Abstract

PIP: This study analyzes the occupational prestige of women workers born in Cuba and Mexico, who were at least 25 years of age at the time of immigration to the US. The empirical results indicate that the process of converting resources (examples, age, schooling, US residence) differ by both sex and nationality, with the Mexican males and females being more similar to each other than to Cubans, and vice versa. Mexicans have a more favorable 'conversion' of resources into prestige, but a lower level of resources. Immigrant women appear to be somewhat more disadvantaged relative to immigrant men, than are women workers in general, and both groups of women enjoy lower occupational prestige than their male counterparts. Unlike the case of male immigrants, US work experience tends to decrease the prestige scores for females. So does southern residence. The pattern of achieving occupational prestige is unique among women immigrants, despite nationality differences. The data suggest that the social mobility process for female immigrants differ from the process for males, perhaps because of cultural barriers that make entry to 'pink collar' jobs difficult. For instance, the widespread segregation of the labor market makes it more difficult for these women than for males to acquire useful information leading to better jobs. Their US experience thus need not be of much value. 2ndly, the existing jobs require immigrant women to learn English or other new skills at their own expense, or to turn their foreign credentials into those acceptable for the US market. Finally, relative concentration in the South may negatively women's occupational prestige, more so than men's. Immigrant women are also handicapped by a view of themselves as 'supplementary earners', and are more apprehensive about job market changes due to an unfamiliarity with American customs. Family responsibilities often hinder immigrant women's upward mobility, locking them into routine jobs with few avenues for advancement.