2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

The migration of women in medical fields- as nurses, care workers, and physicians - has increased substantially since the latter half of the twentieth century. These transnational migrations, primarily from the global south towards the global north, are the result of new demand for specialized labor in medical fields and the care industry in developed nations. There, however, remains a lacuna in our understanding of the context of these migrations, the migration policies of developed nations, as well as the work experiences of women workers/ professionals in these fields. The three papers in this panel collectively draw attention to the migration of nurses and care workers from the Philippines, and the Caribbean, as well as women physicians from India. In doing so, they emphasize the interconnections between political economy and immigration policies of economically developed nations such as the U.S. and Canada, and the ways transnational women’s labor affects the medical profession and the care industry in their destination nations. Individually, they highlight the specific context of migration from a given nation, the emerging patterns of women’s migration from that nation, and the ways women negotiate their migration. Furthermore, they document the experiences of the female migrant workers, their daily work lives, and their resistances to the dehumanizing practices and racialization. In doing so, they address the ways medical professions are changing as a result of immigrant women’s labor, and how women are constantly challenging and constructing medical fields and the nation.