Sri Lankan Women's Career Identity Evolution after Immigration to Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Sri Lankan Women's Career Identity Evolution after Immigration to Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Abstract
The author describes the career experiences and career identity evolution of ten Sri Lankan Sinhalese women who immigrated to Montreal between 1977 and 2007. Her qualitative study uses a narrative methodology to explore these women's career identity development in Sri Lanka, their career experiences in Montreal, and their retrospective lifespan career identity development. The author's findings show that career identity development in Sri Lanka is encouraged by family and support networks, and propelled by sociocultural and economic factors that encourages women's education and employment. Participants demonstrated career behaviours that were goal-oriented and self-directed and had career goals that aligned with career values and personality traits. They embarked on their intended career trajectories and several had well-established careers in Sri Lanka. After immigrating to Montreal, participants experienced significant barriers to career development from immigration, educational, sociocultural and employment systems. The experience of these barriers is associated with profound affective and cognitive changes to career identity and modifications to career behaviours, career aspirations, career values, and career trajectories. Identification with their career and career satisfaction sharply decreased initially, as participants experienced losses associated with their career changes, as well as feeling overwhelmed by the multiple demands of resettlement and the dual burdens of parenting and income-generation. The longest-residing participants attained a modest level of career satisfaction after changing their career goals and identities while others ranged between hopeful expectation and resignation to current occupations.
Type
PhD dissertation
University
McGill University
Place
Montreal
Date
2011
# of Pages
[ix]-274p.
Language
en
URL
Citation
De Silva, Nilmini. “Sri Lankan Women’s Career Identity Evolution after Immigration to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.” PhD dissertation, McGill University, 2011. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/QMM/TC-QMM-103455.pdf.
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