been conducted, immigrant women arriving in Canada generally are good in health but their health start deteriorating once they have settled in Canada. The transition period of settling in Canada is usually characterized with economic hardships and racial discrimination thus resulting to the immigrant women suffering from mental illness. In the year 2009, women residing in Canada who are aged 15 years and above reported being higher rates of stress an indication that women were stressed and experiencing anxiety disorders. Thus, this paper aims at critically evaluating and analyzing the mental health issues that immigrant women experience when they arrive in Canada. Additionally we are going to look at factors that lead to them being stressed, and the manner in which they respond to this issue. The factors that lead to prevalence of mental health among women arriving in Canada include: Cultural and Social Differences

3 The women arriving in Canada as immigrants experience a difference in culture, language barrier, difference in the manner of clothing, religion and belief difference, and routine as well manner of doing things. The drastic change in the doing of things will make the immigrant women to feel isolated and develop a feeling of homesick. It is worth noting that this feeling of being isolated becomes stronger in environment where the inhabitants treat the immigrants as outsiders. The immigrant’s women arriving in Canada are willing to settle and be integrated in the Canadian community but unfortunately they experience resistance from the inhabitant communities since they are viewed as strangers. Thus, when the immigrants find themselves living away from their home in a totally new socially and culturally environment, this will make the immigrant women to be stressed and suffer from mental illness. The immigrants women arriving in Canada do not have a “sense of belonging” hence their mental health is affected and they feel lonely and anxious. Additionally, in the instances where the immigrants women were subjected to stereotypes and prejudged based on their ethnicity and race, this evoked a feeling they were strangers and made them stressful. Language Insufficiency Language is a mode of communication that ensures the different parties communicating are understanding one another. Immigrant’s women arriving in Canada start communicating with their inhabitants so as to settle in their new environment. Since the immigrants are new in the Canadian environment, they don’t have the confidence in speaking with the inhabitants and understanding each other. This will lead to the immigrant women shunning from communicating with other people since they are not fluent with the inhabitant language and they might be having accent. Thus, the immigrant women prefer to keep quiet and they tend to isolate themselves from other people and hence they are not integrated in the new community. It has been proven that

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4 language insufficiency is the biggest barrier when it comes to immigrant women being employed in Canada. According to a research that was conducted recently, immigrant women reported that they were discriminated due to their inability of not being fluent in English and French and thus this created a barrier when it came to being accepted in the Canadian community. The fact that the immigrant Canadian women were not fluent in English led to them being stressed and depressed since they were ridiculed. The astonishing thing is that these women are educated and they have gone through rigorous screening process prior to their entry in Canada. Thus it should not be taken that stress due to language insufficiency happens to the uneducated women only. Language barrier has serious consequences among the immigrant women arriving in Canada since they do not have the ability of seeking healthcare assistance, assisting their children in doing school work, establishing good communication at their place of work and most importantly defending themselves against accusations labeled against them at work. Loss of Social Support and Network Lack of social support and networking among women arriving in Canada is a leading cause of stress among the immigrant women. These women were used to receiving social support from friends, relatives, as well as the society but on the contrary when they arrive in Canada they are no longer receiving the support thus making them stressed. Lack of social connection and social integration is a leading cause of stress among the immigrant women in the Canadian society. Due to the fact that the immigrant women arriving in Canada are not connected to their extended families as well as having no social connections, these makes the women to be stressed and have suppressed moods. The new ethnic background within Canada in which they find themselves is isolating in nature hence leading to high stress levels.

5 What are the Intersections of Power, Privilege and Oppression? What is Intersectionality? Intersectionality is a concept that is taken to refer to the manner in which different measures of variances cut across in a bid to characterize individual realities and lived circumstances. There are a variety of ways in which the differences might portray within individuals such as through race, class, sexual orientation, ethnic background, gender status, and status within the society. It is worth noting that immigrant women arriving in Canada are a representation of diverse social groups who cling to different ideologies. Simply put, intersectionality aims at providing understanding to the society we are residing in while at the same time embracing the differences that manifests within the different societal groups. Intersectional Influences on Mental Health Race, gender, culture, religion, work, and class are the intersecting factors that give rise to the different identities in the immigrant women arriving in Canada. Through research that have been recently conducted, ethnicity emerged as the dominating effect when it came to the emergence of identity among the immigrant women coming to work in Canada. Ethnicity and cultural upbringing have instilled different ways of doing things among the immigrant women coming to work in Canada such as working hard and doing things in certain ways. The ways of doing things might be having positive impact in the life of the immigrant women while on the contrary it may cause the women to be stressed. For instance, the values of working hard may lead to the women always working hard and not having tome to relax thus causing the immigrant women working in Canada to have pressures at work and be stressed. Additionally, gender roles is another factor that intersect leading to the immigrant women experiencing distinctive situations in the course of working in Canada. For instance, the

