Immigration Policies and the Risks of Single Parenthood for Migrant Women

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221124409
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Childcare, Parental Leave, and Immigration Policies

ANNALS, AAPSS, 702, July 2022 149

DOI: 10.1177/00027162221124409

Immigration

Policies and the

Risks of Single

Parenthood for

Migrant

Women

By

ISABEL SHUTES

1124409ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYTHE RISKS OF SINGLE PARENTHOOD FOR MIGRANT WOMEN

research-article2022

In high-income countries, both single parents and

migrants face elevated risks of living in poverty, but

research has paid little attention to the intersection of

single parent and migrant status. I examine the ways in

which immigration policies make migrants dependent

either on the labor market or on their families as a

spouse or partner and how these dependencies present

risks to migrant women who are single parents. I draw

on qualitative data on migrant women’s experiences in

the first five years after migration to the UK, which

include their transitions to single parenthood, to

explore how their legal status affects the risks that they

experience. Those risks concern exclusion from access

to social protection and permanent legal residence,

where access is contingent on the ability to maintain a

relationship to the market as a worker or to the family

through marriage or a stable partnership.

Keywords: single parents; migrants; immigration policy;

gender; social protection; poverty

Introduction

Single-parent families and migrant families

both face greater risk of poverty in high-income

countries compared to families with two par-

ents and families with parents who are born in

and/or are citizens of their country of residence

(Gornick and Jäntti 2010; Hughes and Kenway

2016; Smeeding etal. 2009). Yet there has been

limited attention to the intersection of single

Isabel Shutes is Associate Professor in the Department

of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and

Political Science. Her research examines the intersec-

tions of migration and social policies; inequalities relat-

ing to citizenship and migration status; and the

implications for paid/unpaid work, care, and social

provision. Her recent publications have appeared in

Global Social Policy, Journal of Ethnic and Migration

Studies, and Journal of European Social Policy.

Correspondence: I.H.Shutes@lse.ac.uk