Strengthening Our Culture, Communities and Economy With the Contributions of Immigrant Women: A Blog Carnival on Women and Immigration Reform
As women, we know that we are all better off when our communities are strong making it possible for our children to thrive. We understand the importance of women’s work — at home or in the workplace. Women also know the importance of coming together and that we wouldn’t be where we are today without the help and support of the women in our lives.
Today we are coming together in support of immigrant women and their families. We need an immigration process that values all families and honors the contributions of immigrant women.
Today, women make up more than half — 51% — of all immigrants to this country. Furthermore, immigrant women entrepreneurs are economic powerhouses in their own right, creating nearly one million businesses in 2010. Immigrant women provide for their families; they encourage integration and help the family become U.S. citizens; they contribute to the cultural and moral fabric of our communities; and are significant contributors to our national economy as workers, consumers and business owners.
Right now, Congress is working to pass immigration reform legislation. We are among the many women from all walks of life across our country who are calling on Congress to ensure that any immigration reform package honors the contributions of immigrant women to our communities and national economy. And most fundamentally, immigration reform must ensure that immigrant families can thrive.
To further a national dialogue on this issue, we are honored to introduce this special blog edition highlighting the contributions of immigrant women hosted by MomsRising.org and We Belong Together. We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on these blog posts and share them with family and friends.
Together we are a powerful force for all women and families!
Allison Green, Half-Moon Scar (St. Martin’s Press)
Ann Garcia and Patrick Oakford, Center for American Progress
Bao Tram, IMPRINTCaroline Dobuzinskis, Institute for Women’s Policy Research
The Real Value of In-Home Care Work in the United States
Elisa Batista, MomsRising.org
Grace Hwang Lynch, BlogHer
Jessica Barba Brown, Faith in Public Life
Judith Gille, Journalist and Memoirist
Kety Esquivel, Fenton’s Western Region
Linda Meric, 9to5.org
Madeline Shepherd, National Council of Jewish Women
Marisa Treviño, Latina Lista
Miriam Yeung, National Asian Pacific American Women’s ForumPramila Jayapal, Center for Community Change
Why Immigration Policy Is ‘Sexclusionary’ (and How To Fix It)
Sayu Bhojwani, The New American Leaders Project
Valentina Stackl, Farmworker Justice
Around the Web
The Time is Now for Dreamers: Join the Rally April 10th, Lily’s Blackboard
Promise to Protect Immigrant Women’s Rights, Mallika Dutt for the Huffington Post
Meet My Immigrant Mom (Tumblr), National Domestic Workers Alliance
Meet My Immigrant Nanny (Tumblr), National Domestic Workers Alliance
Time to Strengthen Family Immigration, New York Times
Photos from Women’s Advocacy Days, We Belong Together
Fort Atkinson teacher Kari Johnson shares her students’ immigration stories at U.S. Capitol, Wisconsin Education Association Council
The Time is Now for Dreamers: Join the Rally April 10th, Lily’s Blackboard
Promise to Protect Immigrant Women’s Rights, Mallika Dutt for the Huffington Post
Meet My Immigrant Mom (Tumblr), National Domestic Workers Alliance
Meet My Immigrant Nanny (Tumblr), National Domestic Workers Alliance
Time to Strengthen Family Immigration, New York Times
Photos from Women’s Advocacy Days, We Belong Together
Fort Atkinson teacher Kari Johnson shares her students’ immigration stories at U.S. Capitol, Wisconsin Education Association Council
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Read more: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/strengthening-our-culture-communities-and-economy-with-the-contributions-of-immigrant-women-a-blog-carnival-on-women-and-immigration-reform/#ixzz2Q4RVfiHv
Immigrant Women Strengthen American Democracy
Sayu Bhojwani at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
Within the current debate on immigration reform, an organized movement of women’s voices has emerged to uplift the significance of women to our economy, democracy and communities. As an immigrant woman, whose personal and professional experiences are deeply informed by immigration, I believe citizenship and civic engagement are twin pillars of a strong democracy. My [...]
It’s time to take the sexism out of the debate on immigration reform
Marisa Trevino at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
This article originally appeared in the Latina Lista blog. LatinaLista — Over the years in covering the immigration issue, if there is one thing that I’ve noticed, it’s that immigration is discussed by policymakers and politicians in a very sexist manner. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s that they, and the media, even acknowledged that women [...]
This is Our Marty McFly Moment
Miriam Yeung at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
Remember that scene in Back to the Future when Marty McFly discovers that he and his siblings are fading out of a family photograph? That’s the exact feeling I have when I follow the news about immigration policy reform efforts that would eliminate family visas. First, let’s flash back, like Marty McFly did to the [...]
Farmworker Women and the Heavy Burdens They Bear
Valentina Stackl at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
Photo caption: A farmworker woman picking grapes. Many farmworker women cover their faces to protect themselves from pesticides while they work. Farmworker women also use bandanas on the job to cover their faces and bodies in an attempt to ward off unwanted sexual attention that often leads to rape. Farmworkers carry the weight of the [...]
Justice for Immigrant Women is a Religious Issue
Jessica Barba Brown at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
As a Catholic, my commitment to justice and dignity for immigrant women is rooted not only in Scripture, but also in experience. My church, the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, DC, holds Masses in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Haitian Creole. Women from diverse walks of life are the lifeblood of the parish: organizing [...]
Why Immigration Policy Is ‘Sexclusionary’ (and How To Fix It)
Pramila Jayapal at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
This article originally appeared in Colorlines and was re-published here with the author’s permission. If you’ve been following the current debate and news coverage, you probably think that immigration reform is mainly about men—the undocumented males scaling border walls, working in agriculture, doing construction work and writing code. And when you do see women, they [...]
We Call for Immigration Reform as Women, as Jews
Madeline Shepherd at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
A few weeks ago, almost 400 women from across the country headed to Capitol Hill as part of their participation in the National Council of Jewish Women’s (NCJW) policy conference. And in more than 150 visits, comprehensive immigration reform was one of the key issues discussed with congressional offices. Over the course of the weekend, [...]
Immigrant Women Helped Shape My Accomplishments
Kety Esquivel at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
In February of 1971, at the age of twenty-one my mother arrived from Guatemala to the United States. She was a teacher in her country of birth and brought those skills to her new home in the United States. Like many immigrants who came before her, she saw this country as the land of opportunity [...]
Beyond the Green Card: Helping Immigrant Women Use Their Professional Skills
Bao Tram at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
Photo courtesy of Upwardly Global. When Munara left her home and sought asylum in the US, she thought that she would find opportunities that had been denied to her in Kyrgyzstan because she was a woman. Instead, she struggled to find professional employment — despite having a master’s degree and experience as the head of the [...]
Immigrant Issues are Women’s Issues
Linda Meric at MomsRising Blog - 40 seconds ago
Photo by Cindia Cameron, 9to5 Immigrants come to the U. S. today for the same reason immigrants have always come here – for the promise of freedom and a better life that is America. We have built our country on the belief that we achieve greatness as a nation when all of us have a [...]