Abstract

PIP: Considerable interdependence exists between the household and work place in the lives of Dominican migrant women in the US, according to this study based on data gathered largely from fieldwork conducted in the US and Dominican Republic from 1980-83. It is observed that while women's participation in wage work contributes to an improvement in domestic and social relations, these household level changes do not, in turn, translate into greater awareness of the migrant women, or demands for improved working conditions. On the contrary, in many cases, work has helped reinforce their lower status in the labor force because it has allowed women to redefine their roles as wives and mothers in a more satisfying manner than was the case prior to their employment and residence in the US. Although the jobs held by Dominican garment workers would place them in the ranks of the working class, the majority of them tend to identify themselves as middle class. Paradoxically, the beliefs about immigration and work which are rooted in the family, and the immigration goals which are realized through more egalitarian relationships at home, militate against a working class identification and the resulting organized resistance in the work place.