The informal economy comprises of work activities that involve small number of workers, irregular work hours, income that is paid in cash and even, unregulated by the law. The binary is a categorization of abstract ideas and ultimately, one idea is decided to be less valuable over the other. In the case of my research paper, employer exploitation is made possible due to the binary-infused immigration policies that tend to portray immigrant women in the informal economy as helpless and in no position of power. The research question I plan on investigating is: How did the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) affect the lives of immigrant women in the informal economy of the United States? How did immigration policies like the IRCA
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Patricia Fernández Kelly contends that immigrants, particularly immigrant women, are “attractive to employers precisely because they have so little expectation of citizenship” (i.e. low pay or unequal treatment at work) (169). However, López-Garza reveals contradictory evidence in her interview with an immigrant babysitter who expects decent earnings, yet is unable to do so because of her status as an illegal immigrant (as a result of the IRCA), which is used by her employer against her. This then translates to the legitimization of employer oppression and exploitation that is informed by immigration policies like the …show more content…
This actually helps to identify the degree of impact of the IRCA on the lives of the women that leaves these people intimidated and insecure. This emotional labor is important to consider as it initiates events that eventually lead to the inexplicable exploitation of immigrant women. In fact, Raia Prokhovnik, a lecturer in Politics at the University of London, points out that exploitation of women in the informal sector occurs even at the ideological level. Prokhovnik argues that these women have very low “perceived social value” because the “caring and nurturing undertaken by such women is taken for granted” (88). I intend to extrapolate this idea of undervalued form of labor onto the lives of immigrant women and how the IRCA escalated this
Patricia Fernández Kelly contends that immigrants, particularly immigrant women, are “attractive to employers precisely because they have so little expectation of citizenship” (i.e. low pay or unequal treatment at work) (169). However, López-Garza reveals contradictory evidence in her interview with an immigrant babysitter who expects decent earnings, yet is unable to do so because of her status as an illegal immigrant (as a result of the IRCA), which is used by her employer against her. This then translates to the legitimization of employer oppression and exploitation that is informed by immigration policies like the …show more content…
This actually helps to identify the degree of impact of the IRCA on the lives of the women that leaves these people intimidated and insecure. This emotional labor is important to consider as it initiates events that eventually lead to the inexplicable exploitation of immigrant women. In fact, Raia Prokhovnik, a lecturer in Politics at the University of London, points out that exploitation of women in the informal sector occurs even at the ideological level. Prokhovnik argues that these women have very low “perceived social value” because the “caring and nurturing undertaken by such women is taken for granted” (88). I intend to extrapolate this idea of undervalued form of labor onto the lives of immigrant women and how the IRCA escalated this