How Discrimination towards Asian Skilled Immigrants under Canadian Workplace Affect Parenting Behaviours

From UBC Wiki

Immigrate to Canada

Overview

Canada is a multicultural country that consists of people of different ethnicities and races. Statistics showed that about 21% of Canadians are not born in Canada [1], many of them are immigrants from different countries. Among all immigrants, 69% of them move to Canada through the skilled worker category [2].

Reasons for Them to Immigrate

Skilled immigrants were professionals in their home country; some moved to Canada for economic growth and better opportunities for their prospect. Many immigrants immigrate for their children to have a better education and future, as western education is regarded as one of the best and top education in the world[3]. Getting into university in North America is many people’s dream in Asian countries.

The Problem of Canada Immigration Policy

However, a problem arose from the Canada Immigration Policy. Asian skilled immigrants often arrive in Canada with no jobs in hand[2] and later found it very difficult to find a similar job as they did in their home countries due to racial discrimination. This then created unemployment or underemployment problems among skilled immigrants, which affect their mental health and relationship in their families.

Discrimination

Racial Discrimination in the Workplace

A study showed that 77% of skilled immigrants work in jobs that usually do not require a degree[2]. This is due to the existence of ethnic discrimination in the workplace. Another study also found that countries with diverse immigrants and colonial histories, like the USA and Canada, are very prone to racial discrimination[4]. Visible minorities like Asians will be targeted just because of their race. Many Asian immigrants get rejected or do not even have a chance to be interviewed because they do not look the same as most people in Canada. Many interviewers having racial or ethnic preferences on candidates[5], some interviewers will turn down applications because their names 'sound foreign'[4] or they simply look different from the interviewer[6]. Having an accent in English [6]is also a common reason for interviewers not to hire Asian skilled immigrants. For many of them, English is not their native language, even though they passed the language proficiency test and are highly educated. There are so many more stereotypes that prevent Asian skilled immigrants to get a job which is in their profession.

Unemployment and Underemployment

Many of them cannot receive a reasonable wage or suitable position even they have the chance to be employed. We can see the Asian skilled immigrants faced many challenges finding a decent job; many of them are unemployed or underemployed. When immigrants could not find a job related to their industry, they will go for low-income jobs like taxi drivers and food couriers [2] because they still need to earn money for their families. The fact that they were highly respected professionals in their home countries, and now they become lower-income workers in Canada, which is undoubtedly a knock to their confidence. The situation that they are facing may lead to mental health problems. A study found that visible minorities, like Asian immigrants, are more prone to emotional issues than white immigrants because of racial discrimination in the workplace[7].

Mental Health Impacts of Racial Discrimination

Low self-esteem

A survey showed that 24% of skilled immigrants reported being very unsatisfied with their jobs, and 31% of them reported being suffering from high levels of depression[2]. It has been proved that mental health is determined by the degree of job satisfaction[2]. We can see that the reason for skilled immigrants to suffer from mental health issues is their low satisfaction in their current jobs, a job that is lower than their ability and qualification. Having a low-skilled job as a skilled immigrant will lower their self-esteem. An interviewee once said, “Education is irrelevant to my job now. It makes me very depressed …"[7]

Stress

Not only will the disappointment in working on a low-skilled job affect their mental health, but the stress of not being able to find a job to fulfill their financial needs will also increase the chance of having mental health problems. Many skilled workers immigrated with their family, and they are often the only bread-earner of the family. When they could not find high-skilled jobs due to racial discrimination, they will go for low-skilled jobs because they still need to keep the family running. However, low-skilled jobs often come with lower income; many of them need to work more than one job to sustain their families’ finances needs[2]. Multiple stress coming from lack of income, loss of employment-related skills, loss of social status, and family pressures hardly affect their mental health. The situation is more concerning for those who immigrate with their family[8].

Parenting

Parenting Style

It has been proven that parents' mental health, like the level of self-esteem and stress, will have significant effects on parenting quality and child outcomes[9]. A survey found that Pakistani and Indian mothers in Canada, mostly immigrants, are more authoritarian than white mothers. They will set more rules and tend to be more controlling towards who their children are friends with and their academic successes[10]. They will ensure they have much support to meet their daily needs, especially towards academics, to be successful in school[11].

