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LIBRARY
MiChigan State This is to certify that the
Unlve rSIty thesis entitled

 

The well-being of Muslim refugee women in resettlement: A
needs assessment

presented by

Zermarie Deacon

has been accepted towards fulﬁllment
of the requirements for the

 

 

 

M.A. degree in Psycholol
Mar—6' r Professor’s Signature
Iajo ‘? / 0 3
Date

MSU is an Afﬁrmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

 

PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record.
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6/01 cz/CIRCIDatoDuepGS-p. 15

 

THE WELL- BEING OF MUSLIM REFUGEE WOMEN IN RESETTLEMENT: A
NEEDS ASSESSMENT

By

Zermarie Deacon

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Psychology

2003

ABSTACT

THE WELL-BEIN G OF MUSLIM REFUGEE WOMEN IN RESETTLEMENT: A
NEEDS ASSESSMENT

By

Zermarie Deacon

To date, little formal work has been done concerning the particular experiences of
Muslim refugee women residing in the United States. An improved understanding of
these women’s needs would lead to enhanced and more cost-efﬁcient service provision to
this population. The goal of the proposed work was to undertake a systematic needs
assessment surveying 31 Muslim refugee women in Central Michigan in order to
understand both their needs and the degree to which the community can respond to these
needs. Participants’ overarching needs related to service provision and various factors
essential to their successful adjustment in resettlement. Participants’ needs were
additionally strongly related to their demographic characteristics, particularly their
marital status in resettlement. Women who were single in resettlement had different
experiences and needs as compared to married women. Results highlighted the
importance of taking into consideration the speciﬁc demographic characteristics of

Muslim refugee women when service provision to this population is considered.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the guidance and assistance that I was privileged enough to
receive from my committee chair, Prof. Cris Sullivan and the members of my committee,
Prof. Deborah Bybee and Prof. Steve Gold. In addition, I would like to thank the
numerous individuals and organizations that cooperated with me in order to make this
needs assessment happen. In particular, I would like to thank Refugee Services, the
Ingham County Health Department, and the Islamic Center. I would also like to thank
the interviewers and translators that worked with me in order to make sure that
everything was accurately translated and that all the data was collected. Yvonne
Mustafa, Mahbuba F idda-Mohamed, Meediya Briﬂcani, and Shana Bombrys deserve
special mention in this regard. I would also like to acknowledge that a Student Award
Grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation funded this research.
Finally, I would like to thank Brad for his never-ending understanding and support

without which this task would never have been possible.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................. vi
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
Who are Refugees? .............................................................................. 3
Refugee Resettlement ........................................................................... 4
Resettlement of Muslim Refugees ............................................................ 4
Resettlement of Muslim Refugee Women ............................................... 6
The Refugee Experience ........................................................................ 7
The Experience of Refugee Women ......................................................... 10
The Persecution of and Discrimination Against Women .................................. 13
The Role of Women During War ............................................................ 15
Sexual Violence Against Women ............................................................ 16
Women, Flight, and Camps .................................................................. 19
Sexual Violence in Camps ............................................................... 20
Discrimination Against Women in Camps ............................................. 21
Access to Resources in Camps .......................................................... 21
Women in Resettlement ....................................................................... 24
Single Reﬁrgee Women .................................................................. 33
Beneﬁts of Resettlement to Women .................................................... 34
The Process of Refugee Adjustment in Resettlement ..................................... 34
Adjustment and Stress ..................................................................... 35
Women and Adjustment .................................................................. 38
The Experience of Reﬁrgee Muslim Women ............................................... 38
The Importance of Considering the Unique Needs of Muslim Refugee Women .44
Muslim Refugee Women in the Greater Lansing Area ................................... 46
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 49
Current Study ................................................................................... 52
METHOD ........................................................................................... 53
Setting ........................................................................................... 53
Recruitment ..................................................................................... 53
Procedures ....................................................................................... 54
Incentives ....................................................................................... 57
Selection and Training of Interviewers and Translators .................................. 58
Measurement .................................................................................... 59
Scale Construction ............................................................................. 63
Indices ........................................................................................... 76
Power Analysis ................................................................................. 77
Data Analysis .................................................................................... 77
RESULTS ........................................................................................... 80
Description of Participants .................................................................... 80
What Are the Particular Needs of Muslim Refugee Women Resettled
in Mid-Michigan? ............................................................................... 85

iv

Financial Needs ........................................................................... 85

Adjustment Needs ........................................................................ 87
Needs related to interaction with community agencies and organizations ....... 102
Children’s Adjustment Needs .......................................................... l 10
Obstacles To Having Needs Met ........................................................... 115
How Can the Community Better Respond To the Needs of
Muslim Refugee Women? .................................................................. 126
The Particular Strengths of Muslim Refugee Women ................................... 131
DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 134
Description of Participants .................................................................. 134
The Needs of Muslim Refugee Women Resettled in Mid-Michigan .................. 135
Financial Need ........................................................................... 135
Need to Learn English .................................................................. 139
Adjustment Needs ........................................................................ 139
Improved Social Support ............................................................... 140
Need for an Orientation to Community Resources .................................. 142
Transportation Needs .................................................................... 142
Issues for Children ....................................................................... 144
Utilization of Neighborhood Resources ................................................ 144
Interaction with Community Agencies and Organizations ......................... 146
Children’s Adjustment Needs ........................................................... 150
Satisfaction With Life in Resettlement ................................................ 151
Obstacles to Having Needs Met ............................................................ 152
How Can the Community Better Respond to the Needs of
Muslim Refugee Women? .................................................................. 154
What are the Particular Strengths of Muslim Refugee Women? ....................... 157
Summary ....................................................................................... 157
Limitations of the Current Study ........................................................... 159
Directions for Future Research ............................................................. 161
Policy and Service Implications ............................................................ 162
APPENDIX A
Needs Assessment ............................................................................ 165

LIST OF TABLES

Correlations Between Scales ...................................................................... 71
Obstacles to Attending a Place of Worship Index ............................................. 76
Demographic Characteristics of Sample ........................................................ 81

Categorical Demographic Information .......................................................... 82
Sample Demographics by Nation of Origin ..................................................... 83
Percent Level of School Completed by Ethnic Origin ......................................... 84
Participants’ Place of Employment ............................................................... 86
Conﬁdence Regarding Adjustment to US Society ............................................. 89
Conﬁdence Regarding Ability to Learn English .. .............................................. 90
Participants’ Feelings Regarding Their Social Networks ..................................... 91
Participants’ Perceptions of their Neighborhoods ............................................. 94
Participants’ Knowledge and Utilization of Resources ....................................... 96
Participants’ Knowledge of and Utilization of Neighborhood Resources .................. 99
Partieipants’ Average Rating of Resources in Community ................................. 100
Participants’ Satisfaction With Aspects of Their Lives in Resettlement .................. 101
Participants’ Experiences With the Local Health Department .............................. 103
Participants Experience With the Family Independence Agency ........................... 106
Participants’ Experience with Local Refugee Resettlement Agency ...................... 108

Participants’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Educational Needs ......................... 111

Participants’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Adjustment .................................. 113
Participants’ Attitude Towards Daycare ....................................................... 115

Obstacles to Having Housing Needs Met ...................................................... 116

Obstacles to Accessing Transportation ......................................................... 117
Obstacles to Obtaining Food Enjoyed by Family ............................................. 1 19
Obstacles to Completing Housework ........................................................... 121
Obstacles to Expanding Social Support Networks ........................................... 122
Obstacles to Attending a Place of Worship ................................................... 124
Obstacles to Obtaining Assistance with Day-to-Day Concerns ............................ 125
Participants’ Concerns ........................................................................... 126
Needs Endorsed by Participants ................................................................. 128
Positive Aspects of Life in America ............................................................ 131
Participants’ Skills ................................................................................ 132
Subjective Rating of Skill ........................................................................ 132

vii

Introduction

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UN HCR) has designated
women, who constitute more than 50 percent of the world’s refugees (The United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2001), as a particularly vulnerable segment
of the refugee population (Cole, 1992). Ironically, although the majority of refugees are
women, they are chronically underrepresented in the planning and provision of
interventions for refugees. While refugee women face a number of obstacles ranging
from sexual assault to fewer educational opportunities than men (Comas-Diaz & Jansen,
1995; Fenis, 1993; Green, 1994), their needs are regulme overlooked in favor of the
male-dominated paradigm that governs responses to the refugee crisis (Callamard, 1999;
Ferris, 1993; Wihthol de Wenden, 1998). Muslim refugee women from patriarchal
nations have been particularly underrepresented and neglected. In resettlement, these
women have unique needs related to their roles that go largely unmet. It will be argued
that it is necessary to develop a better understanding of the needs of women refugees,
especially Muslim women refugees from the Middle East, some countries in North
Africa, and Central Asia that produce vast numbers of refugees annually.

The UNHCR, which is chieﬂy responsible for worldwide responses to refugee
crisis, estimated the number of refugees and displaced persons in the world to have
numbered 21.8 million or one out of every 275 persons on earth, by January 1, 2001.
Nations such as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, and Afghanistan where Islam is widely
practiced were counted amongst the ten countries producing the greatest number of

refugees worldwide, with Afghanistan producing the largest number of refugees

 

worldwide. Of the ten main countries of resettlement identiﬁed by the UNHCR in 2000,

the United States resettled the largest number of refugees (UNHCR, 2001).

Upon resettlement, refugees face many challenges and have speciﬁc needs related
to their negotiation of the inherently stressful processes of acculturation and adjustment.
Due to their differing roles, men’s and women’s needs and experiences differ. For many
women, these needs are mediated by cultures of origin that add additional burdens to an
already difﬁcult process. It is therefore argued that Muslim refugee women have speciﬁc
needs in resettlement related to the manner in which their culturally deﬁned gender roles
allow them to negotiate the process of adjustment. It is further proposed that a better
understanding of Muslim refugee women’s needs would allow for better and more
effective interventions that will assist them with these processes.

The proposed study contributes both to the existing literature on refugee women
and to current interventions aimed at assisting these women. The contribution to the
literature comes in the form of a rigorous study of the needs of Muslim refugee women.
To date, this literature has not focused much on Muslim women from patriarchal nations
(W ihthol de Wenden, 1998). In fact, the majority of the literature has focused on the
experiences of Southeast Asian refugees (e.g., Amar, 1985; Bach & Bach, 1980; Faller,
1985; Yee, 1992) and Latin American refugees (e.g., Allotey, 1998; Espin, 1995; Roe,
1992) and has focused on the needs of men (Callamard, 1999; Ferris, 1993; Wihthol de
Wenden, 1998). The second contribution is a practical one. Due to the bias against
refugee women (Callamard, 1999; Ferris, 1993; Wihthol de Wenden, 1998), many
interventions do not consider or do not adequately target women in general or Muslim

refugee women in particular. Hence, this rigorous needs assessment would provide

t-e—w-‘+—.r—-vv
I

service providers and government agencies with guidelines to best assist reﬁrgee women,
speciﬁcally women from Islamic nations.
Who are Reﬁrgees?

According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees put forth by
the UNHCR, a refugee is a person who:

owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,

nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, is

outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is

unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. (UN HCR, 2001)

The primary deﬁning feature of a refugee is thus the fact that they fear a form of political
persecution (Ferris, 1993). This deﬁnition is not without its drawbacks. It does not
account for those refugees who leave their country of origin due to economic oppression,
those who leave in anticipation of problems and can then not return due to war or
political instability, and those displaced by famine, or other disasters (Ferris, 1993).
While the problems inherent in the term “refugee” is beyond the scope of this thesis, it
should be noted that the term “refugee” will be used in the limited ofﬁcial sense, and will
not necessarily account for the many persons who leave their country of origin due to a
combination of political and economic reasons.

It should further be noted that the term “refugee” is often used to refer to all
reﬁrgees in a manner that denies the human diversity inherent in the refugee experience.
Refugees, like all other humans, are differentiated along dimensions such as gender, age,
socio-economic status, and ethnicity. Furthermore, the label “refugee” is often
interpreted in a manner that ignores the agency of refugees and depicts them as helpless

and dependent. Individuals often differ vastly from the labels afﬁxed to them and may

well disagree with these labels (Lammers, 1999).

Cultural and ethnic labels affixed to refugees may further deny the diversity that
exists within groups. Individuals belonging to different ethnic and cultural groups differ
in their interpretation of their own culture and/or ethnicity and the manner in which they
adhere to these norms. In fact, individuals differ as much from one another as they are
similar; hence, it is necessary to bear in mind that a person is more than the sum total of
his/her culture or ethnicity (Indra, 1991).

Refugees inevitably display much strength and resourcefulness that is not
accounted for in their labels (Lammers, 1999). Therefore, the current study also draws
upon the strengths and agency of refugee women.

