‘Migrant Carer-Wives’ – Between Transnational Marriages, Care Work for Older Husbands and Gendered Precarity

Liversage, Anika; Ismail, Abir Mohamad

doi:10.33134/njmr.427

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…After arriving in Denmark as a marriage migrant, such a woman may become a self-appointed helper, providing care for her ill husband in a culturally sanctioned way. Such wives/carers may find themselves in very isolated and difficult life circumstances (Liversage & Ismail, 2022).…”

Section: Gendered Care Provision Straining Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

A challenging responsibility - care for older parents in Turkish immigrant families

Liversage¹

2023

JFamRes

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: This article explores care for older immigrants from Turkey, particularly with regard to receiving support from their family in a welfare state such as Denmark. Background: The first labour migrants to Europe are currently entering old age in growing numbers. While research on the intersection between immigration and aging is expanding, knowledge about how older immigrants receive care is still limited, making this a timely study. Method: The article draws on interviews with 30 individuals – older parents, children and grandchildren – from 22 families both with and without pressing care needs. Two of the families utilized a Danish care policy where a family member is remunerated by the municipality for carrying out specified care tasks. Results: The data show that, in many families, both older and younger family members consider providing family care very important. The needs for such provisions are deepened due to the older immigrants’ often limited command of the Danish language, which makes them unable to communicate with Danish care workers. In some families, older members refuse to receive public help, increasing the need for support from their next of kin. Conclusion: While the existence of large family networks can facilitate provisions of family care through sharing, family responsibilities can also be stressful in a dual-earner society such as Denmark. Primary caretakers are often female, and such women’s engagement in providing family care may lead already vulnerable individuals to become further marginalized in society.

show abstract

Section: Gendered Care Provision Straining Womenmentioning

confidence: 99%

A challenging responsibility - care for older parents in Turkish immigrant families

Liversage¹

2023

JFamRes

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Care arrangements between family and state – developing hybrid scripts of ageing in a context of migration

Liversage

2023

Ageing and Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Due to demographic developments, the number of immigrant families with older members is growing across Western Europe. Poised between the different approaches to care in their countries of origin and destination, such families are treading new ground as they negotiate support for older family members. Based on semi-structured interviews with 26 older and younger family members from 20 Turkish immigrant families in Denmark, this article investigates the broad variation in how these families approach caring for older people. At one end of the scale, some families (re)create a traditional Turkish approach to care in which three generations live together and the daughter-in-law is the main care provider. At the other end of the scale, some families follow the Danish approach in which families rely on public care provision. In between these two poles, many families devise a variety of care solutions for their older members that often rely on considerable support by family. Utilising Cati Coe's concept of care-scription, the analysis shows how families negotiate – and sometimes struggle over – who will shoulder which tasks. In the post-migration context, daughters-in-law are often able to retreat from their traditional role of care provider, which in turn increases expectations of daughters' care provisions. In Denmark, which is a relatively gender-equal society, Turkish daughters may seek to make their brothers take on a greater role in the provision of care for their parents, and in some families, the children also turn towards public care provisions to share the burden of parental care. Resistance from older parents may, however, short-circuit this strategy. Overall, the study points both to the difficulties faced by older immigrants with limited host-country language proficiency when utilising public European care provisions and to the complex and unsettled nature of care provisions in immigrant families in Europe today.

show abstract

‘Migrant Carer-Wives’ – Between Transnational Marriages, Care Work for Older Husbands and Gendered Precarity

Cited by 2 publications

References 39 publications

A challenging responsibility - care for older parents in Turkish immigrant families

A challenging responsibility - care for older parents in Turkish immigrant families

Care arrangements between family and state – developing hybrid scripts of ageing in a context of migration

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About