Women's Isolation: A Constraint to Women's Empowerment - Essay Sample

Introduction

An emerging factor in the literature, especially sociology, is women's isolation and is found to be strongly linked to violence against them. Women's isolation in all sorts, from each other, friends, spouse, and formal institutions is considered a constraining factor to women's empowerment, especially among immigrants. This is because the latter leave their social environment to move to a new context with new norms, values and beliefs. More importantly, the language could be the most crucial barrier to those new arrivals.

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One way to help empower those immigrants is to help their integration process. This can be done through access to groups of like-minded individuals in their new country, allowing them to communicate their issues with members of the same culture. It is also most important to note that media coverage plays an essential role in highlighting the obstacles that these women face. In the proposed study, the adverse effects of isolation on Canadian immigrant women will be explored. Additionally, the study is aimed at exploring the role of communication and media in breaking that isolation and helping in the integration of Canadian immigrant women.

The problem of isolation of Canadian immigrant women has also been addressed in past empirical studies. For instance, Johnson, Bacsu, McIntosh, Jeffery, and Novik (2017) described social isolation as a state characterized by low quantity and quality of contact with other people. Johnson et al. (2017) noted that isolation is the reality experienced by most seniors and, specifically, immigrant and refugee seniors. Social isolation has adverse economic, social, and health effects on the affected individuals- hence the Canadian government's interest in addressing the issue. Consequently, community organizations have been at the forefront in offering programs and services to immigrants at risk of social isolation. Currently, the following programs and services are aimed at older adult immigrants in Canada: volunteer activities, emotional support, wellness activities, information and education, computer classes, social support, settlement services, conversation sessions, and English language training (Johnson et al., 2017). Despite these crucial findings, Johnson et al.'s (2017) findings cannot be generalized to younger adults and, specifically, women.The problem of isolation of Canadian immigrant women has been found to have a devastating impact on their mental health (Delara, 2016). Some of the mental health problems exacerbated by isolation include post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression (Delara, 2016). Additionally, it should be noted that even though all newcomers are faced with the problem of social exclusion and isolation upon entering a new country, women are more socially isolated than men because they are less likely to speak the language of their host country and to get employed than their male counterparts (Johnson, Bacsu, McIntosh, Jeffery, & Novik, 2017).

Because women have fewer resources to invest and exchange compared to their male counterparts, they have a low likelihood of having opportunities to develop new social relationships and ability to use relationships to build social capital (Johnson et al., 2017). It should also be further noted that because women have fewer social networks than men, they are more likely to suffer more adverse mental health effects of immigration and social isolation (Johnson et al., 2017). Canadian immigrant women have also been reported to be less likely to participate in social networks compared to their male colleagues because of complications related to gender expectations regarding support. For instance, there are high expectations that women should provide more social support compared than their male colleagues. Consequently, while female immigrants stand to benefit more than men from mutually supportive relationships, the relationships are rendered costly by gendered expectations.

The social isolation of Canadian immigrant women has also been highlighted in mass media, such as leading television stations in the country. For instance, CBC Television recently interviewed an immigrant woman who has immigrated across four continents and currently residing in Canada (Kiwirra, 2019). The interviewee revealed that when she first arrived in Canada, she felt very lonely and isolated. The isolation was linked to the limited social aspect of communication- what the interviewee described as lack of human level of interaction. This is because she could not meet familiar faces or greet people like she used to back in her home country. The interviewee further pointed out that the social isolation of refugees was further aggravated by the language barrier. Because the majority of the participants are not well-versed in the language of their host country, most of them develop anxiety. Lastly, social isolation of immigrants is worsened by difficulties of finding employment opportunities, thus further limiting their interaction with the outside world (Kiwirra, 2019). Consequently, there is a need to ensure that immigrants are taught English as a second language upon their entry to Canada. Despite the crucial role of media in highlighting the issue of isolation, there are limited empirical studies that focus on the role of media in the integration of Canadian immigrant women, thus the need for the proposed study.

Significance of the Study

This study is significant in diverse ways. First, the findings of this study are useful in understanding the impacts of isolation on immigrant women. An in-depth understanding of the adverse effects of isolation on immigrant women in Canada is crucial in the formulation of effective policies needed to address the problem. Consequently, these findings would help Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to come up with policies aimed at solving the menace. Secondly, in-depth knowledge of challenges encountered by Canadian immigrant women can help Canadian charitable organization that assist in sponsorship and resettlement of refugees to develop better strategies of integrating the immigrant women into Canadian society.

