Shifting gender roles in forced migration: Afghan women’s experiences of resettlement in the United States

Afghans represent one of the largest refugee populations worldwide, with Afghan women in particular migrating from a country where gender persecution has reached critical levels to a range of host and resettlement contexts, including the United States. Building on Handrahan’s post-conflict gender identities framework and transnational feminist theories of gender, migration, and war, this qualitative study explored how newly resettled Afghans in the U.S., as an ethno-racialized group, perceive, interpret, and make meaning of gender roles across pre- and post-resettlement experiences. Employing a phenomenological approach, we drew on qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions with 42 participants, including 39 Afghan refugees, two Afghan community leaders, and one service provider working with Afghan refugees. Results suggest a complex interplay of family-specific orientations towards gender and masculinity, family structure, politico-economic context, and sociocultural environment as Afghan women navigated new opportunities and responsibilities in the U.S.