Refugee Resettlement

When circumstances in reﬁrgees’ nations of origin are such that they cannot be
voluntarily repatriated, they are often resettled in a third nation. If refugees are found to
meet the criteria of the resettling nation, they will be provided with the opportunity to
permanently relocate. When refugees are resettled, they are provided with legal
protection, residency, and often eventually citizenship by the governments who agree to
accept them (UNHCR, 1997). While it should be made clear that resettlement is not an
option for many (if not most) refugees, this thesis deals speciﬁcally with issues related to
refugee women resettled within the United States.

Resettlement of Muslim Refugees

Countries in which Islam is widely practiced have been accounting for an
increasing number of refugees resettled worldwide. During 1998, refugees ﬁ'om Africa,
the Middle East, and Yugoslavia accounted for 98 percent of the refugees resettled under

UNHCR auspices. Of these, 30 percent came from the Middle East and 31 percent were

from Africa (Islam is widely practiced in northern parts of Africa; UNHCR, 2000). In
2001, the United States received large numbers of asylum applications from the
following nations in which Islam is widely practiced: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia
(UNHCR, 2001).

Furthermore, continued instability in the Middle East makes the voluntary
repatriation of refugees to their countries of origin difﬁcult. There are also few
possibilities for asylum in the area. Hence, refugees from Iran and Afghanistan who are
currently residing in Middle Eastern refugee camps will require resettlement in the next
few years, while large numbers of Iraqi refugees have already been resettled in Western
and Nordic nations. In Sudan, speciﬁc attention is being accorded to Sudanese women
at-risk who are in need of resettlement as they cannot be voluntarily repatriated or locally
integrated (UNHCR, 2000).

Recent global events are further giving rise to a renewed refugee crisis. The
recent war in Afghanistan caused many Afghans to ﬂee their homes, to move into refugee
camps, and to potentially resettle in the United States, adding to the already large
numbers of Afghan refugees worldwide (UNHCR, 2001). A growing awareness of the
circumstances under which Afghan women live ﬁrrthermore increases the likelihood that
women ﬁ'om this region will be resettled in the West, as they would be considered a
special population at risk.

From the second to the third quarter in 2000, the following countries of origin
where Islam is widely practiced experienced a signiﬁcant increase in the number of
applications lodged in Europe and North America: the Islamic Republic of Iran (96%),

Syrian Arab Republic (71%), and Iraq (58%). The number of asylum-seekers from Iraq

is also rapidly rising. Consequently, it was one of the two largest countries of origin for
asylurn-seekers during August and September of 2000 (UNHCR, 2000).

While the majority of Middle Eastern refugees are resettled in Europe (UN HCR,
2001), the United States does accept large numbers of refugees from these nations. For
example, during 2000, the United States accepted 10, 079 refugees from the Middle East
and Afghanistan and had a quota of 10, 000 refugees from countries in the Middle East
and Afghanistan that were to be resettled in 2001 (UN HCR, 2001).

Resettlement of Muslim refugee women, Many refugees resettled from Islamic
nations are women. The following statistics are incomplete and only represent women
who were resettled in selected nations (UN HCR, 1997). Hence, a mere sample of the
actual numbers of women ﬁom Islamic nations who are resettled is provided.
Furthermore, in spite of the fact that women make up the majority of the world’s
refugees, they are neglected in resettlement due to some of the disadvantages they face.
For example, western countries of resettlement have a bias toward more educated
reﬁrgees who held positions of power in their countries of origin and are subsequently
more likely to integrate successfully into their new nation. As women are less likely to
be well educated or to have held a position of power in their country of origin, they are
less likely to be resettled than men, unless they are married to a more educated and/or
powerful man (Keely, 1992; UNHCR, 1997). However, increased global awareness of
the plight of women has led to the increased resettlement of women.

By the end of 1999, 12,100 female reﬁrgees worldwide were from Iraq, 2,540
were from Kuwait, 1,790 were from Saudi Arabia, and 2,970 female refugees were from

the Syrian Arab Republic. Women thus constituted 48.7 percent, 45 percent, 31.7

percent, and 45.8 percent respectively of the refugees from the noted Middle Eastern
nations. In Aﬁica, women constituted 81,300, 86,380, and 50 of the refugees from
Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia respectively. Women thus constituted 50.9 percent, 49.9
percent, and 41.7 percent of the refugees from noted nations (UN HCR, 1997). In spite of
their limitations, these statistics paint a clear picture of the extent to which women
constitute a signiﬁcant proportion of the refugees from nations where Islam is widely
practiced.

Thousands of people (the majority of whom are women) are displaced annually,
many of whom are resettled within the United States and other Western nations. A
growing number of these refugees are from Islamic nations, whose cultural practices with
regard to the role of women are quite different from those in the US. It is therefore
imperative that the processes inherent in refugee adjustment, particularly the experiences
of women, be understood and subsequently inform local policies and interventions aimed
at assisting refugees with the process of adjustment in resettlement.
The Refugee Experience

No discussion on issues relating to refugees is complete without an understanding
of the particulars related to that experience. Hence, some of the literature that deals
exclusively with this domain will be discussed in order to provide a framework within
which the refugee experience can be understood.

Reﬁrgees differ ﬁ'om immigrants in that they were pushed out of their nations of
origin rather than having left for reasons of personal choice. They may thus have been
prominent and successful persons before they were forced to leave for fear of

persecution. In addition, refugees, unlike immigrants, do not have much choice regarding

their future. They ﬂee to and eventually settle (if they do not return to their nation of
origin) in a country that they may not necessarily have chosen as their primary residence
or with which they may not be familiar. Unlike immigrants, refugees do not have the
opportunity to prepare for their transition to a new country, may ﬁnd it culturally strange,
and may have skills that do not transfer well to their new environments (Stein, 1986).

For many refugees, the period leading up to their ﬂight is fraught with hardships,
fear, and disruption. In addition to armed conﬂict and/or political persecution,
individuals may have had to weather economic hardships related to their persecution and
subsequent deprivation related to the disruption of their daily lives. Individuals further
experience social disruption due to the fragmentation of families, the disruption of
communities, and the end of their routine lives. While these factors are often overlooked
as a result of the impact of persecution and ﬂight, they play an important role in the lives
of refugees. Such disruptions often lead to the loss of resources (e.g., social support) that
buffer the effects of the refugee experience (Ager, 1999). These experiences may also
deprive refugees of the tools needed in order to make sense of what is happening to them
as breakdown in a refugee community’s social and cultural fabric may cause a
breakdown in a community’s sense of meaning (Summerﬁeld, 1999).

Reﬁrgees additionally have to deal with the consequences of exposure to severe
violence and political oppression. While exposure to violence is only one facet of the
refugee experience, it can have a severe and lasting impact on their mental well-being
(e.g., they may suffer from insomnia, anxiety etc.). Persons who survive political

oppression may be similarly affected. The experience of having had one’s basic human

rights violated and restricted and the fear and powerlessness that is associated with daily
life in an oppressive environment affects the overall well-being of refugees (Ager, 1999).

The experience of separation from one’s homeland may be equally harrowing.
Many reﬁrgees experience cultural bereavement associated with this loss and their
awareness that they may never return to their nation of origin. In addition, refugees face
dangers ranging from sexual assault to robbery during ﬂight. These challenges do not
come to an end during eventual settlement as refugees are received in counties of asylum
with varying degrees of hospitality and may experience various levels of prejudice and
racism (Ager, 1999).

Even when well integrated into their new societies, refugees are often faced with a
continual, low-grade sense of not belonging completely. Familiar smells, tastes, and
people will be forever gone for many refugees, thus leading to a life-long process of
grieving. While refugees may adjust to this loss, it can still lead to stress and other
problems (Espin, 1992). Refugees may also be burdened by concerns for friends and
relatives who remain in their country of origin and/or general concerns related to events
beyond their control such as warfare and political instability in their country of origin
(Indra, 1991).

Furthermore, refugees who are resettled face numerous challenges inherent in the
process. Individuals who have less education, weaker language skills, and who have not
resided in the resettlement country for extended periods of time often ﬁnd it hard to
adjust to their new surroundings. Reﬁrgees may also have difﬁculty obtaining
employment and thus have to face the challenges inherent in having unmet economic

needs (Ager, 1999).

Refugees are often depicted as passive recipients of aid who are expected to react
accordingly and to be treated as such. However, this denies the refugees’ agency, their
own coping mechanisms, and the fact that the simple provision of assistance to the
“needy” may actually be more debilitating that helpful (Harrell-Bond, 1999).
Furthermore, the individualized pathologies favored by the medical model may not be
appropriate to many refugees. For many, the destruction of the social fabric of their lives
may be far more signiﬁcant than their own personal traumas. Pathologies are also often
the natural reaction to situations of severe distress, and refugees should be allowed to
conceptualize and deal with these in manners appropriate to their beliefs, cultures, and
social worlds (Summerﬁeld, 1999).

In conclusion, it should be noted that while refugees may experience many
hardships and problems related to the process of ﬂight, asylum, and eventual
resettlement, these factors should be awarded the complexity that they deserve. The
refugee experience is multifaceted, making it dangerous to conceptualize all refugees as
similar, thus highlighting the importance of a focus on the experience of women as
separate ﬁ'om that of men.

The Experience of Reﬁlgee Women

Refugee women’s experiences differ enough from those of men that they require
speciﬁc and equal consideration. Much of this difference and discrimination can be
located within the “public-private” distinction (Greatbatch, 1989; Indra, 1988).

The “public-private” distinction argues that men and women inhabit radically
different domains with different roles, responsibilities, and unequal representation. Men

exist primarily in the public sphere, while women ﬁnd themselves relegated to the private

10

sphere. The male, or public sphere is the domain of paid employment, public war and
social and political representation. The female, or private sphere is the domain of the
home and reproduction. This is a devalued sphere where women perform most of their
unpaid labor and are often the victims of sexual and gendered violence. While much
violence is committed against women in the private sphere, public violence against
women also takes on a private tint as it is often rooted in differences related to sex and
gender roles (Espin, 1995; Greatbatch, 1989; Indra; 1988; Kay, 1988; Macklin, 1995).

Women’s private work and experiences have historically been devalued, and are
not considered important or relevant to the public sphere. Women who are employed in
the public sphere are often still expected to perform their private duties with little or no
assistance from their husbands and therefore perform what amounts to two jobs. In spite
of their employment in the public sphere, women are not accorded the same privileges as
men (e.g., equal rights and representation) and are, rather, still associated with the private
sphere. Issues of particular concern to women (e.g., sexual and domestic violence,
economic equality, and healthcare) are therefore often neglected when public policy
decisions are made (Comas-Diaz & Jansen, 1995; Espin, 1995; Greatbatch, 1989; Kay,
1988; Indra, 1988; Macklin, 1995).

Furthermore, due to men’s presence in the public sphere, most issues of public,
and therefore political, concern are couched in male terms and women’s experiences are
simply subsumed as a subtle deviation of the male experience (Espin, 1995; Greatbatch,
1989; Indra, 1988; Kay, 1988; Macklin, 1995). Political notions such as the state and
nationality are couched in patriarchal terms and lead to the patriarchal deﬁnition of

gender roles (Korac, 1996). Even discourse surrounding issues such as human rights

11

occurs in the public sphere, thus ensuring that women’s rights are awarded less
importance than “human rights,” which usually designate male rights (Comas-Diaz &
Jansen, 1995; Indra, 1988).

Such discourse further conforms to certain norms that govern interactions in the
public sphere. Those who do not conform to these norms are less likely to be heard.
Women, by virtue of the fact that they are associated with the “private” rather than the
“public” sphere, may thus not possess the skills and knowledge necessary to obtain what

they need within the public sphere (Indra, 1988). In resettlement, women who do not

speak the language of their host nation are further disadvantaged in this regard, as they
literally lack the language with which to ask for what they need.

However, the distinction between the two spheres is not always clear-cut. Private
concerns such as sexual assault have distinct public implications. A woman’s
reproductive capacity and primary responsibility for rearing children may fall under the
domain of the private sphere, but these responsibilities are important to those in the
public sphere as women are responsible for the physical reproduction of nations and for
the transmission of cultural, national, and religious ideologies to future generations. For
this reason, the control of women’s sexuality has far-reaching implications for both men
and women (Espin, 1995).

This public-private distinction is paramount to the refugee experience and colors
every aspect of a refugee woman’s life as well as the lives of her family and community

members.

12

The Persecution of and Discrimination Against Women

Women have experiences before ﬂight and reasons for ﬂeeing their country of
origin that not only set them on a different path than men right from the start of the
reﬁrgee experience but also often exclude them from consideration. Women worldwide
are awarded lower status than men and are subjected to various forms of abuse, simply
based upon their sex. Thus, simply being a woman is a disadvantage in various important
ways (Comas-Diaz & Jansen, 1995). Women’s relative lack of power renders them more
vulnerable to assault and persecution before ﬂight, during ﬂight, and in resettlement.