Positive Impacts

Due to the emphasis on academic success for children of Asian skilled immigrants, they have a higher chance of getting a university degree and work in a high-skill industry than children that have white Canadian-born parents[12]. A highly authoritarian parenting style also leads to less internal and external problems of children [11]. The relationship between Asian skilled immigrant families is found to be better than the typical family. As their children know their scarification to their career to stay in Canada even, they faced discrimination for better educational opportunities for their kids[11]. A second-generation Asian immigrant said, “I am grateful to my parent for everything s/he has tried to do for me.” The experience of discrimination also brings the family together and improves physical health[13].

Resolution

Even though the discrimination experience of Asian skilled immigrants seems to have positive impacts on parenting behaviour and better child outcomes, but we should not forget about the mental health impacts faced by their parents. To solve this racism problem in the workplace, the Canadian government should improve its anti-discrimination legislation as the current legislation towards ethical discrimination cannot state how discrimination is measured[5].

Reference

  1. ↑ Kaushik, Vibha, and Julie Drolet. “Settlement and Integration Needs of Skilled Immigrants in Canada.” Social Sciences, vol. 7, no. 5, 2018, p. 76., doi:10.3390/socsci7050076.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Subedi, Rajendra P (2016). "Healthy Immigrants? Healthy Workers? High-Skilled Immigrants Working in Low-Skilled Jobs in Ottawa, Canada". Ann Arbor.
  3. ↑ Ghosh, Sutama. “A Passage to Canada: The Differential Migrations of South Asian Skilled Workers to Toronto.” Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 15, no. 4, 2013, pp. 715–735., doi:10.1007/s12134-013-0298-0.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Edo, Anthony, et al. “Language Skills and Homophilous Hiring Discrimination: Evidence from Gender and Racially Differentiated Applications.” Review of Economics of the Household, vol. 17, no. 1, 2017, pp. 349–376., doi:10.1007/s11150-017-9391-z.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Zschirnt, Eva, and Didier Ruedin. “Ethnic Discrimination in Hiring Decisions: A Meta-Analysis of Correspondence Tests 1990-2015.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2597554.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Guerrero, Laura, and Mitchell G. Rothstein. “Antecedents of Underemployment: Job Search of Skilled Immigrants in Canada.” Applied Psychology, vol. 61, no. 2, 2011, pp. 323–346., doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2011.00470.x.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dean, Jennifer Asanin, and Kathi Wilson. “‘Education? It Is Irrelevant to My Job Now. It Makes Me Very Depressed …’: Exploring the Health Impacts of under/Unemployment among Highly Skilled Recent Immigrants in Canada.” Ethnicity & Health, vol. 14, no. 2, 2009, pp. 185–204., doi:10.1080/13557850802227049.
  8. ↑ Browne, Dillon T., et al. “Emotional Problems among Recent Immigrants and Parenting Status: Findings from a National Longitudinal Study of Immigrants in Canada.” Plos One, vol. 12, no. 4, 2017, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175023.
  9. ↑ Muzik,, Maria, et al. “Mom Power: Preliminary Outcomes of a Group Intervention to Improve Mental Health and Parenting among High-Risk Mothers.” 2015.
  10. ↑ Iqbal, Humera, and Susan Golombok. “The Generation Game: Parenting and Child Outcomes in Second-Generation South Asian Immigrant Families in Britain.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, vol. 49, no. 1, 2017, pp. 25–43., doi:10.1177/0022022117736039.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 T. Russell, Stephen, et al. Asian American Parenting and Parent-Adolescent Relationships. Springer-Verlag New York, 2014.
  12. ↑ “Douglas Todd: Offspring of Chinese and South Asian Immigrants Reaping High-Skilled Jobs.” Postmedia Network Inc. , 2019.
  13. ↑ George, M. Anne, and Cherylynn Bassani. “Influence of Perceived Racial Discrimination on the Health of Immigrant Children in Canada.” Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 19, no. 3, 2018, pp. 527–540., doi:10.1007/s12134-018-0539-3.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.ubc.ca/index.php?title=How_Discrimination_towards_Asian_Skilled_Immigrants_under_Canadian_Workplace_Affect_Parenting_Behaviours&oldid=610116"