Feminism, multiculturalism and violence against immigrant women in Canada

This thesis explores the context in which immigrant women in Canada experience violence. It will focus on the issue of why the over - all hardship they face makes them more vulnerable when they encounter violence in their lives. Immigrant women occupy a lower socio-economic level than both women in general and immigrant men. They face racism, double standards, language barriers and many other obstacles to their full and equal participation in Canadian society. Despite these difficulties, their problems receive minimal attention from society. There is no coherent policy towards immigrant women and there is no theory that allows us to analyze their situation . This thesis will argue that Canadian institutions are unable to deal adequately with immigrant women's problems because governments only have either policy for immigrants or policy for women. Between these two areas of policy lies a void into which immigrant women fall . As a result immigrant women's groups are unable to get funding. Their special needs are rarely met. In conclusion, this thesis will argue that immigrant women's problems cannot be dealt with unless the Canadian body politic recognizes 'immigrant women' as a separate category. A concept such as 'immigrant women' is more than the sum of its parts. The paper will argue that there is a need to conceptualize "immigrant women" as a category in its own right . The realization that multiple identities are more than the sum of their parts may be useful in analyzing problems faced by any group of people with multiple identities.Arts, Faculty ofPolitical Science, Department ofGraduat