Women, Work and Migration

Women, Work and Migration explores the migration and work experiences of six women who have moved to Australia from China, Zimbabwe, South Korea, the United Kingdom, India, and the Philippines. The book sets out their journeys into three distinct periods of migration. The first period covers their early lives, where they reflect on their experiences growing up with their families and the factors that encouraged them to pursue a nursing career.

The second period delves into the time when these women began to consider where their nursing careers might take them. This phase involves their initial steps to leave their home countries and migrate to Australia, often after stints in several other countries. The final section allows readers to understand how these women experienced Australia upon arrival and the challenges they faced both personally and professionally as they settled into their new home.

The discussions within these sections encompass both professional and personal reflections. They examine differences in nursing identity between the sending country and Australia, alongside the adjustments these women needed to make to overcome loneliness and successfully integrate into new organisational environments. Each chapter analyses migration as a life course, considering why nurses choose to leave their home countries, how they adapt to a new home, whether they contemplate returning to their country of birth, how they maintain transnational links, and how identity and ethnicity influence these responses.

Their life trajectories are set against a historical backdrop of nursing migration to Australia, outlined in the opening chapter. This context offers unique insights into the changing processes of migration, accreditation, registration, and settlement of nurses in the country. Women, Work and Migration will be of value to researchers, academics, and students interested in gender studies, career and migration, health and nursing, and international HRM.