Furthermore, persecution on the basis of gender is not included in the UNHCR
deﬁnition of reﬁrgees, thus disregarding the experiences of women in countries where
women are routinely subjected to state-sanctioned injustices based upon their sex (e.g.,
the enforced wearing of veils and genital mutilation). While many nations have moved to
include persecution for reasons of gender under factors to be considered when decisions
regarding asylum are made, many nations still steadfastly ignore the fact that women may
be forced to ﬂee due to persecution on the basis of their sex (Macklin, 1996). Women are
thus invisible right from the start to many of those who determine refugee policy
decisions and their experiences are often considered to be of lesser signiﬁcance than
those of men (Callarnrd, 1999; Comas-Diaz & Jansen, 1995; Ferris, 1993; Wihthol de
Wenden, 1998).

A further complicating factor is the fact that gender-based violence has not been
universally deﬁned (Hynes & Cardozo, 2000), thus hindering its recognition. In 1993,
the General Assembly of the United Nations “Deceleration of the Elimination of

Violence Against Women” put forth the following deﬁnition of gender-based violence:

13

“any act of violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.” This is a very broad deﬁnition and is
open to many interpretations. To date, the majority of the literature related to refugee
women has been concerned with sexual assault perpetrated against women. In fact, little
data regarding domestic violence and other forms of oppressions used against displaced
women exists (Hynes & Cardozo, 2000).

Gilad (1996) argues that the persecution of women for gender-based reasons is
often ignored for ostentatiously culturally relative reasons. It is claimed that if the
oppression of women is culturally acceptable, then it is not the business of the rest of the
world to intervene, thus disregarding women’s right to choose their own fates and ways
of living. In fact, gender is often overlooked when wars for greater equality are waged
(Ghorashi, 1997).

Such inequalities are compounded by the fact that girls in developing nations are
often not awarded equal educational opportunities to boys (Green, 1994; Ferris, 1993).
Women thus leave their country of origin at a disadvantage in relation to men. As will be
noted later, a lack of education can have far-reaching implications for refugee women in
resettlement.

However, various individual characteristics and environmental factors mediate
women’s experiences both prior to and during ﬂight and resettlement. Punamaki (1986)
found that a number of variables either predicted or protected Palestinian women against
stress related to the experience of military occupation. The manner in which women

interpreted their experiences, their environment, and the way in which they coped with

14

‘4- -' ...--.”

stressors were all signiﬁcant in predicting their levels of distress related to military
occupation.

Women perceived incidences of harassment to be the most stressful and were best
able to handle stressors of a political nature as opposed to those of a personal nature.
Women face political stressors as part of a collective and thus they have both social
support and the political means to work towards change. Personal stressors such a
ﬁnancial circumstances, on the other hand, were more likely to cause women to feel
helpless and thus more vulnerable to distress. Lastly, higher economic status, sufﬁcient
social support, and religious commitment all functioned to protect women from the
negative impact of stressors (Punamaki, 1986).

The Role of Women During War

Warfare disrupts women’s lives in unique ways and forces them to take on new
roles. Cainkar (1993) discusses the roles played by Iraqi women during the Gulf War,
thus highlighting the manner in which women’s positions within the private sphere has
important implications for their changing responsibilities during times of war. Women’s
roles as caregivers of their families combined with the domestic labor they perform
ensured that the war took an immense toll upon their health and their lives.

The Gulf War transformed an industrialized Iraq into a pre-industrialized society,
which lacked the resources to survive without adequate infrastructure. The bombing of
non-civilian targets such as power plants had a devastating effect on civilians dependent
on these resources for survival (Cainkar, 1993). While not all wars are marked by such
deliberate devastation of infrastructure, and while many individuals affected by war come

from developing nations and are more able to survive without infrastructure, it can be

15

assumed that many of the experiences of Iraqi women can be generalized to other wars.
Most wars imply a lack of resources such as food and medical care for civilians and thus
force women to go to many of the same lengths discussed below, regardless of their
nation of origin.

In Iraq, food was primarily distributed to men who were considered to be the
heads of households, meaning that women, particularly single women, had to go to
extreme lengths in order to obtain resources for their families. When food was
particularly limited, women would sacriﬁce their own food in order to ensure that their
children were fed, thus compromising their overall health. A lack of infrastructure led to
unsanitary conditions when sewers backed up and clean, running water was not available,
causing widespread disease. Subsequently, women, while ill themselves, were primarily
responsible for the care of their children who were often the most affected by disease.
Infant mortality was consequently high, and women suffered through the deaths of their
children due to disease and, for those women who did not succumb to postpartum
infections caused by unhygienic circumstances, a lack of adequate prenatal care (Cainkar,
1993)

Warfare in and of itself thus compromises the health and overall well-being of
women. In addition to gender-speciﬁc violence and deprivation, women are forced to
bear the brunt of the survival of their fanrilies’ even prior to their decision to ﬂee their
nation of origin.

Sexual Violence Against Women
Women’s experiences prior to ﬂight often take on a further sexualized and

gender-speciﬁc slant (Espin, 1995). For example, women who engage in political

16

activity are often the direct targets of state-sanctioned sexual violence (Comas-Diaz &
Jansen, 1995; Espin, 1995; Holzman, 1996; Siemens, 1988). Agger (1994) conducted in-
depth interviews with numerous women who had been politically active in their countries
of origin and who were resettled in Denmark after their ﬂight. She argues that women
who transcend the public-private distinction by becoming active in the public sphere are
doubly dangerous to an oppressor. Not only do they challenge the politically oppressive
status quo, but they also often challenge social mores regarding women’s roles (Ferris,
1993). When these women are captured, they are often subjected to sexualized torture.
All of the women interviewed by Agger (1994) were sexually assaulted in some form
when accosted and/or captured by the military or police.

Even women who are not directly persecuted for gender-based or other political
reasons often become the targets of sexual assault. In fact, simply being a refugee
woman during periods of armed conﬂict and the disintegration of social structures
renders a woman more vulnerable to sexual assault as systems that support violence
against women tend to be reinforced (Comas-Diaz & Jansen, 1995; Hynes & Cardozo,
2000).

Women’s bodies are often integral to a given culture and are viewed as
responsible for its honor and survival (Friedman, 1992; Sierrrens, 1988; Summerﬁeld,
1999). This is particularly true when women are viewed as the property of the men of a
given nation or group (Korac, 1996). For this reason, aggressors often attack women in
order to violate an entire community'. Women who are not engaged in any political

activity are also frequently singled out and attacked in order to obtain information about

 

' The recent wars and Yugoslavia, Bosnia, and Sierra Leone are examples of cases where women were
systematically raped in order to inﬂict harm upon entire communities and the use of rape as a weapon of
war (Hynes and Cardozo, 2000).

17

the activities and whereabouts of other, politically active family members (Friedman,
1992). However, women may simply be assaulted because they are women and are
considered to be part of the spoils of war for invading soldiers (Comas-Diaz & Jansen,
1995)

The sexual assault of women, their response, and their farnilies’ and communities’
response to the assault, all occur within a given cultural context. The cultural constructs
and religious teaching regarding rape and sexuality adhered to by members of a woman’s
family and community are central to her interpretation of the event and the social
consequences she experiences as a result of the assault (Holzrnan, 1996).

Thus, women are subjected to sexualized brutality even before they ﬂee; giving
rise to the need for culturally appropriate interventions to be made available to female
refugees in refugee camps and in resettlement. Such attacks have particular signiﬁcance
for Muslim women who may interpret rape as punishment for a sin that they have
committed (Summerﬁeld, 1999). Across cultures, women who have been assaulted may
be ostracized from their families and communities for their rape and may be treated
poorly by the very systems and service providers that are meant to help them (e.g., the
police and medical staff). They are no longer considered pure, their rape dishonors their
communities, and they lose their value as virgin brides. This is compounded by the
existence of inexperienced or badly trained camp staff that are not equipped to assist the
women with their needs and by the fact that women may be reluctant to admit to their
assault for fear of its consequences (Friedman, 1992; Holzrnan, 1996; Hynes & Cardozo,

2000).

18

In addition to social consequences, sexual assault may lead to physical and mental
health concerns in reﬁrgee women. The trauma of assault may leave women with lasting
mental health concerns such as insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder and physical
consequences such as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted illnesses (STI’s).
In situations where women face severe social consequences following assault they may
not have access to the resources needed in order to deal with the physical and mental
consequences of their assault, thus aggravating any of the noted problems and concerns
(Hynes & Cardozo, 2000). These factors are often further compounded by women’s
experiences during ﬂight.

Women, F light, and Camps

Flight usually takes place in unsafe war-tom regions and refugees usually have
little means to protect themselves. Flight is therefore inherently fraught with dangers that
are magniﬁed for women and girls who are often raped and/or abducted by soldiers,
bandits, rogue groups, border guards, as well as police and others in authority (Ferris,
1993; Hynes & Cardozo, 2000; Siemens, 1988).

This issue has been poignantly highlighted by the large-scale experience of rape
and abduction by Southeast Asian female “boat people.” It is estimated that as many as
44 percent of women and girls escaping via boats from the recent wars in Southeast Asia
were raped and/or abducted by pirates. A further example can be found in Djibouti in
1990 where it is estimated that border guards raped virtually every female who entered
the country (Friedman, 1992). While a 1994 survey of 205 Liberian women and children
between 15 and 70 years of age found that 49% had experienced one or more incidences

of sexual assault at the hands of Liberian soldiers during the 1989-1997 Civil War.

19

Surveys of Bosnian women documented 40,000 cases of rape by 1993 and during the
genocide in Rwanda estimates of sexual assault range ﬁ'om 250,000-500,000, depending
on the source. Lastly, a survey of refugees in a refugee camp in Burundi found that 26
percent of the 3803 refugees experienced sexual violence since becoming a refugee
(Hynes & Cardozo, 2000). Even when women are not assaulted, they ﬂee under the
constant threat of sexual assault.

Women are also generally responsible for their children and other family
members during ﬂight, thus adding to their burden and their vulnerability. Hackett
(1996) found that women are often forced to ﬂee without their husbands, a situation that
renders them vulnerable to attack as they lack male protection. This is aggravated by
women’s need to protect and take care of their children while attempting to ensure their
own safety. Lastly, many of the women interviewed were forced to leave their country of
origin due to the actions of their male family members. Women were thus forced to
uproot their lives and face violence because of choices made by others in their family.

Sexual violence in camps, Upon reaching refugee camps women rarely ﬁnd
respite. In refugee camps, women are often systematically raped (Hynes & Cardozo,
2000; Siemens, 1988), forced to exchange sexual favors for food and other necessities
(particularly true of women ﬂeeing without the company of male relatives), or witness
the rape of their family members (Ferris, 1993; Murray, 2000). The trauma of assault is
compounded by the religious and cultural price many women pay for sexual assault, and
the fact that refugee aid workers are rarely trained to assist women who have been raped

in a culturally appropriate manner (Friedman, 1992). In fact, aid workers may sometimes

20

be the very perpetrators of assault that women need protection from (Ferris, 1993; Hynes
& Cardozo, 2000).

Discrimination against women in camps, In her review of the literature, DeVoe
(1989) found that patriarchal systems of power ensure that women are often excluded
from decision-making bodies and processes within refugee camps and are neglected in
resource distribution. Men are usually considered the heads of households, even when
single women heads of households abound, and are thus given the upper hand when
decisions regarding camp life are made. Consequently, little consideration is given to the
needs of women. As a result, camps are often laid out in manners that lead to unsafe
circumstances for women (e.g., women are forced to walk long distances at night in order
to use the toilets or are forced to leave the camp in order to gather wood for cooking and
are then attacked by soldiers and/or bandits). Women additionally often lack secure
shelter and the increased protection they need in refugee camps, thus rendering them
more vulnerable to assault (Hynes & Cardozo, 2000; Kreitzer, 2002). Women’s
nutritional needs are also frequently neglected. Food is inequitably distributed to
pregnant, lactating, and single women, often with severe consequences to the health of
women and their children, a situation which is compounded by a lack of female health
care providers (Ferris, 1993). All of these dangers are worsened by the fact that camps
often unhygienic, causing women and their children to have greater vulnerability to
disease (Allotey, 1998).

Access to resources in camps, Women, even female heads of households, are also
often excluded from income-generating and educational activities. Women may be

excluded due to discrimination on the basis of gender, social and cultural pressures not to

21

participate, because they do not have the time to participate as their other duties are too
great, or because camp officials feel that it would be culturally inappropriate to involve
women in these activities (Fenis, 1993).

A survey of involvement in income-generating activities and employment training
in a Mozambican refugee camp found that women were grossly underrepresented in both
activities. This absence of useful vocational training and opportunities for women
signiﬁcantly reduces their ability to fend for themselves and their families as it restricts
their ability to participate in the local formal and informal economies (Dzimbiri, 1995).

