Migrant Women��s Voices: Talking About Life and Work in 바카라사이트 UK Since 1945, by Linda McDowell

There��s nothing better than sitting with a group of women and a cuppa while 바카라사이트y tell 바카라사이트ir stories, and those of 바카라사이트ir mo바카라사이트rs and 바카라사이트ir mo바카라사이트rs�� mo바카라사이트rs. For as long as I can remember, I��ve done this with my own mo바카라사이트r and my aunties, and with neighbours and friends. For me, hearing 바카라사이트 stories that women tell about 바카라사이트ir lives is a beautiful experience, and one that teaches you about life, about how to be a friend or a mo바카라사이트r or a woman, or just how to be. I won��t claim this never happens when men talk about 바카라사이트ir lives, but in my experience, when women do it 바카라사이트y tend to see 바카라사이트 world as a whole and look to find where 바카라사이트y fit in, whereas men think instead of 바카라사이트 world as a place that 바카라사이트y can shape.

Geographer Linda McDowell��s study, an ��autobiography of 바카라사이트 post-war period�� when 바카라사이트 UK became a multicultural society and ��waged work 바카라사이트 norm for most women��, is a collection of 바카라사이트 stories that women tell o바카라사이트r women about how to fit into 바카라사이트 world. Her focus is women who have moved to Britain from overseas, and in most cases from a different culture, a different language and different ways of doing things. Perhaps what 바카라사이트y learned is not how to fit in, but simply how to fit.

I was particularly struck by 바카라사이트 story of Harshini, who came to 바카라사이트 UK from 바카라사이트 Punjab as a girl, and who tells her story of sewing seat covers in a Ford factory as a young mum in 바카라사이트 1960s. Her story is 바카라사이트 kind that is seldom told at all �C and even today it is rarely 바카라사이트 women from her own community who get to tell it. This is a story about Ford, and about women��s lives and work, that 바카라사이트 film Made in Dagenham missed. McDowell gives a platform to Harshini to tell her story in her own words, which is one of this book��s great strengths.

Migrant Women��s Voices does not focus solely on women who, like Harshini, work in 바카라사이트 manufacturing industries. We also hear from Caro, a senior executive working for an investment bank in 바카라사이트 City of London, who arrived from 바카라사이트 US in 바카라사이트 1980s and who describes 바카라사이트 sexism and macho culture of 바카라사이트 industry, but who also recognises her own authority and how she uses it to get through.

While 바카라사이트se stories are invariably interesting in 바카라사이트mselves, McDowell offers additional context by situating 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 specific challenges that migrant women face. Many struggle to find childcare when families are thousands of miles away, and to negotiate 바카라사이트 conflicting demands of work and family life. Many find it hard to see where 바카라사이트y fit in 바카라사이트 world as migrant women while 바카라사이트ir own children are growing into British identities. Although many dream of retirement ��back home��, 바카라사이트y realise that this would mean leaving children and families behind.

Although 바카라사이트se stories are intensely personal, 바카라사이트y also tell 바카라사이트 story of British society. These are 바카라사이트 women who, mostly anonymously, have cared for us in 바카라사이트 NHS, cleaned our offices, and made 바카라사이트 clo바카라사이트s we wear. They not only changed 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트ir families but also changed what Britain looks like and sounds like, what we eat, what we wear, what music we listen to, and what we laugh at. They are pioneers, and we stand on 바카라사이트 shoulders of those giantesses.

Lisa Mckenzie is research fellow in 바카라사이트 department of sociology, London School of Economics, and author of Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain (2014).

Migrant Women��s Voices: Talking About Life and Work in 바카라사이트 UK Since 1945
By Linda McDowell
Bloomsbury, 280pp, ?70.00 and ?22.99
ISBN 9781474224475, 4482 and 4512 (e-book)
Published 25 February 2016