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Employment Opportunity and Women’s Empowerment A Study with Special Reference to Immigrant Women in Bergen. Tahmina Tanzim Hasan Master of Philosophy in Gender and Development Spring 2013 Faculty of Psychology Department of Health Promotion and Development Dedicated with love and respect to My mother Rehana Begum And My mother-in-law Hasna Begum i Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Tone Kristin Sissener for her continuous support in writing this thesis. Her patience, motivation, enthusiasm, immense knowledge and guidance helped me go through the whole process. I could not have imagined having a better advisor for my thesis. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank Marit Tjomsland and Haldis Haukanes for their professional guidance in my way to finish this thesis. I am also thankful to all my teachers I had in the last two years for their efforts to disseminate knowledge. My sincere thanks also go to Kristin Senneset for her administrative support. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the informants for their willingness, giving their valuable time and sharing their experiences with me in this context. My thanks also go to my friends Kamrul Islam, Tariq Ashkari, Mangali Meewalaarachchi and all my classmates who enriched me with their suggestions and inspired me all the way to achieve the goal. My special thanks to Anne Wangui Ngunjiri, Sumaira Saleem, Fatima Nejati, Natia Aroshidze and Addis Bezabih for lending me their friendly hands in thinking positive. It is worth mentioning here that without the support of my husband, Md. Sadique Hasan, who gave both physical and moral support, it could not have been possible for me to come to the end of the process of writing the thesis. I am ever grateful for his sincere efforts and continuous support in achieving my goal. Last but not the least; I would like to thank my mother, the family and relatives for their understanding and well wishes. Tahmina Tanzim Hasan Bergen, Norway May 2013. ii CONTENTS: Acknowledgements Abstract Key words List of Abbreviations List of Tables List of Appendixes CHAPTERS: 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. The Context ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. The Theme – Women’s Empowerment .......................................................................... 2 1.3. Research Question ........................................................................................................... 3 1.4. The Structure of the Thesis ............................................................................................. 4 2. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. Reason for Selecting the Topic ....................................................................................... 5 2.2. Understanding the Target Group ..................................................................................... 6 2.3. Socio-cultural Aspects of the Target Group from Asia ................................................... 7 2.4. Socio-cultural Aspects of the Target Group from Europe .............................................. 9 2.5. Socio-cultural Aspects of the Norwegian society ......................................................... 10 2.6. Introducing the Informants ............................................................................................ 11 2.7. Contribution of the Study .............................................................................................. 12 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 14 3.1. Measuring Women’s Empowerment ............................................................................. 14 3.2. Importance of the indicators chosen for the purpose of the study ................................ 22 4. CONCEPTUALISATION, THEORY AND APPROACH ................................................. 23 4.1. Conceptualizing Empowerment .................................................................................... 23 4.2. Conceptualizing Capability ........................................................................................... 25 4.3. Understanding Participation in Domestic Decision-making as an Indicator of Empowerment ...................................................................................................................... 30 4.4. Understanding Access to and Control over Resources as an Indicator of Empowerment .............................................................................................................................................. 33 4.5. Understanding Mobility/Freedom of Movement as an Indicator of Empowerment ..... 35 4.6. Culture, Gender Identity, Gender Role ......................................................................... 37 4.7. Conceptualizing Bargaining .......................................................................................... 40 4.8. Conceptualizing Employment ....................................................................................... 46 5. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 47 5.1. Selecting the Method of Study ...................................................................................... 47 5.2. Selecting the Target Group for the Study ...................................................................... 48 5.3. Choosing the Dimensions of Women’s Empowerment for the Study .......................... 49 5.4. The Indicators ................................................................................................................ 50 5.5. Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 51 iii 5.6. Challenges Met During the Field Work ........................................................................ 54 5.7. Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................... 55 5.8. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 58 6. WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN DOMESTIC DECISION-MAKING AND EMPLOYMENT ...................................................................................................................... 60 6.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 60 6.2. Gendered impacts of migration ..................................................................................... 60 6.3. Findings on Participation in Domestic Decision-making from the Asian Informants .. 63 6.3.1. Women and Household Work ................................................................................ 64 6.3.2. Gender segregation in household work .................................................................. 68 6.3.3. Socio-Cultural norms and practices, and gender roles ........................................... 70 6.3.4. Social class structure and the gender role .............................................................. 72 6.3.5. Findings from the European informants ................................................................. 74 6.4. Discussions and comments ............................................................................................ 74 7. WOMEN’S ACCESS TO AND CONTROL OVER RESOURCES AND EMPLOYMENT .................................................................................................................................................. 78 7.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 78 7.2. Findings on access to and control over resources ......................................................... 79 7.2.1. Benevolent dictatorship, and access to and control over resources ....................... 79 7.2.2. Structures of constraints, and women’s access to and control over resources ....... 82 7.2.3. Findings from the European informants ................................................................. 86 7.3. Discussions and comments ............................................................................................ 86 8. WOMEN’S MOBILITY/FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND EMPLOYMENT ............. 89 8.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 89 8.2. Findings on mobility/freedom of movement ................................................................. 89 8.2.1. Gendered differences and women’s mobility/freedom of movement .................... 90 8.2.2. Social Security and women’s freedom of movement ............................................. 92 8.2.3. Socio-Cultural norms and practices, and women’s mobility/freedom of movement .......................................................................................................................................... 94 8.2.4. Findings from the European informants ................................................................. 96 8.3. Discussions and comments ...........................................................................................