These ﬁndings were illustrated well by Ager, Ager, and Long (1995) who
conducted surveys, qualitative interviews, and daily schedule analysis of refugee
households in a Mozambican refugee camp in Malawi and a study of a Hmong refugee
camp in Thailand conducted by Cha and Small (1994). It was found that women were
chronically underrepresented in all aspects of life in both the Mozambican and Hmong
camps. In both camps, women were systematically excluded from decision-making
processes, food distribution, education, and gainful employment.

A lack of vocational training in camps further restricts women’s opportunities
both for resettlement and in resettlement. Not only do resettlement countries favor
skilled refugees (Stein, 1986), but if women are resettled they may lack potentially useful
skills that could assist them in obtaining employment. The educational gap between men
and women is thus broadened in refugee camps (Ferris, 1993) to the detriment of refugee
women.

Daley (1991), found similar restrictions placed upon Rwandan refugee women

settled in Tanzania. Women’s movements were generally restricted, and they were not

22

involved in decision—making, lucrative income-generating activities, and food
distribution. Patriarchal systems were both reinforced by the breakdown of traditional
social systems and by donors. Single women were marginalized due to a lack of a male
breadwinner and infant mortality was high due to women’s poor nutritional status (Daley,
1991). While these women did not live in refugee camps, they were displaced by warfare
and forced to live collectively in a third country, and their experiences speak to the
general discrimination faced by refugee women after ﬂeeing their nation of origin.

The disadvantages women face during ﬂight compound their disadvantages prior
to ﬂight. Women’s experiences during ﬂight therefore give rise to speciﬁc needs in
resettlement. Women’s exclusion ﬁ'om educational and vocational activities in camps
ensures that they are lacking on a front that is important for successful acculturation and
adaptation (Donna & Berry, 1999). They are ﬁrrthermore less likely to be able to obtain
quality employment in resettlement or to be resettled at all as resettlement countries
prefer educated refugees who will integrate well into their new societies (Keely, 1992;
UNHCR, 1997). Lastly, inadequate and inappropriate healthcare provisions for women
during ﬂight and in camps gives rise to the need for culturally appropriate healthcare for
women in resettlement.

However, the process of ﬂight also highlights the exceptional strength of refugee
women. In light of the many obstacles faced by a woman ﬂeeing danger across
international borders, only women with remarkable strength and resourcefulness can
survive the experience (Ferris, 1993; Parvanta, 1992). This is emphasized by Moussa
(1991), who found that, while women experience negative side effects associated with

their lives as refugees, many feel empowered through the knowledge that they had the

23

strength to survive. A further testimony to the abilities and resourcefulness of refugee
women comes from Callaway (1987) who discusses a refugee camp and feeding program
in Sudan that was given over to the control of resident women. After the women took
over, the camp achieved new heights in terms of organization and successful
management. Thus, in addition to their needs, refugee women bring much strength to the
process of resettlement.
Women in Resettlement

In resettlement, women face unique challenges and are forced to take on new,
frequently confusing roles (Krulfeld, 1994). The often high cost of living in the West,
combined with the fact that most refugee families have to start new lives with no material
resources, means that women who may never have been employed now need to work in
order to help support their families. These women are faced with the challenge of
working in the public sector while still maintaining the care of their families (Ha &
Mesﬁn, 1990; Lovell, Tran, & Nguyen, 1987). These responsibilities may be doubly
difﬁcult for women who believe they are not supposed to work and who ﬁnd their need to
become employed very stressful. Furthermore, women’s husbands may not approve of
their wives’ need for employment and may place undue restrictions on women that make
it difﬁcult for them to balance the demands of their employer with the demands of their
husbands (Benson, 1994). As a result of such gender differences, refugee women are at
higher risk of psychological distress than are refugee men (Chung & Bemak, 2002).

Women may have been denied educational opportunities or may have received
substandard educations in their country of origin simply because they are women, leaving

them with lesser employment opportunities in resettlement and worse language skills.

24

Women may also not have previous work experience that transfers well to their new
countries (e.g., women may have worked in the informal industry in their country of
origin and may not have developed skills appropriate to their new nation’s economy)
(DeVoe, 1989; Spero, 1985; Wihthol de Wenden, 1998). Those women who were
employed in the formal sector in their country of origin may experience a loss of status
similar to that of men due to an inability to ﬁnd commensurate employment in
resettlement (DeVoe, 1989; Lovell, et al., 1987).

For some refugee women, access to employment in resettlement represents new,
freer roles and may be welcomed. However, this experience often occurs within an
oppressive context. Western employers often seek to employ reﬁrgee women as they are
viewed as secondary breadwinners and can thus be paid lower wages than other
employees. Reﬁrgee women are thus often conﬁned to low paying service employment
that limits their economic mobility. In addition, employed refugee women are usually
expected to maintain their culturally deﬁned gender roles and to maintain responsibility
for the majority of domestic duties. Rather than representing ﬁeedom, for many refugee
women employment represents additional oppression (Menjivar, 1999; Pessar, 1999).

Employment is not the only challenge faced by women in resettlement. Men who
are forced into low-status jobs, who are not able to support their families by themselves,
and who feel powerless because they could not protect their families ﬁom warfare and
violence may feel threatened by their wives new roles as breadwinners and may seek to
redress this power differential through domestic violence, thus adding additional strain to
their families’ lives (Comas-Diaz & Jansen, 1995; Friedman, 1992; Lovell, et al., 1987;

Menjivar, 1999). Domestic violence is particularly difficult for refugee women. They

25

generally have access to few resources and have little knowledge regarding their rights
and available resources. Refugee women may also suffer from cultural agoraphobia that
renders them fearful of their host culture to the extent that they do not want to leave their
homes. Such conditions render it far more difﬁcult for reﬁrgee women to obtain
assistance in situations where they are the victims of domestic violence (Comas-Diaz &
Jansen, 1995).

Furthermore, in the West women often encounter societies that differ radically
from their own where women have greater independence and lead very different lives
from what they are used to. This not only leads to role confusion for women who are
now forced to take on new roles, but they need to learn new skills, suffer the loss of their
culture, and face challenges inherent in socializing their children into their own cultures
while they adapt rapidly to the host culture (Friedman 1992; Krulfeld, 1994; Lovell, et
al., 1987). These children may also act as interpreters for their parents, thus undermining
some of their parental authority (Friedman, 1992; Lovell, et al., 1987).

Language is a further obstacle that is often greater for women than for men.
English language competency is a necessary condition for successful adaptation in
resettlement in the US. as it is a prerequisite for employment and women’s interaction
with their host culture. Women often have lower English language competency than do
men and tend to be less educated than men making it harder for them to learn English
(Haines, 1986). Many women thus struggle with their need to both learn English and to
adjust to a society where they do not speak the dominant language.

Even ostensibly simple things can be hard for women who are new to the West.

For example, for women who are used to shopping for goods with their family and

26

friends in a marketplace, a supermarket can be an overwhelming and scary experience.
These problems are worsened by a general lack of access to resources faced by women.
Many women do not have the means or the ability to make use of language and other
programs offered by social service agencies and may ﬁnd themselves trapped at home
due to a lack of transportation, language skills, childcare, etc. (Ha & Mesﬁn, 1990;
Lovell, et al., 1987).

Furthermore, women may acutely feel the loss of their social support networks. A
loss of their support networks and extended families often has important consequences
for women’s adjustment, even leading to greater levels of mental illness in women
(DeVoe, 1989). A lack of support is also important to the immediate family. Al-Rasheed
(1993) found that women’s views of marriage change in exile. They often idealize their
marriage as a social institution and are thus more affected by its deﬁciencies, their
husbands’ loss of status, and their own loss of culture and family.

Summerﬁeld (1999) noted that in many cultures, particularly patriarchal Islamic
cultures, a community and family’s culture and honor are located in the bodies of women.
Hence, practically everything a woman does, from the clothes she wears to the way in
which she conducts herself, reﬂects on her family and her community (Espin, 1995).

This places an additional strain on women and their daughters as it irnbues their
experiences with added meaning (e.g., sexual assault has consequences beyond the
trauma of the assault itself). Young women may rebel against the expectations that are
placed upon them by their families in the face of a far more permissive western society

(Benson, 1994; Kulig, 1994). This may cause conﬂict within families as their presence in

27

a new country renders their daughters’ virginity and their adherence to cultural norms
regarding dress and behavior all the more important (Espin, 1995; Kulig, 1994).

Men are often more concerned with maintaining control over their wives and
daughters in resettlement. If women maintain the honor of a community and are
responsible for its reproduction, it is important that their actions are controlled in an
environment where a community’s culture and ways may be challenged (DeVoe, 1989).
This ﬁnding is reinforced by Cha and Small (1994) who found that Hmong men were
more concerned with the possibility that their wives may change in resettlement than with
the possibility of repatriation where they may face life-threatening situations.

Lastly, women’s experiences during ﬂight and in refugee camps may leave them
with lingering health concerns such as sexually transmitted infections (STI), unwanted
pregnancies, and psychological trauma (Hynes & Cardozo, 2000). This renders it
imperative that women’s particular health concerns are attended to in resettlement.
However, it is important that women receive assistance in a manner that is commensurate
with their cultural beliefs and values. For example, most psychological counseling
available to refugee women in the US. is based upon a western paradigm of mental
health that is usually not appropriate for women who may need help. Speciﬁcally,
Western values such as individualistic independence, self-determination, Open and direct
communication, and emotional expressiveness conﬂict with values such as
interdependence with family and community, deference to authority, discretion, tact and
indirect communication, and restraint. In many cases, treatment needs to involve a

women’s family or traditional authority ﬁgures such as men or elders in order for her to

28

utilize it (Holzman, 1996). Women may therefore be less inclined to take advantage of or
beneﬁt ﬁ'om many services available to them in resettlement.

An ethnographic study of Afghan women conducted by Lipson and Miller (1994)
summarizes and reinforces many of these ﬁndings. The following concerns emerged
ﬁ'om their qualitative interviews with Afghan women. Women experienced role conﬂicts
due to the fact that they were forced into the workforce, something they had never done
and were now expected to do in addition to their other responsibilities within the home.
Women additionally felt the tension inherent in socializing children who were eager to
assimilate to American culture. This was worsened by the fact that husbands tended to
blame their wives for the children’s lack of cultural awareness and desire to assimilate
into American culture. Older women felt they were not receiving the respect they were
‘ due and would have received in their country of origin. Younger women found it hard to
ﬁnd marriage partners. Lastly, Afghan men viewed Afghan women who reside within
the United States as “contaminated” by American culture and preferred women who
came straight from Afghanistan.

The concerns faced by refugee women in resettlement are further illustrated by
two needs assessments conducted with refugee women from very different backgrounds
highlighting their differing concerns. Both studies served to illuminate the speciﬁc
concerns of refugee women in resettlement.

Ha and Mesﬁn (1990) conducted a needs assessment with refugee women in the
Houston Metropolitan area. While the authors point out that the measure utilized was
ﬂawed and the results can only be applied to women in the Houston area, their ﬁndings

inform the current study. They surveyed 300 predominantly low-income women from

29

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Ethiopia in order to examine and determine the impact of
language, cultural, and educational barriers on the process of adjustment and self-
sufﬁciency of refugee women. They found that the women largely lacked English
language skills and had trouble attending ESL (English as a Second Language) classes
due to lack of transportation, childcare problems, lack of time, and a belief that they were
old to study.

Women ﬁrrther experienced problems related to employment, involving a lack of
transportation, language barriers, an inability to ﬁnd employment, childcare problems,
and a lack of viable skills, health problems, and inadequate time to settle in and adjust to
their new surroundings. Women also expressed concerns related to their negotiation of
the public and private spheres. The needs of their families (especially their children)
either interfered with their ability to ﬁnd employment or were neglected/affected by their
employment in the public sphere (Ha & Mesﬁn, 1990).

In addition, women had concerns related to their spousal relationships, the care of
their families, and their mental health. Women speciﬁcally noted spousal difﬁculties
related to their husbands’ inability to deal with their role changes, unemployment, loss of
status, ﬁnancial problems, health problems, difﬁculty disciplining their children, and
problems with their children’s education. However, many women noted that their
husbands’ behavior showed positive changes in resettlement (Ha & Mesﬁn, 1990).

Women furthermore expressed concerns related to childcare provision. Financial
problems, difﬁculties communicating, a lack of comfort with leaving children with
strangers, and a lack of understanding of childcare provision resources contributed to

women not utilizing these services. Women also expressed mental health concerns

30

related to worry, depression, difﬁculty relaxing, and uncontrollable loss of their temper.
The majority of the women indicated that they talked their problems over with their
friends (Ha & Mesﬁn, 1990), thus highlighting the importance of social support to
refugee women.

