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Direct Link to Full 29-Page Report:

WOMEN IMMIGRANTS: STEWARDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY FAMILY

http://media.namx.org/Polls/NAMImigWomenPoll_09.pdf

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http://www.un-instraw.org/en/media-centre/world-gender-news/women-are-new-face-of-u.s.-migration.html

Women Are New Face of U.S. Migration

The story of migration to the United States is no longer a masculine epic. Women represent more than half of the migrants who cross the US border in search of better opportunities for themselves and their loved ones, a new study revealed.

The study “Women Immigrants: Stewards of the 21st Century Family,” shows that women seldom emigrate as lone individuals, but rather as members – or even heads – of families, and with the intention of keeping that social unit intact.

Sergio Bendixen, one of the researchers, said that the study could be useful in the debate on U.S. immigration reform because the women “soften the image of the immigrant.”

In 2007, there were 18.9 million immigrant women – most between the ages of 35 to 49 – in the United States, 53 percent of who were of Latin American origin.

Women immigrants have to overcome formidable barriers such as language, anti-immigrant discrimination, lack of health care and low-paying jobs, many of which are well below the status of the professional jobs they held in their home countries.

According to the study, women migrants often radically alter their roles, assuming leadership in the home and sharing decisions about household finances and family planning with their husbands.

“The face of the immigrant is that of a mother, migrating to the United States as a place to build better futures for their children, and to make permanent homes for their families,” states the study.

The study was based on surveys of 1,002 female immigrants from Latin American, Asian, African and Arab countries during 2008. It was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a public opinion research, management and communications consulting firm based in Miami.

Read more in the Latin American Herald Tribune
Access the poll at the New America Media web site

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