Silenced Husbands

Abstract

In both Denmark and Britain, legal and policy discourses have relied on a range of problems implicitly or explicitly linked to transnational marriages involving ethnic minorities in order to control and change the character of spousal immigration. These discourses often focus on the vulnerability of Muslim women, while Muslim men appear as patriarchal figures abusing their power over co-ethnic women. In this article, we use qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with Pakistanis in the United Kingdom and Turks in Denmark to explore gendered challenges for Muslim migrant husbands and demonstrate experiences inconsistent with the assumptions that underpin regulation. Attention to intersecting identities reveals weaknesses in such men's relational positions and multiple arenas in which their masculinity is problematized or denigrated. In combination, these representations function to limit such men's ability to give voice to their vulnerabilities and the challenges they face and thus to reinforce assumptions of male hegemony.

Translocal Care Across Kosovo’s Borders

“…Th e suspicion of seeking access to legal rights abroad through 'marriages of convenience' ('Zweckehen') or 'sham marriages' ('Scheinehen') (see Pellander 2015: 109 for studies on Finland) legitimizes the state's claim to exert control over the development of such relationships and monitor intimate marriage spaces. Men from so-perceived 'patriarchal cultures' are especially suspected of entering into 'sham marriages' ('Scheinehen') and betraying their female partner by concealing their real intentions for marrying (Block 2010;Charsley and Liversage 2015;Andrikopoulos 2019).…”

“…As Charsley (2005) argues in relation to male marriage migrants from Pakistan who defy the customary patrilocality when they move to the United Kingdom to join their wives and sometimes their parents-in-law, this generates new dynamics that challenge traditional notions of partnership and masculinity. However, this oft en goes unnoticed in public discourses and has rarely been explored in scholarly debates and research ( Lutz 2010( Lutz : 1653Charsley and Wray 2015: 403;Charsley and Liversage 2015).…”

Intersektionalitet – social differentiering og empirisk mangfoldighed

“…En raekke studier påpeger således, at etniske minoritetsmaend positioneres som problematiserede subjekter, der ikke »matcher« vestlige vaerdier (Farris 2017;Gottzén og Jonsson 2012). Det samme ser vi i den danske forskning, som påpeger, at etniske minoritetsmaend i den offentlige debat ofte fremstilles som praeget af gammeldags og patriarkalske kønskulturer, der står i modsaetning til generelt accepterede ligestillingsidealer (Andreassen 2005;Charsley og Liversage 2015;Christensen mfl. 2017).…”

Conceptualising integration: a framework for empirical research, taking marriage migration as a case study

“…Migration for women may enhance autonomy and prestige but also social isolation (Decimo, 2005), and migrant wives' dependency on husbands for their immigration status can be a barrier to their social and labour market participation (Özdemir et al, 2004). The vulnerability and dependency of migrant husbands are less commonly discussed but may combine with the transnational breadwinner's 'double burden' of supporting families in both countries of settlement and origin to increase pressure on wage earning, leaving little room for developing social networks (Charsley, 2013;Charsley & Liversage, 2015). Both migrant men and women's prospects for social and labour market integration may also be affected by gendered stereotyping and discrimination, emphasising the importance of an intersectional appreciation of the role of gender in integration processes.…”