Chung, Bemak, and Kagwa-Singer (1998) utilized data collected in a California
needs assessment from a representative community sample in order to evaluate the
ﬁnding that over time after resettlement Southeast Asian refugee women experience
higher levels of distress than men. Overall, refugee women were signiﬁcantly less
educated and had lower literacy levels in their own language as well as English, as
compared to refugee men. Additionally, more refugee women were unemployed and on
welfare. Women also reported a greater loss of spouses and family members than did
men. Multiple regression indicated that Southeast Asian refugee women reported
signiﬁcantly higher levels of distress than did refugee men. Signiﬁcant predictors of
distress were multiple traumatic events, low English proﬁciency, low income, and not
receiving formal education in their home country. When separate multiple regressions
were conducted on gender, signiﬁcant predictors of distress for women were multiple
trauma events, older age, no formal education, and the fewer number of years in the US.

The fact that signiﬁcant numbers of women reported the death of a spouse and
other relatives indicates that in addition to traumatic events prior to ﬂight, there are other
mediating factors that effect women’s levels of distress in resettlement. Speciﬁcally,
women who do not have a spouse may have less interaction with other relatives and the
greater community and may thus lack social support, which is an important buffer against

psychological distress. Additionally, traditional gender roles as well as the fact that

31

women tend to have less educational opportunities in their nation of origin may be the
cause of greater levels of distress in women. Women who have never worked may
experience distress due to their new roles and responsibilities. Equally, women with less
education may ﬁnd it harder to obtain employment. Furthermore, individuals with less
formal education ﬁnd it more difﬁcult to learn new material later in life, rendering it
more difﬁcult for women to learn English in resettlement. Lastly, over time, women
have more opportunities to address these problems and their levels of distress may
decline (Chung, et al., 1998).

Allotey (1998) conducted semi-structured and in-depth interviews with Latin
American women refugees resettled in Australia to obtain more information about
speciﬁc problems faced by women. Based upon the women’s loss of their nation of
origin, family and ﬁiends, the fact that they were resettled in nations with very different
values than those of their nations of origin, and the circumstances under which women
ﬂed, it was assumed that they would have speciﬁc health concerns related to their status
as refugees.

Sexual assault was the most commonly reported experience by the women, and
the majority of women indicated that they did not feel healthy and that their health status
was worse than before they were resettled. Women complained of insomnia, depression,
headaches, lower abdominal pain, fatigue, general malaise, lethargy, gastritis, colitis, and
backaches in addition to culturally speciﬁc complaints and conditions (Allotey, 1998).

Women further complained of social isolation. Women were often separated
from close friends and family during war and ﬂight, and thus felt lonely and isolated in

resettlement. The inability to speak the language of their host country and to negotiate its

32

culture further isolated them, as did their identity as refugees. Many women experienced
domestic violence but did not seek help due to cultural differences, social isolation, social
expectations, and a stated understanding of the circumstances that gave rise to the
violence in their families. Lastly, professional women experienced downward mobility
due to an inability to obtain employment commensurate with their qualiﬁcations (Allotey,
1998).

Women reported that medical professionals did not listen to them and did not take
their concerns seriously. Women also did not have access to culturally appropriate
psychological services needed to assist them in dealing with the trauma they experienced.
Furthermore, women were more concerned about meeting the needs of their family
members than their own, rendering it more likely that they did not receive what they
needed (Allotey, 1998).

Single reﬁzgee women, While single female heads of households face many of the
same challenges as married women, their position is worsened by the fact that they are
forced to support their families on a single income. This places a woman under immense
pressure and may render her dependent on government aid with fewer opportunities for
schooling and other means of improving her circumstances (Lovell, et al., 1987).
Furthermore, single heads of household need to juggle their various and new
responsibilities at home, at work, and in adjustment single-handedly and with less social
support than married women. Not only do single women not have support from a spouse,
but the lack of a male to interact in the public sphere for them isolates them further.
Single women who lack adequate social networks may also become increasingly isolated

as they may not possess the knowledge to access resources for economic self-sufﬁciency

33

and may suffer from cultural isolation which places them at greater risk for higher
distress levels (Chung, et al., 1998).

Benefits of resettlement to women, Conversely, resettlement can provide some
women with greater freedom. The initial social upheaval and change caused by ﬂight
and resettlement introduces opportunities for women to manipulate their roles and to
obtain greater degrees of personal freedom (Green, 1994). In fact, Cha & Small (1994)
found that Hmong women looked forward to the freedom that they felt they would have
if they moved to the United States. While the need to take on new roles and to become
employed may be difﬁcult for women and may be the cause of much conﬂict, it is also
often the source of greater freedom. Women often skillfully manipulate situations in
which they can secure greater freedom for themselves while minimizing domestic
conﬂict. For example, a woman who desires employment as it awards her a greater
degree of independence may argue effectively that the added income is crucial to the
well-being of her family and may thus overcome or minimize the objections of her
husband. Furthermore, over time refugee women become increasingly familiar with the
American legal system and may choose to use it to their advantage in matters such as
divorce and child —support (Benson, 1994; Kulig, 1994). Resettlement can thus be a time
of promise for many women who experience upward mobility compared to their status in
their nations of origin (Chung, et al., 1998).

The Process of Refugee Adjustment in Resettlement

Refugee adjustment is usually evaluated based upon the following indices:

employment, level of educational achievement, literacy, housing location and adequacy,

and community and family integration (Brody, 1994). These adjustments are the result of

34

 

the processes of acculturation within the refugee community and usually happen within a
number of years after arrival.

These indices of refugee adjustment clearly do not represent women’s
experiences. Women refugees often arrive in countries of resettlement with educational
deﬁcits as compared to their male counterparts (Green, 1994). Furthermore, many
women, especially Muslim women, may not have the opportunity to pursue their
educations in resettlement, both due to their household duties and due to restrictions
placed upon their movements, thus disadvantaging them when level of education serves
as an index of adjustment. Furthermore, women may not be able to obtain employment
or may only succeed in obtaining low paying, low status employment (DeVoe, 1989) yet
another disadvantage on the index of adjustment.

Women’s differential experiences and roles lead them to negotiate their
adjustment to their new countries in different ways than do men. For example, women’s
adjustment may center on the way in which they make use of some of the new freedoms
now available to them. However this is not reﬂected in the manner in which adjustment
is deﬁned. This oversight not only marginalizes women, but also detracts from their
differing needs as it relates to their different experiences in adjustment.

Adjustment and stress, Due to the involuntary nature of their migration and their
lack of opportunities to prepare for the transition to a new home, reﬁrgees face the
greatest levels of stress among acculturating groups. The following aspects add to their
acculturative stress (an aspect of the process of adjustment): factors unique to the host
country and the acculturating group, marital conﬂict due to more egalitarian spousal

relationships in the West and women entering the workforce, experiences prior to

35

 

migration (e.g., point at which they left their country of origin, reason for leaving their
country, and trauma during ﬂight), the degree of social support available to them upon
arrival (e. g., other members of their ethnic group already live there and they can integrate
easily; Donna & Berry, 1999), intergenerational conﬂict as children acculturate faster
than their parents (Stein, 1986), and gender (Donna & Berry, 1999). Furthermore,
anticipatory refugees who leave in an orderly fashion are likely to adapt better than acute
refugees who leave at the last minute. Host countries that are marked by greater degrees
of cultural pluralism and acceptance of difference are more likely to encourage effective
adaptation than those that expect assimilation and homogeneity (Stein, 1986). In nations
that do not value pluralism and diversity, refugees often face racism, thus adding to their
stress and other difﬁculties in resettlement (Espin, 1995). Such experiences may be
particularly difficult for refugees who were part of the majority culture or ethnic group in
their nation of origin (Indra, 1991).

Other inﬂuential factors include the type of society ﬁ'om which the refugees come
(e.g., nomadic people have a more difﬁcult time accepting permanent settlement), their
status in their country of origin (e. g., experiencing a loss of status in resettlement), the
prestige and acceptance of one’s ethnic group in resettlement (e.g., will one be accepted
or ostracized), previous contact with the resettlement country, one’s attitude towards
acculturation, one’s mental health before ﬂight, and one’s sense of cognitive control over
what is happening (e. g., those who perceive acculturation as providing them with greater
opportunities tend to fair better than those who do not). Those who achieve a balance
between what they expect and eventually obtain tend to fair the best (Donna & Berry,

1 999).

36

Adaptation, while desirable, may result in increased stress due to new and
unfamiliar tasks that are expected of refugees or enhancement of opportunities that are
available to them. Refugees who adapt to their new environments and consequently
negotiate their lives in it face new challenges that may add additional stress to their lives
(Dona & Berry, 1999). For example, refugees who obtain employment in resettlement
may have to negotiate a workplace environment that differs greatly from what they are
used to and increased opportunities for economic gain may introduce new stressors into
their family lives as this may provide family members with more opportunities for
Westernization and may thus place traditional values in greater conﬂict with new,
adopted values.

While stressful, nrigration may also be a positive event for many refugees. For
refugees from developing nations that are at war, resettlement does imply a higher
standard of living and greater levels of personal security. F urtherrnore, individual
refugees differ in their capacity to effectively handle the stressors inherent in ﬂight and
resettlement and may adapt well regardless of those factors working against them.
Environmental factors such as social support may further act as a buffer, protecting
individuals ﬁ‘om many of the harmﬁrl effects of their status as refugees (Indra, 1991).

It should therefore be clear that while there are certain universal patterns present
in the processes of acculturation and adaptation, it is a process characterized by
individual differences, abilities, and the availability of resources (Berry & Kim, 1988;
Indra, 1991). The levels of stress experienced by refugees tend to abate over time and

they experience an overall improvement in their mental health (Dona & Berry, 1999).

37

Women and adjustment. Women’s experiences are clearly missing in the above
enumeration of factors that affect adaptation. While issues such as marital conﬂict due to
women’s new roles and gender are noted as inﬂuential factors (Donna & Berry, 1999),
the numerous other factors that are primarily inﬂuential to women are overlooked. In the
preceding section, it was argued that women have speciﬁc experiences determined by
their sex at every stage of the refugee process. Hence, the fact that events before and
during refugees’ ﬂight are signiﬁcant to their adjustment (Donna & Berry, 1999) should
have signiﬁcant implications for the manner in which women acculturate and adjust.
Furthermore, factors such as a lack of social support and country of resettlement also
have a differential and more severe effect on women than men (DeVoe, 1989). Lastly,
women are disadvantaged on those ﬁonts that facilitate the process of adaptation. For
example, higher levels of education and prior contact with the nation of resettlement
facilitate the process of adjustment (Donna & Berry, 1999). However, women tend to
have lower levels of education (Green, 1994; Wihthol de Wenden, 1998) and their roles
within the home render it less likely that they will have had much contact with the nation
of resettlement both before and after ﬂight (Haines, 1986; Lovell, et al., 1987).

A generic conceptualization of refugee experiences and adjustment thus does not
do justice to women’s experiences and needs. Justice is especially not done to the
experiences and needs of Muslim refugee women.

The Experience of Refugee Muslim Women

While refugee Muslim women face many of the same obstacles as other reﬁrgee

women, their experiences can be complicated by additional cultural differences. Like

many other women from developing nations, Muslim women and girls are often not

38

 

given opportunities for education and/or employment in their country of origin (Green,
1994), view rape as a form of punishment for a sin that they committed (Summerﬁeld,
1999), and face challenges inherent in their husband’s desire to control them as well as
their behavior and dress in order to protect their honor and the honor of their family and
their community (Espin, 1995; Fluehr-Lobban, 1993; Wihthol de Wenden, 1998).
However, these women may face additional challenges due to restrictions that may be
placed upon their movement and discrimination due to their ethnicity, race, and manner
of dress.

Islam has been used both to deny women their rights as well as to provide them
with more opportunities. Scholars of Islam agree that equality between the sexes is a
fundamental tenant of the faith. However, the manner in which such equality is
interpreted varies. In fact, Hassan (1991) argues that the denial of women’s rights that
often characterizes patriarchal Islamic nations is rooted in a misinterpretation of the
fundamental tenants of Islam as well as the historical inﬂuence of other philosophies on
its interpretation.

Western feminism does not necessarily reﬂect the needs and desires of Muslim
women. While Muslim women may seek equality to men, this should not be interpreted
as a desire to be the same as men. Under Islam, the role of women within the home is of
the utmost importance and women are awarded much respect within this sphere. Women
often value their roles as mothers and homemakers and while they are not directly
forbidden from working outside of the home, are not encouraged to do so either. Many

Muslim women do not desire Western freedoms for themselves, but rather believe that

39

Western women are objectiﬁed, overly sexualized, and treated with disrespect (Carolan,
1999)

The Western assumption that veiling is oppressive to and undesired by women is
ﬁrrthermore questionable. Women do not necessarily believe that veiling is oppressive
and many welcome it. For many Muslim women, wearing a veil is a powerful symbol of
their identity as Muslim women. In some cases, unveiled Muslim women who reside in
the West have reverted to wearing a veil. For these women their clothing choice is part
of a negotiated identity that has many meanings and is not viewed as oppressive. Many
Muslim women furthermore welcome the protection they believe their veils and other
modest clothing provides them. Accordingly, it allows them to freely move amongst
men. It protects them from the sexual advances of men and ensures that they are valued
for reasons other than their physical appearance (Mumoon, 1999; Read & Bartkowski,
2000).

