Migrant trailing spouses: Career adaptability and occupational downshifting
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Vidhula Venugopal,Afreen Huq |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12864 |
International Migration. 2022;60:143–159.
|
143
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
Career adaptability, or “the ability of an individual to navigate career transitions” (Campion, 2018: 6) amongst
migrants, is key to helping new Australians successfully integrate (Abkhezr et al., 2015; Rajendran et al., 2020).
Successful adaptation is critical to exercising personal agency meaningfully and realising individual potential.
Career adaptability of migrants has particular relevance in Australia. Over the last decade, an upswing in vol-
untary and skilled emigration to Australia has re sulted from a rapid economic grow th in China and India (Hugo,
2008; Khadria, 2001). Greater participation of Indians in the skilled migration was partly associated with the
Received: 6 Novem ber 2020
|
Revised: 3 March 20 21
|
Accepted: 13 April 2 021
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .12864
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Migrant trailing spouses: Career adaptability and
occupational downshifting
Vidhula Venugopal1| Afreen Huq2
© 2021 The Author s. Internationa l Migration © 2021 IOM
1Indian Insti tute of Management Na gpur,
Maharashtra, India
2RMIT Univers ity, Melbourne, Aus tralia
Correspondence
Vidhula Venugo pal, Indian Instit ute of
Management Na gpur, Inside VNIT Cam pus,
South Ambaz ari Road, Nagpur – 440010,
Maharashtra, India.
Email: vidhula@iimnagpur.ac.in
Funding information
School of Mana gement, RMIT Unive rsity
Abstract
This study examin es career adaptability of trai ling spouses
whose comparative advantage most strikingly illus-
trates the erosion over time of career agency for migrant
women, or what is known as “occupational downshifting.”
Problematising occupational downshifting as a major ob-
stacle to social integration of trailing spouses, we explore
how cultural tensions p lay out vocationally, and the career
choices available to tr ailing spouses become so diminished
over time that their agency can be considered “bounded.”
Using a life story approach , our study provides evidence of
the lived experiences of constrained agency and paradox
of 12 early childhood e ducators in Australia. Our eviden ce
demonstrates that the choice of moving for the family not
only creates occupational precarity, but a more grievous
occupational downshif ting. We consider strategies like vo-
cational facilit ation to address the needs of tra iling spouses
as individuals, an d as such facilitate migrant integr ation and
neutralise the for ces leading to occupational downshif ting.
144
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Venugopaland Huq
introducti on of the ‘subclass 457 visa’ in 2012, late r abolished in 2018. 457 visas all owed skilled migrants to c ome
to Australia to wor k for an approved employer, accompa nied by their immediate fam ilies, for a period of bet ween
one day and four year s (Khoo et al., 2007).
It is important to focus on the “trailing spouses” of the skilled migrant s and their career adaptability, as the
move is found to have a negat ive effect on their employ ment prospects (Stockdale , 2017). Little is known about
how the balance of pow er shifts between husb and and wife when skilled migra tion or career- motivated move is
primarily determined by the husband. However, evidence suggests that tensions between the diverse culture they
bring wit h them, an d prevailing c ultural norms in western societies like Australia (B imrose & McNa ir, 2011; Del
Corso & Rehfuss , 2011), produce unique stru ggles for trailing s pouses as gender, ethnic ity and cultural ba rriers “in-
tersect” t o push them back into subser vient roles, thwart ing their agency in so doing (C ooke et al., 2013; Lassalle
& Shaw, 2021; Schultheiss, Watts, Sterland & O'Neill, 2011). “Intersection” here refers to the combination and
cumulative eff ect of multiple obst acles with common sys temic origins (Lassal le & Shaw, 2021). The consequences
of these interse cting barriers for trail ing spouses manifest in the er osion over time of comparative adva ntage in
occupational terms— a process leading, ulti mately, to occupational downs hifting (Webb, 2015). Using downshifting
of occupational p athways as a problem for trail ing spouses of skilled mig rants, we examine the co nstraints placed
on their caree r opportunities (Ca ngià, 2018; Cooke, 2007).
In this study, we examine how these constraints affect trailing spouses, and how they impact the career
decisions of trai ling spouses. We focus, in part icular, on how trailing spouses as fre e agents experience declin-
ing opportu nities for exercise of meaningf ul agency until their choices ar e so diminished that their agenc y can
be considered “bounded” (Hamilton et al., 2019). The concept of bounded agency recognises that agency is a
socially situate d process; and explains how “ascri bed” characteristic s (such as gender and social class), and “ac-
quired” characteristics (such as educational attainment) shape frames for action and “planning horizons” (Evans,
2002: 262).
We problematise dow nshifting of occupat ional pathways as unhelpf ul to realisation of indiv idual potential and
maximisation of agen cy amongst trailing spouse s. Using narrative analysis, we bring to light the acco unt of trailing
spouses expe riencing occupational down shifting in being pushed i nto joining the Early Childho od Education and
Care (ECEC) workforce (Anderson & Hughes, 2010). We explore how these trailing spouses construct a career
narrative in th e absence of formal career guida nce or facilitation (which we conco rdantly propose as a remedial
policy measur e), and in the presence of challe nges specific to them as mig rants and as women.
Most stud ies relating to employment pathways of migrant1. and refugee 2. women assume t hat economic mi-
grants are awar e of and resolved about their ca reer goals (Ghosh, 2020). The ex periences of trailing spou ses, as
a group embodying intersecting career adjustment barriers leading to occupational downshifting, are thus inad-
equately addre ssed. Conspicuous concentrations of trailing sp ouses in the family day care sec tor indicates that
the agency of tr ailing spouses erodes wit h time, such that eventually t hey find themselves in a simi lar position to
other migrant an d refugee women, and for much the same reasons (Hamilton et al., 2019). The patent systemic
failure to facilitate effective career adaptation, and ongoing harm to the working lives of trailing spouses that
results, make s this issue particularly p ressing. Shunting migrant wom en where the system accommod ates them,
not where their ow n aptitudes and potential are b est served (Anders on & Hughes, 2010) is emblematic of occ u-
pational downshifting.
To date, scholarly liter ature indicates that t railing spouses of sk illed migrants ty pically enjoyed str ong personal
agency in the social contexts from which they departed, and consequently that the choice to move was theirs
(Ghosh, 2020). T his is significant in dis tinguishing traili ng spouses of skilled mig rants from refugee s insofar as they
begin with greate r personal agency (A kbar, 2016). However, it is equally importa nt to highlight that this initial a d-
vantage makes lit tle difference whe n trailing spouses ar e confronted with the sam e barriers to career a daptability
that other migrants who enjoy less opportunities to effectively make use of their innate capacity for personal
agency face, as a r esult of the kinds of systemi c barriers referred to ab ove (Iredale, 2005; Lass alle & Shaw, 2021).
As a feature uniq ue to the experiences of trail ing spouses, this fact se rves to justify focusing o n trailing spouses
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