Work Identity, Meaning and Meaningfulness of Work: Brazilian Women Immigrants in the USA

Objective: To analyze the narratives about the identity, meaning and meaningfulness of the work of women who interrupt their professional lives to accompany their husbands who immigrate to work in another country. Method: Qualitative and longitudinal study with 12 Brazilian women, wives of immigrants, residing in the United States of America (USA), who were interviewed at four different times. Data Analysis: Lexical analysis supported by the Iramuteq software. Results and Conclusions: In general, the participating wives rebuilt their work identity, meaning of work and meaningfulness of work, as they needed to adapt to a new country and to manage the consequences caused by the pandemic, restructuring professional plans and activity routines. Additionally, this study contributes to the knowledge of gender, work, and family by showing how the process of immigration for career purposes remains gendered, as findings evidence that women disproportionately shoulder the burden of geographic relocation