However, the interpretation of women’s roles and responsibilities under Islam
differs across cultures and individuals. It should be noted that refugee women often
come from very patriarchal societies where Islam may be interpreted in a restrictive
manner and where teachings regarding the role of women in the home and a call for
modesty has been used to restrict women’s movements and opportunities. In such
nations, men have been awarded power over the lives and bodies of women in the name
of an interpretation of Islam (Maurnoon, 1999).

Fluehr-Lobban (1993), argues that patriarchal Islamic culture is a variation of
universal patriarchal conventions governing the roles of women. Muslim women who

come from strictly patriarchal societies do not have the ﬁeedom to leave their homes

40

 

unaccompanied, are not allowed to spend time alone with men to whom they are not
related, and are not given any power over their own lives (Fluehr—Lobban, 1993; Martin
& Copeland, 1988). These factors severely restrict women’s abilities to adjust to a new
nation as they effectively render it impossible for a woman to become conventionally
employed or to engage in many everyday activities that would put them in direct contact
with their host culture (e.g., shopping without male relatives).

In resettlement, these restrictions may be intensiﬁed. Refugees may feel that their
host countries threaten their identities and cultures. The pressure to assimilate, coupled
with the fact that their host nation may adhere to norms that are in stark contrast to their
own, may cause Muslim men to more strictly enforce patriarchal restrictions on women.
In addition to a concern with women’s sexual propriety which ensures the birth of
ethnically pure children, men may act to restrict their exposure to Western feminism and
other factors which may be viewed as subversive to women’s traditional roles and men’s
abilities to control them. In resettlement, men may thus be more inclined to monitor and
restrict women’s movements and clothing in order to ensure the survival of their culture
and ethnicity in nations where they are a minority (Mohammad, 1999).

In their nations of origin, Muslim women of lower socio-econornic status often
have to work outside of the home in order for their families to survive while wealthier
families display their wealth by secluding female members of their household (F luehr-
Lobban, 1993). When these wealthier families are resettled in the West, women would
be more likely to experience conﬂicts and other problems. These women’s husbands are

more likely to experience downward mobility that leads to increased incidences of

41

 

domestic violence and the women will face conﬂicts inherent to their newfound freedom
and pressure to obtain employment.

F urtherrnore, Muslim women’s extended families are an essential part of their
daily lives in their nations of origin. Families assist with housework, provide social
support, and are instrumental to any decision-making processes (Carolan, 1999). In
resettlement, the loss of women’s extended families may thus prove to be signiﬁcant. In
addition to the absence of assistance with housework, which now may need to be done in
addition to conventional employment, women loose support networks essential to their
every day well-being.

Lastly, women who dress in a manner that identiﬁes them as Muslim may face
racism and other forms of discrimination. Women may be denied employment due to
their dress or may be treated differently and harassed due to their faith and cultural
identity (Carolan, 1999; Mohammad, 1999). This serves to further restrict their
opportunities for employment and their freedom of movement. Recent global events
have rendered such racism and discrimination of even greater concern. The war between
America and Afghanistan and acts of terrorism that have been linked to Muslim
individuals have given rise to a wave of hate crimes and incidents of harassment aimed at
Muslim and Arab individuals. Women may thus increasingly be targets of such crimes or
fear that they will be targeted. These fears may ﬁrrther restrict their movements and
opportunities.

Two studies highlight the complexity of Muslim women’s lives in the West.
Wihthol de Wenden (1998) discusses the experiences of young migrant Muslim women

in France. She indicates that many of the women act as mediators between their culture

42

 

of origin and their new host culture and that while migration is fraught with upheaval it
also provides women with opportunities for greater freedom in their role deﬁnition. In
addition to opportunities for employment, women have greater educational opportunities,
may be free from the constraints placed upon them by extended family members who
remained in their nation of origin, and have greater access to birth control. The degree to
which women can take advantage of these new freedoms varies however, and will depend
on the degree to which they both desire increased ﬁeedom and the degree to which they
are able to manipulate resistant and restrictive husbands and family members in order to
obtain these ﬁeedoms for themselves.

Young women are generally more interested in freeing themselves from culturally
and religiously prescribed and oppressive gender roles than older women. These young
women often subtly work towards securing greater freedom for themselves while
maintaining ties to their culture of origin in order to pacify their parents and other family
and community members. For example, young women may wear headscarves when
going out in public in order to openly conform to norms imposed upon them by their
parents and to thus quiet parental concerns regarding westemization of their daughters.
Simultaneously, these women will passively work towards obtaining greater freedom
through education, professionalism, and individualism. These struggles for freedom,
while subtle, are often a source of great conﬂict in families where male relatives seek to
maintain control over their increasingly liberated female relatives (W ihthol de Wenden,

1 998).
Similar ﬁndings were reported by Dwyer (1999) based upon in-depth discussions

with young British Muslim women. Girls encountered a variety of responses related to

43

 

their way of dress from both their own community and the English community. While
girls were often the targets of racism and discrimination when their clothing adhered to
the tenants of Islam, members of their own communities, especially males, considered the
wearing of Western clothing as an indication of sexual impropriety. However, girls
resisted these external interpretations of their dress and rather used their clothing to
strategically negotiate different spaces. For example, girls may wear veils on their way to
school, only to remove them at school. Girls thus strategically used the different
meanings attached to their clothing in different contexts to negotiate their own roles and
freedoms.

Thus, in addition to those needs that they share with other refugee women,
Muslim refugee women may have needs more directly related to their culturally
determined gender roles, their interpretation of these roles, and/or their attempts to
modify these roles and to obtain greater personal ﬁ'eedom. However, it is of the utmost
importance that it is not assumed that Muslim women seek or even value western gender
roles and that women’s interpretations of and desires concerning their roles are valued
above all else.

The Importance of Considering the Unique Needs of Muslim Refugee Women

Throughout the above discussion the speciﬁc needs of refugee women have been
highlighted, and it has been argued that it is important to consider Muslim women’s
needs based upon the large numbers of female Muslim refugees worldwide and the fact
that women in general, and Muslim women in particular, have speciﬁc needs that go
largely unmet. However, an additional reason to pay speciﬁc attention to women’s needs

exists in their relationship to their families and communities. Women are integral to the

well-being of entire refugee families (Ferris, 1993). In varying cultures, refugee women
who defer to their husbands in public may wield power in the home (Benson, 1994), thus
rendering it imperative that they be considered when interventions are designed. A
healthy, well-adjusted woman who is a source of power in her family is an important
asset to any refugee family as she can then work towards securing resources for her
family. Hence, if refugee families are to be assisted in the process of adjustment, it is
essential that refugee women have their needs met in order to render them more able to
play an active role in ensuring the well-being of their families and communities (Ferris,
1993)

Ferris (1993) details the various ways in which refugee women are responsible
(often single-handedly) for the well-being of their families and communities. First,
women’s roles within the home are integral to the survival and well-being of all members
of the household. Women generally ensure that all members of a household (including
both children and other adults) have their material, nutritional, and health needs met. In
addition to these household responsibilities, women may become secondary wage earners
or may participate in the informal economy when necessary, thus ensuring the economic
survival of their families.

Women further play important roles in their larger communities. Women may
inﬂuence their husband’s decisions and/or actions on matters of importance to the
community as a whole and may provide informal networks of support that beneﬁt an
entire community. Furthermore, women’s primary responsibility for the socialization of
children can be integral to the resolution or continuation of conﬂict. The manner in

which women explain the cause of their exile and the manner in which national and

45

cultural norms and practices are passed on to children will determine the way in which
ﬁrture generations of conﬂicting groups interact with one another (Ferris, 1993).

Lastly, women are especially important to the well-being of refugee children.
Women help anchor their children during times of upheaval and help them transition into
their new lives and cultures while maintaining their own cultural identity. Furthermore,
if children witness violence against their mothers or sisters it affects them adversely.
Thus, protecting women and providing them with assistance is essential to ensuring the
well-being of entire refugee families and communities (Ferris, 1993).

An additional reason why it is necessary to pay speciﬁc attention to the needs of
refugee women can be found in the public-private distinction. By virtue of the fact that
women exist in the private sphere, they do nothave adequate representation in the public.
Even when women are included in decision-making and are given the opportunity to
participate in the planning of programs aimed at refugees, they often do not receive
sufﬁcient representation. Women may not possess the skills to eﬁectively present their
own needs in a public gathering or they may simply be subsumed by a patriarchal system
that does not allow them to voice their needs or does not listen to their voices (Indra,
1988). Therefore, if refugee women are to be adequately assisted, it is imperative that
they are given an opportunity to voice their needs and concerns and that these are treated
as separate concerns ﬁ'om those of men.

Muslim Refugee Women in the Greater Lansing Area

The Greater Lansing Area is the site of one of the largest refugee resettlement

agencies in the United States. Hence, a large number of women from patriarchal Islamic

nations have been resettled in this area. Although many of the women are manied,

46

increasing numbers are single women with children. Not only do the women face
obstacles related to factors discussed previously, but service providers also encounter
problems when attempting to adequately serve the women.

Single as well as married women who work have needs related to childcare and
transportation. However, this is magniﬁed for single female heads of households with
large families. These women often have no choice but to accept employment, which
gives rise to childcare and other needs. Single heads of households are expected to single
handedly perform tasks in resettlement that are often hard for dual-parent households to
manage.

Women may not feel comfortable leaving their children with strangers, a situation
which is worsened by their lack of familiarity with the American childcare system. Many
women may prefer to leave their children with'extended farme members or friends, an
arrangement that is not always feasible.

Women ﬁrrther struggle to learn English and to negotiate their way in a foreign
environment. It is particularly difﬁcult for women whose husbands restrict their
movements to learn English. These women cannot attend English as a Second Language
(ESL) classes and are dependent on volunteers who visit them at home and assist them
with their language needs.

Married women may be required to work in order to supplement their family’s
meager incomes. Women who have never worked may ﬁnd it difﬁcult to accept their
new roles and responsibilities. This is complicated by the fact that women often have to

perform household duties in addition to being formally employed. Furthermore, many

47

women cannot seek employment, as they have not succeeded in obtaining approval from
their husbands and/or their extended family members.

Women are also often housebound for a variety of reasons. Some women are not
allowed to venture out in public without being accompanied by a male relative, while
other women simply lack the resources to make their way in an alien society and culture.
This worsens the lack of social support already experienced by many of the women, as
they do not have the means to connect with women from similar ethnic and linguistic
backgrounds.

Many women experience violence in their homes and family problems related to
their children. Families with young daughters may encounter problems as their daughters
seek to become Americanized and thus violate their families’ cultural norms regarding
appropriate behavior for girls.

Women who experience domestic violence are particularly isolated. These
women often lack the skills, knowledge, and social support necessary for them to obtain
assistance. When assistance is available, language and cultural norms related to women’s
roles often prevent women from deriving the greatest possible beneﬁt from it.

Lastly, women often do not receive adequate and appropriate medical care.
Women’s need for modesty, female physicians, or even female interpreters to accompany
them to doctor’s appointments may not be met. Women may thus not receive adequate
medical care and may not feel comfortable sharing their medical needs with their

physician.

48

Conclusion

Muslim refugee women have similar needs to other refugee women; however, the
“public-private” distinction is more pronounced for many Muslim women, thus
complicating their negotiation of the processes inherent in resettlement and adjustment.
Many Muslim women are restricted to the private sphere in their nations of origin and the
tenants of Islam restrict undue interaction between unrelated persons of the opposite sex
(Carolan, 1999), thus causing difﬁculties for women who enter into the public sphere in
resettlement. For many women this process is both difﬁcult and ﬁlled with new
opportunities. Even for women who worked in the public sphere in their nation of origin,
the new roles and ﬁ'eedoms of resettlement can nonetheless be difﬁcult to negotiate.
However, for women who value their roles under Islam it can be particularly difﬁcult to
maintain their desired way of life in the United Sates where the role of women is
interpreted quite differently, women are expected to work outside of the home, and men
and women are expected to interact freely.

It can therefore be argued that while Muslim refugee women share similar
experiences to other refugee women who come ﬁom patriarchal nations, their unique
cultural and religious identities and roles give rise to their unique needs. For Muslim
women, patriarchy may be more institutionalized than it is for other refugee women.
Coupled with conﬂicts and discrimination women experience related to their dress and
ethnicity as well as their role as women, it gives rise to their unique needs.

Muslim refugee women thus have needs ranging ﬁ'om the purely socio-economic
(e.g., childcare and transportation) to more subtle needs related to their roles as women

and their new roles in resettlement (e.g., culturally appropriate counseling for victims of

49

sexual assault and domestic violence, help transitioning into the workforce, and help with
basic everyday needs like shopping and social support). In order to better understand the
women’s variety of needs, their strengths, and the manner in which the community can
best respond to them, a needs assessment was conducted.

