Based on an ethnographic study of women's social groups and networks in a community of Vietnamese immigrants recently settled in the United States, this article explores the effects of migration on gender roles and power. The women's groups and networks play an important role in the exchange of social and economic resources among households and in the mediation of disputes between men and women in the family. These community forms are an important source of informal power for women, enabling them (...) to cope effectively with male authority in the family. Yet, despite their increased power and economic resources, these women supported a patriarchal social structure because it preserved their parental authority and promised greater economic security in the future. (shrink)

This article looks at the income-related experiences of women workers in Bangladesh in the export garment industry, the first modern industry in the country to employ large numbers of women. The analysis draws on in-depth interviews with 34 female sewing machine operators at five factories. Despite the traditionally low economic autonomy of Bangladeshi women, the women's ability to control their income was varied, and in fact, a substantial number of the women workers exercised full control over their wages. Socioeconomic background (...) affected women's income control by shaping both the symbolic meaning of women's income and the ability of male kin to fulfill their traditional obligations to women. With the exception of some young unmarried workers, women's employment in the garment industry had not posed a significant challenge to patriarchal family relations. (shrink)