6 immigrant women arriving in Canada are the sole breadwinners of their families and they are proud of providing the basic needs of their families. However, according to their traditions and cultural upbringing, the men are required to be the breadwinners and providers for the family. Thus, the immigrant women have the feeling that the men figure which offers protection and provides basic needs is missing hence making the immigrant women to be stressed. Having the economic burden of ensuring bills such as rent, school fees of the children, and clothing is provided leads to the immigrant women arriving in Canada to be mentally disturbed and suffering from stress. Gender and race is also have adverse effects in terms of the immigrant women trying to settle in Canada. The fact that the immigrants arriving in Canada are women and being women of color leads to numerous difficulties when it comes to settling in Canada. For instance, it is always difficult for the women of color to get employment as well as accessing vital information that they might require during their stay in Canada. What are the policies and Practices in Place that Marginalize Immigrant Women Arriving in Canada? Overworking The immigrant women arriving in Canada are often overworked at their place of work. In most instances, they are working long shift hours according to the organization policies that has hired them. The organization policies and procedures might stipulate that the longer the immigrant women work for overtime, the more they will earn. Thus, the women tend to work long hours so as to earn more and cater for their bills. In so doing they tend to be tired and consequently suffer from stress. Marginalized in the Work Place

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7 The immigrant women arriving in Canada are often marginalized and sidelined at their place of work. The migrant women might not be allowed to organize certain information within the organization. Information is a crucial element within any organization since it is through information that the employees tend to know what is expected of them. The duties, deadlines and new technologies are communicated and when the immigrant women are not given the information their performance tend to be in question and they end up being victimized. What is the Community Response to these Issues? Community Mobilization The marginalized women who are working within the Canadian community should mobilize themselves so as to caution themselves from marginalization and bad treatment. There is need for the immigrant women to mobilize themselves at the work level since it is one of the point where they have social interactions. The immigrant women should be courageous and shun any form of oppression and mistreatment. When the immigrant women mobilize themselves, their voice will be heard and they will be free from oppression and ill treatment. Funding Resistance Groups The resistance movements advocating for the rights of the immigrant women to be upheld should be funded financially and in kind. When these resistance movements are well funded, this gives them the ability to fight for the rights of the immigrant women without fear. A strong resistance group is one that is well funded and hence having the ability of airing the grievances of the oppressed immigrant women. Solidarity Networks Solidarity networks are characterized as being informal groups that come up with efforts of consolidating individuals who have common goals and interests at the place of work of

8 acquiring justice. In the event that immigrant women working in Canada are oppressed and not given good pay and benefits, the solidarity group will play a key role in ensuring they get justice. Solidarity networks play a crucial role in ensuring the grievances of the immigrant is heard and thus their basic needs and necessities are met by the oppressing party. Solidarity networks play a key role in ensuring there is no discrimination against the immigrant women working within the Canadian community. Conclusion The immigrant women arriving in Canada are subjected to various environments that in most instances leads to them experiencing stress and anxiety when they arrive in Canada. For instance, factors such as difference in culture and social upbringing, language insufficiency and differences in dialects, and absence of social networking are the leading causes of stress among the immigrant women arriving in Canada. However, approaches such as intersectionality play a key role in studying how these factors intersect thus being in a position to curtail the prevalence of discrimination of women when it comes to settling in Canada. Additionally, coming up with preventive measures such as forming solidarity networks, mobilizing the immigrant women and funding the resistance groups that fight for the rights of the immigrant’s women is key in ensuring they get their rights.

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Mental health immigrants

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