One of the primary tasks of needs assessment is to deﬁne needs of individuals and
groups. A need is that which is essential to a group achieving a given goal or state of
being (e.g., a group of women may need improved child care services in order to obtain
employment; Percy-Smith, 1996). Researchers often attempt to restrict needs to those
which can be considered to be universal in order to eliminate problems associated with
separating a “need” from a “want” (Percy-Smith, 1996). However, this method does not
have particular practical signiﬁcance for individual populations and groups. A need
statement should thus be allowed to be conditional upon the place and station of those
who might possess the need. Such interpretations allow researchers to make statements
regarding the practical and actual needs of a particular target population (McKillip,
1998)

At the heart of a needs assessment is the assumption that a group has a problem
that can be solved. In the case of the proposed needs assessment, it is assumed that
Muslim women are not receiving adequate services targeted to their speciﬁc needs.
Finally, proposed solutions are an integral part of a needs assessment. Solutions point to
ways in which to solve the problems identiﬁed by the needs assessment. These include
efﬁcacy information, or information that the solution will indeed solve the problem,
feasibility information, or information regarding the resources needed to implement the

solution, and utilization information, or evidence that the target population would utilize

50

the implemented solution (McKillip, 1998). A needs assessment thus prioritizes needs in
order to facilitate the distribution of resources (Percy-Smith, 1996; Witkin & Altschuld,
1995)

Its location within a particular population ensures that a needs assessment is
inherently value laden (McKillip, 1998). It is therefore important to account for and
make explicit the values and assumptions of any assessment. In the case of the current
needs assessment, it was assumed that refugee women (speciﬁcally those from Islamic
nations) face particular challenges when adapting to the United States. It was further
assumed that these problems are due to the overall marginalization of women. It was
additionally assumed that policy-making institutions and service agencies could
adequately meet these needs if they are well deﬁned and articulated. Lastly, it was
assumed that the women in question have strengths and an awareness of their own needs
that can be drawn upon in order to ﬁnd solutions to the problems identiﬁed in the needs
assessment.

All of the above was framed within the understanding of difference amongst
individuals. It was understood that cultural, religious, and ethnic boundaries are not
static, and that individuals deﬁne themselves in their own manner and may not conform
to universal stereotypes. It was further not assumed that all cultural practices are correct
and individual interpretations of these practices are considered to be the most important
(Indra, 1996; Lillie-Blanton & Hoffman, 1995).

In conclusion, Martin (1994) argues that refugees’ long-term needs are often
overlooked; hence, such needs were an important focus. It is further argued that too

much attention has been paid to women as the pillars of their families and that a greater

51

effort needs to be made in order to meet the needs of women as women as well as
members of families and communities. Lastly, women know their own circumstances
and will be active participants in any attempt to improve their circumstances (Callaway,
1987; Martin & Copeland, 1988).
Current Study
Friedman (1992) emphasizes that the needs of women resettled in the West
(speciﬁcally the United States) have been chronically overlooked. Female refugees face
deﬁnite and unique challenges related to their experiences as refugees, and Muslim
refugee women face additional challenges. In order to assist women, especially Muslim
refugee women, with the process of adjustment in resettlement, speciﬁc interventions
aimed at meeting their particular needs are required. Such interventions cannot be
achieved unless women’s needs are understood. A needs assessment was thus conducted.
The assessment aimed to answer the following four overarching questions:
1) What are the particular needs of Muslim refugee women resettled within Mid-
Michigan?
2) What barriers exist to addressing these needs?
3) What strengths and resourcefulness do women bring to the process that can be
drawn upon in order to assist them with their adjustment?

4) How can the community best respond to the women’s needs?

52

Method

Setting

All participants were resettled in a medium sized city in central Michigan (the
Greater Lansing area), and were serviced by one of the largest refugee resettlement
agencies in the United States and various government agencies. The majority of
participants resided in low-income housing.
Recruitment

Participants were recruited through their involvement with a local refugee
resettlement agency, the local Health Department, and through prominent members of the
local Muslim community. Caseworkers at the refugee resettlement agency and the
Health Department informed Muslim refugee women of the study and obtained the
consent of interested women to be contacted with more information regarding the study.
The names, addresses, and phone numbers of interested women were provided to the
investigator who then contacted them through a female interpreter. A locked box in
which this information was to be deposited through a slit in the top was provided for this
purpose. The contact details of interested women were placed in the boxes or provided
directly to the investigator, either by the women themselves or by their caseworkers.
Only the investigator had keys to the boxes.

Prominent members of the local Islamic Center also recruited Muslim refugee
women. Stakeholders from different nations approached refugee women in order to
inform them of the study. If women were potentially interested in participating, their

names and contact details were provided to the investigator.

53

Procedures

Due to the cross-cultural nature of the research conducted, procedures included
speciﬁc considerations inspired by a desire for cultural sensitivity. All interviewers were
culturally similar to the participants and were thus able to direct data collection in a
culturally sensitive fashion.

All participants were asked to sign informed consent agreements and were
assigned neutral identiﬁcation numbers in order to protect their conﬁdentiality.
Participants’ names cannot be connected to their identiﬁcation numbers. Participants
were furthermore encouraged to ask as many questions as they wished, both prior to and
during all interviews. While most participants did not make use of this opportunity, a
few participants raised concerns regarding the, meaning of conﬁdentiality as well as the
purpose of the interview. A general lack of familiarity with the process of research
combined with participants’ experiences of oppression and terror prior to and during
ﬂight and their insecurity living in a nation where they do not understand legal and social
institutions and the dominant language spoken rendered participants very suspicious of
the purpose of the interviews.

Interviewers often needed to spend time before the interview explaining its
purpose and allowing participants and their families to examine the questions that would
be asked. Participants were often very concerned about what it was that they would be
asked and felt more comfortable when they realized that all questions were simply about
their daily life experiences. The need to sign an ofﬁcial Informed Consent document
often intensiﬁed concems. It was frequently necessary to explain to participants in great

detail how their signed informed consents would be kept separately from their interviews

54

and to demonstrate that only an ID number was entered on their interview. In other
cases, participants questioned the emphasis placed upon conﬁdentiality when they were
simply being asked questions about their everyday life experiences. In the latter cases, it
was explained that the university required this emphasis because some people feel more
comfortable that way, and this satisﬁed participants’ concerns.

Interviews were conducted over a three-month period using a structured interview
protocol. It was intended that interviews would last between 30 minutes and an hour.
However, as a result of participants’ varying levels of education as well as their lack of
familiarity with structured interview protocols, the majority of interviews lasted between
45 minutes and three hours.

As many participants did not have access to transportation or did not feel
comfortable leaving their homes, their homes were often the most appropriate site in
which to conduct interviews. A trained female interviewer accompanied the investigator
to the participants’ homes and conducted all interviews. The investigator was present in
order to answer any questions or concerns that arose as well as to monitor the
interviewing process. All questions and concerns served to inform any changes to the
data collection process that were necessitated.

It was intended that all interviews were to be conducted in rooms with doors that
close in order to protect participants’ privacy. In reality, this was not possible.
Participants expected to receive research staff in their living rooms and social norms
dictated that other members of participants’ families would be involved in any social
event occurring within the home. Interviews were thus often conducted with other family

members present. In fact, participants’ husbands and other family members were often

55

present in order to conﬁrm the legitimacy of the research and to consent to a participants’
involvement. Due to the collectivist nature of the cultures in question, participants and
their families often had a difﬁcult time understanding that only the input of a single
person (namely the participant) was requested. Questions were often answered in
conjunction with family members and participants may have modiﬁed their responses
due to the presence of others. However, if participants were asked to conduct interviews
in private, they may not have consented to interviews or would not have been allowed to
participate by suspicious family members.

An unfortunate drawback of conducting interviews in participants’ homes is often
that televisions, telephones, etc. may constitute distractions and may interfere with the
interview process. Such distractions often added to the length of interviews. Participants
expected to interrupt interviews in order to speak on the phone (so as not to be rude to the
caller) or to care for their children. Such interruptions were accepted and included in the
time allotted for interviews.

Research staff was generally received as guests within a family’s home and were
expected to partake in provided refreshments. Such social interactions ranged from
simply drinking tea to having dinner with the family upon completion of the interview.
All participants’ cultures place a large emphasis on hospitality. Guests are automatically
served as lavishly as possible and a failure to partake in provided food and drink may be
construed as an insult to the family in question.

On the rare occasion that a participants was not be able to or chose not to conduct

an interview in her home, the interview was conducted in an empty ofﬁce at the refugee

56

resettlement agency. When necessary, participants were transported to and ﬁom the
interview site by the investigator or an interviewer.

It was intended that interviews would be audio taped in order to ensure the
accuracy of the data collected. However, the reaction of the ﬁrst few participants who
were asked if their interviews could be recorded was so negative that it was decided to
discontinue any attempts at audio taping interviews. Participants viewed attempts to
audiotape them as suspicious and harbored concerns about the fact that the investigator
would want to capture their voice on tape. Even after the reasons for wanting to
audiotape interviews were explained to participants, they remained suspicious of the
investigator’s intentions. It was subsequently feared that continued attempts to audiotape
interviews would lead to women declining to be interviewed.

Incentives

Participants were compensated for their time and involvement in the study with a
15-dollar gift certiﬁcate to a local combined grocery and department store. These gift
certiﬁcates also served as an incentive for participation.

Discussion with members of the local community and staff at a refugee resettlement
agency revealed that such gift certiﬁcates would serve a myriad of purposes. Refugees
may be distrustﬁrl of research and researchers as they may not be familiar with the
process and purpose of research. It was believed that if refugees were compensated for
their time, they would be more inclined to feel that they are rendering a legitimate service
to the researcher and may thus have fewer concerns about the process of research.

Furthermore, many local agencies (e.g., the Health Department) use such gift

certiﬁcates as incentives for participation in healthcare activities. Hence, refugee

57

families are familiar with this system of compensation and were believed to feel
comfortable with it.

Lastly, the store in question is easily accessible and frequented by refugee
families. Families thus derived direct and immediate beneﬁt from gift certiﬁcates to this
store.

Selection and Training of Interviewers and Translators

Interviewers and translators were recruited both from the local community and
from local agencies that employ bilingual interpreters. Interviewers were assessed using
the following criteria: interviewers were fully bi-lingual, ethnically and culturally similar
to the target population, and possessed reasonable social skills (N euber, 1980). Only
interviewers known to the investigator or recommended by a trusted source were utilized.
Interviewers were transported to and from interviews by the researcher or were expected
to cover their own transportation costs. Interviewers were, however, monetarily
compensated for time spent conducting interviews and one interviewer received course
credit in return for their involvement with the study.

Three interviewers were recruited. Two interviewers who speak Arabic and one
interviewer who spoke Farsi were recruited. The Arabic speaking interviewers were a
female undergraduate student at Michigan State University as well as the Women’s
Coordinator at the local Islamic Center and a former employee of the local reﬁrgee
resettlement agency. The student worked with the investigator in return for course credit
while enrolled at a local university. After her graduation, she worked in return for
ﬁnancial compensation. The other Arabic speaking interviewer was also monetarily

compensated. The Farsi speaking interviewer was a refugee women employed by the

58

local Health Department. She worked with the investigator in return for ﬁnancial
compensation.

Arabic and Farsi speaking individuals were recruited separately in order to
translate the needs assessment measure. Different translators translated and back-
translate the needs assessment measure from English to Arabic and Farsi and visa versa
in order to verify that it was accurately translated.

The investigator ensured that interviewers were trained regarding basic
interviewing techniques and ways to avoid bias in data collection. Interviewers were
trained in order to avoid asking leading questions, in order to ensure appropriate probing
when more information is needed as well as to ensure their understanding of the necessity
of asking questions correctly. Interviewers furthermore conducted a mock interview with
the investigator as a participant in order for areas of improvement to be assessed. All
interviewers and translators were also trained regarding matters of conﬁdentiality and
were expected to sign a conﬁdentiality agreement. A breach of conﬁdentiality would
have resulted in an interpreter or translator’s immediate termination.

Interrater agreement was computed for interviewers. All interviewers separately
administered the questionnaire to the investigator who responded to all questions in the
same pre-determined manner. The investigator then compared the responses coded by
the interviewers in order to assess the percentage of agreement. Interrater agreement was
92 percent.

Measurement
To design the needs assessment, the investigator ﬁrst conducted informal

interviews with key informants in the community (e.g., service providers, Muslim

59

reﬁrgee women, and prominent female members of the Muslim community) in order to
identify Muslim refugee women’s potential needs. Data from these interviews were used
to construct the structured interview that was used to collect data for the needs
assessment (Hobbs, 1987). This was done in conjunction with the investigator’s proposal
committee Chair. Pre-existing needs assessments utilized to assess the needs of differing
populations for a variety of reasons were also used as models for the construction of the
assessment measure.

It was believed that structured interviews would provide the investigator with the
best opportunity to obtain the desired information regarding the target population’s needs.
A relatively straightforward survey ensures ease of interpretation of the data and reduces
complications associated with translation and interpretation.

