Immigrant women seek shelter through community-based organizations: "A place to go where we can be ourselves".

Abstract

Social, economic, cultural, and political institutions in the Third World interact to reinforce women's dependence in the patriarchal family for shelter and resources. Discrimination along gender and ethnicity in the United States further exacerbate immigrant women's family-based dependence. Thus, family is underscored as a source of shelter for immigrant women. This study sought to understand: (1) how immigrant women become homeless, and their strategies to cope with homelessness; (2) the roles played by community-based organizations in providing access to shelter; and (3) the empowering potential of the shelter process for the women. Three immigrant women's organizations that address shelter issues were studied. Most women seeking shelter were identified through one of them--a South-Asian domestic-violence shelter. Most women migrated as spouses and depended on family members to cope in their new environment. The experience of abuse, however, resulted in their isolation and threatened their access to shelter. The community-based organizations which were studied provide (1) culturally sensitive assistance with temporary shelter and enhance women's ability to obtain shelter independently; (2) an environment where women can develop networks of support and assistance with others; and, (3) new cultural arrangements and conceptions that support women's self-determination, independent access to resources, and greater mobility and expression. Women appreciated the safety, strength, capacity, and community achieved through these initiatives. Many who raised their consciousnesses about their situations participated actively in community change by helping others. While these organizations enhance women's shelter choices by extending or replacing women's informal networks, they also face limits in the extent to which they can facilitate women's shelter autonomy and changes in gender relations. These limits are related to the larger societal environment in which organizations work, and their own analyses of the problems they address. This study concludes with recommendations for policy interventions that increase women's control over shelter; support community-based shelter initiatives; enhance the urban shelter infrastructure; reduce women's family-based dependence; and reduce the unpaid role of the housewife.