At a Disadvantage: The Occupational Attainments of Foreign Born Women in Canada

Using data on the wage and salary labor force age 25–64 from the 1973 Canadian Mobility Study, this article examines the occupational statuses of Canadian female immigrant employees in relation to the statuses displayed by native born women and by native and foreign born men. Immigrant women are observed to have occupational statuses which are lower on the average than those of other sex and nativity groups and which appear to reflect not only their age, place of residence, social origins and educational attainments, but also their membership in two negative status groups: female and foreign born. However, within the foreign born population, considerable stratification exists by birthplace, and the analysis indicates that the double negative of being female and foreign born is less of a factor for the occupational attainments of women born in the United States and in the United Kingdom, than it is for women born in Europe and elsewhere.