The proposed study is also aimed at gaining an in-depth understanding of the role of communication and media in breaking the isolation experienced by immigrant women and helping integration. Knowledge of how media and communication can help to address the problem of isolation will useful to government and Canadian charitable organization in finding ways through which they can incorporate the media in finding the solution to the isolation menace. For instance, a Canadian charitable organization could the media to highlight the problems experienced by women and seek grants needed to solve the problems. Secondly, the media could be used by the government and charitable organizations to stay abreast about the latest victims of isolation. This is crucial in ensuring that the problem is addressed with the urgency it deserves before it escalates and becomes more challenging to solve.

Methodology

Research Design

The proposed study will utilize a qualitative research approach to explore the adverse effects of isolation on immigrant women and the role of communication and media in breaking that isolation and helping integration. Specifically, a phenomenological research design will be utilized to explore the phenomena of interest to the stud. Phenomenological research approach can be traced back to the work of Edmund Husserl-who was a 20th-century philosopher linked to phenomenology as a philosophical movement (Ansell-Pearson & Schrift, 2014). As a research methodology, phenomenology is rooted in both the academic branches of psychology and philosophy (Ferri, 2019; Shanley, 2019). Phenomenology has been widely employed in describing human experiences. Consequently, phenomenological research method can be described as a qualitative research method used to describe how human beings experience a specific phenomenon of interest to a researcher (Heppner, Wampold, Owen, Thompson, & Wang, 2015; Schmidt & Brown, 2014; Peteva, 2016). Using this research design, a researcher or an investigator attempts to set aside biases and preconceived assumptions about responses to particular situations, experiences, and human feelings (Grand Canyon University, Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching, 2019).

Phenomenology is vital for the proposed study for various reasons. First, it helps the researcher to have a deeper understanding and knowledge of participants' perceptions, perspectives, understandings, and feelings on a particular issue- notably those respondents who have had a firsthand experience of the phenomenon. In the proposed study, phenomenology will help the researcher to gain an in-depth knowledge of how Canadian immigrant women have experienced isolation since their resettlement in the country. Consequently, phenomenology is a direct description and investigation of phenomena as consciously experienced by people living the experiences. Phenomenology was chosen for the proposed study because participants' experiences of isolation are non-quantitative but can only be described through non-numerical means, such as words.

Data Collection Approach

To collect the data needed to address the research questions, in-depth interviews will be utilized. The in-depth interview has been reported to be the primary method of collection in phenomenology (Brown, 2016; Soeters, Shields, & Rietjens, 2014). A small sample of immigrant women will be interviewed and asked to give their perspective and experiences regarding their experiences of isolation or what is it is like to be isolated in Canada. Additionally, managers of three leading media houses will be interviewed and asked to shed light on the role the media has played or is currently playing, to address the issues of isolation of Canadian immigrant women and their integration to the Canadian society. The interviews will be carried out through face-to-face technique with a sample of immigrant Canadian women and managers of media houses, separately. Open-ended questions addressing the issues of the proposed study will be developed for data collection.

Sampling and Sample Size

The potential participants will be recruited into the study through purposive sampling technique. Purposive sampling has been reported to be the most appropriate sampling technique for phenomenological research design. In purposive sampling, only potential respondents who have experienced the phenomenon of interest to the study are chosen. Consequently, in the proposed study, only Canadian immigrant women who have had isolation problem since their resettlement will be picked for the study. Similarly, managers of leading media houses with knowledge of the problem will be selected for the study. The sample for the study will comprise of 10 Canadian immigrant women and three managers of leading media houses. Consequently, a purposive sample of ten participants will be selected for the study.

Small sample size has been reported to be appropriate for phenomenological research method. This is because qualitative research approaches are often aimed at garnering an in-depth understanding of a particular phenomenon or are focused on meaning and heterogeneity of meaning- which are often aimed at addressing the how and why of a specific set of social interactions, scene, subculture, situation, process, or issue (Dworkin, 2012). In the proposed study, social isolation of Canadian immigrant women is both an aspect of social interaction as well as an issue and a process. In-depth interview comprising of small sample size is not focused on making generalizations to a broader population of interest...