Transnational motherhood and fatherhood: gendered challenges and coping

UnrestrictedLatina immigrant mothers who come to live and work in the United States while their children remain in their countries of origin represent a new chapter in the immigration literature. On the basis of in-depth interviews gathered in Southern California, this study compares and contrasts the experiences of Latina transnational mothers and Latino transnational fathers. The findings show that the mothers face greater challenges due to cultural gender ideologies about women s and men s roles and attitudes that continue to see women s migration as less socially acceptable than men s migration. The study reveals that the transnational mothers tend to be single parents, and hence they rely on alternative childrearing arrangements. In contrast, transnational fathers, whose migration is seen as a fulfillment of the provider role, rely on female spouses back home to care for their children and to assist in the cultivation of father/child bonds. The study also addresses how the gendered, unregulated paid work immigrant women perform in the U.S. as domestics and child care workers in people s private homes leads to greater emotional challenges and obstacles. In addition, the dissertation reveals the distinctively gendered ways in which migrant women and men choose to cope with the challenges they face. Finally, in-depth interviews with the now adult children of Latina/o transnational mothers and fathers examine the perceptions about the parent s migration, the children's separation from a transnational mother and/or father, and their thoughts on the costs and benefits of the separation