A few open-ended questions were also posed to members of the target population.
These questions allowed participants to elaborate on issues of importance to them, and
served to highlight previously overlooked areas of need. Information from open-ended
questions further added richness to data obtained from quantitative measures and
provided a context within which quantitative data could be interpreted and understood
(Porteous, 1996).

Questions were designed in order to assess gaps between participants’ needs and
the existing resources that are being provided to them (Kaufman, Rojas, & Mayer, 1993).
Participants’ awareness of available resources was assessed as well as the degree to
which they felt that they were being provided with the assistance they need.

Furthermore, participants were asked questions related to areas of need identiﬁed in

previous sections. Such questions were intended to highlight the need for previously

60

 

overlooked service areas. The initial measure was piloted on a number of participants in
the local Muslim community and the relevant changes made.

Items were constructed in order to assess Muslim refugee women’s needs in a
variety of areas. First, in order to assess the level of social support to which participants
had access, items included a series of questions regarding their perceptions of their social
networks, for example, “I am lonely,” “I have people to talk to who understand my
language and culture,” and I am happy with the number of ﬁiends I have in the area.”
Furthermore, in order to achieve an understanding of the neighborhoods in which
participants lived, items related to their satisfaction with the neighborhoods in which they
resided, as well as their perceptions of these neighborhoods were included. Items
included “I like my neighborhood,” “I feel safe in my neighborhood,” and “I feel
comfortable speaking to my neighbors.”

Items relevant to various aspects of participants’ adjustment in resettlement
included questions related to their perceptions of their host culture and their feelings
regarding their ability to learn English. Items included “I would like to learn more about
American culture,” “I want to live in America,” “I will be able to learn English,” and I
ﬁnd opportunities to practice my English.”

Items related to participants’ experiences and interaction with the local Family
Independence Agency (FIA) were included in order to highlight needs they may have had
in this regard and included “I understand the paperwork mailed to me from FIA” and
“FIA workers are ﬁiendly towards me.” In addition, items intended to illuminate
participants’ experiences with and potential needs related to other relevant community

agencies were included. These agencies were the Health Department and the local

61

 

refugee resettlement agency. Items included “I am happy with the medical care which I
receive,” and “Your overall experience with Refugee Services.”

Items related to participants’ needs with regard to their children included their
children’s adjustment and educational needs, as well as participants needs related to
services such as daycare. Items included, “My daughters enjoy school,” “It is important
for my children to maintain our culture,” and “I understand the American daycare
system.”

An additional area of inquiry was an investigation of the obstacles participants
experienced to having their various needs met. Items included a selection of questions
aimed at assessing obstacles participants experienced to meeting the following needs:
access to food sources, ability to complete their housework, access to social support
networks, accessing transportation resources, obtaining improved housing, and asking for
help with everyday concerns that arise. Items included “The kind of food we eat is not
available in American grocery stores,” “I don’t know how to use appliances around the
house,” “I don’t know where I could meet others who share my language and culture,” “I
don’t know how to take the bus,” “We are not able to afford better housing,” and “I don’t
know enough English to speak to my neighbors.”

Items furthermore included a list of participants’ potential concerns aimed at
clarifying those areas that were of greatest concern to them, these included, “The quality
of the house or apartment you live in,” “Being able to ﬁnd cheap groceries,” and “Not
having ﬁiends in the area.”

Additional items included a series of forced response and open-ended questions

designed to assess participants’ awareness and use of various community level resources,

62

including the local bus service, banks, and community centers, as well as which resources
that they would like to see more of (e.g., English classes and help with learning how to
take the bus). Participants were lastly asked to indicate their level of satisfaction with a.
variety of resources on a scale from one to ten, with one being “not a all satisﬁed” and
ten indicating “extremely satisﬁed.”

Every attempt was made to phrase all questions in a manner that acknowledged
participants’ experiences as unique and different from those of men and does not
subsume their identity or the importance of their experience as women (Callamard,
1999). However, individual differences related to participants’ experiences in
resettlement (e.g., individual levels of mental health) were not assessed. Participants
were surveyed regarding their overall needs.

Upon completion of the interviews, it became apparent that certain interview
questions did not yield effective and useful responses and were thus eliminated for
analysis. For example, participants were often uncomfortable or resistant to questions
regarding their relationships with their husbands. In other instances, participants’
husbands were present during the interview and it was not possible to ask questions
regarding her relationship with him for fear of placing the participant in a difﬁcult or
uncomfortable position. Responses from these items were thus disregarded.
Furthermore, all participants indicated that they did not earn money for work performed
at home. All questions regarding work done at home were thus disregarded.

Scale Construction
In order to facilitate analysis, several scales as well as one index were

constructed. Potential scales were identiﬁed through factor analysis, computed using a

63

Varimax rotation. Items with the strongest factor loadings and highest item-total
correlations were organized into scales. Scales were furthermore created utilizing items
that were conceptually related and which had high item-total correlations. In order to
access the internal consistency of all scales, reliability coefﬁcients were computed. One
index was created utilizing items that were conceptually related, but were not appropriate
to a scale. These items represented discreet, yet related obstacles that participants faced
to attending a place of worship (e.g., “I don’t know much about places of worship and
events that are held there” and “I don’t want to attend events at a place of worship”)

The Social Supp_ort Scale was intended to measure participants’ access to social
support networks in resettlement and consisted of the following two items, “I am happy
with the number of ﬁiends I have in the area,” “I can depend on my ﬁiends to help me if
I need it,” and “I would like more opportunities to meet others like myself.” Item-total
correlations ranged from .49 to .53. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .69, and
the mean scale was 1.76 (S_D = .99). This is a ﬁve-point scale, with one indicating
“deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely disagree.”

The §a_ti_s_f_action With Neighborhood Soﬁe was intended to measure participants’
satisfaction with their current neighborhood and consisted of the following items: “I am
satisﬁed with where I live” and “I like my neighborhood.” The item-total correlation for
these two items was .63, and the reliability coefﬁcient was .77. The mean for this scale
was 1.65 (SD = 1.10). Response items were on a ﬁve-point scale, with one indicating
“deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely disagree.”

The Neighborhood Characteristics Scale was intended to measure participants’

perceptions of their neighborhood and consisted of the following four items: “My

64

neighbors speak to me regularly,” “I feel safe in my neighborhood,” “I feel comfortable
socializing with my neighbors,” and “I feel comfortable speaking to my neighbors.”
Item-total correlations ranged from .46 to .66. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale is
.77, and the scale mean was 2.39 (E = 1.13). This was a ﬁve-point scale, with one
indicating “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely disagree.”

The Undemtanding of FIA Procedures Scal_e was intended to measure
participants’ overall understanding of forms and procedures associated with F IA, and it
consisted of the following items, “I understand forms mailed to me from FIA” and “I
understand the forms that I have to ﬁll in at F IA.” The item-total correlation for these
two items was .89. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .94, and the scale mean
was 4.35 ($2 = 1.27). This was a ﬁve-point scale, with one indicating “deﬁnitely agree”
and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely disagree.”

The F IA Satisfaction Scale was intended to measure participants’ satisfaction with
the services provided to them by F IA and consists of the following two items:
“Caseworkers at FIA are friendly towards me” and “Caseworkers at F IA are respectful of
my culture.” The item-total correlation for these items was .89. The reliability
coefﬁcient for this scale was .94, and the scale mean was 1.91 (_S_D = 1.23). This was a
ﬁve-point scale, with one indicating, “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating, “deﬁnitely
disagree.”

The Obstacles to Accessing Food Resources SLale was intended to measure
participants’ overall ability to access food resources and consisted of the following two
items: “The kind of food we eat is not sold in American grocery stores” and “The food

we eat is more expensive in American grocery stores.” The item-total correlation for

65

these two items was .63. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .78, and the scale
mean was 3.10 (S_D = 1.12). This was a four-point scale, with one indicating “very much
an obstacle” and four indicating “not an obstacle at all.”

The Obstacles to AbilitiLto Complete HouseworlgScaie was intended to measure
obstacles participants experienced to their ability to complete their housework, which
included their ability to utilize American cleaning products and appliances. It consisted
of the following items, “My family members do not have time to help me because they
work,” “I do not understand American cleaning products,” and “I don’t know how to use
appliances around the house.” Item-total correlations for this scale ranged from .43 to
.62. The reliability coefficient for this scale was .73, and the scale mean was 3.11 (_S_ =
.96). This was a four-point scale, with one indicating “very much an obstacle” and four
indicating “not an obstacle at all.”

The Obstchles To Social Supmrt Scale was intended to measure obstacles
participants encountered to expanding their social support networks in resettlement. It
consisted of the following items, “I don’t have enough opportunities to meet others who
share my language and culture,” “I don’t know where I can meet others who share my
language and culture,” and “I don’t have the resources needed to meet new people.”
Item-total correlations for this scale ranged ﬁ'om .51 to .57. The reliability coefﬁcient for
this scale was .72, and the scale mean was 2.59 (S_D = .97). Response options were on a
four-point scale, with one indicating “very much an obstacle” and four indicating “not an
obstacle at all.”

The Obstacles to Accessing Transportation Scale was intended to measure those

obstacles participants encounter to utilizing transportation services and consisted of the

66

following items, “I don’t know how to take the bus,” “I don’t feel comfortable taking the
bus,” “My lack of English makes it difficult for me to take the bus,” and “I am
uncomfortable going places without my husband or other family members.” Item total
correlations for this scale ranged from .46 to .56. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale
was .72, and the scale mean was 2.08 (S_D = .96). Response options were on a four-point
scale, with one indicating “very much an obstacle” and four indicating “not an obstacle at
all.”

The ObstrLles to Obtaining Improved Housing Scale was intended to measure
those obstacles participants encounter in their search for housing, and consisted of the
following two items, “We are not able to afford better housing” and “I don’t speak
English.” The item-total correlation between these two items was .41. The reliability
coefﬁcient for this scale was .58, and the scale mean was 1.48 (SD = .79). This was four-
point scale, with one indicating “very much an obstacle” and four indicating “not at all an
obstacle.”

The Obstacles to Asking for Help Scale was intended to measure those obstacles
participants encountered when seeking assistance with day-to-day needs that may arise in
resettlement, and consisted of the following items, “I don’t know my neighbors” and “I
don’t have family in the area whom I can ask.” The item-total correlation between these
items was .60. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .75, and the scale mean was
2.66 (SD = 1.13). Response options were on a four-point scale, with one indicating “very
much an obstacle” and four indicating “not at all an obstacle.”

The Adjustment Scale was intended to measure participants’ attitudes towards

their host culture in resettlement, and consisted of the following items, “I would like to

67

learn more about American culture” and “I enjoy the opportunities I have here in
America.” The item-total correlation between these items was .52. The reliability
coefﬁcient for this scale as .68, and the scale mean was 2.31 (S_D = .81). This was a ﬁve-
point scale with one indicating “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely
disagree.”

The Conﬁdence in Ability to Learn English Scale was intended to measure
participants’ overall conﬁdence in their ability to learn English, and consisted of the
following items, “I will be able to learn English” and “I ﬁnd opportunities to practice my
Englis ”, as well as three reverse coded items, namely, “Learning English is important to
me,” “I am too old to learn English,” and “Learning English is not difﬁcult for me.”
Item-total correlations for this scale ranged from .04 to .33. The reliability coefﬁcient for
this scale was .43, and the scale mean was 2.48 (S_D = .81). This was a ﬁve-point scale
with one indicating “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely disagree.”

The Satisfirction with Health Care Services Scale was intended to measure
participants’ overall satisfaction with the health care services to which they had access,
and consisted of the following items, “I am satisﬁed with the health care to which my
family has access,” “I am satisﬁed with the health care services to which I have access,”
“Female interpreters are available to me,” “Female doctors are available to me,” “I
understand medical procedures such as tests,” “Caseworkers at the Health Department are
respectful of my culture,” “Caseworkers at the Health Department are ﬁiendly towards
me,” and “I am satisﬁed with the services that I receive from the Health Department.”

Item-total correlations for this scale ranged ﬁ'om .45 to .54. The reliability coefﬁcient for

this scale was .83, and the scale mean was 1.48 (_S_D = .59). Response options were on a

68

ﬁve-point scale with one indicating “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely
disagree.”

The Overall Satisfaction with Services ,at Refugee Services Sop]; was intended to
measure participants’ overall satisfaction with the services they received from the local
refugee resettlement agency, and consisted of the following items, “The help Refugee
Services gave you when you ﬁrst arrived,” “How accessible Refugee Services
caseworkers are to you,” “How sensitive Refugee Services caseworkers are towards your
needs,” “How friendly Refugee Services caseworkers are towards you,” and “Your
overall experience with Reﬁrgee Services.” The item-total correlations for this scale
ranged from .52 to .74. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .83, and the scale
mean was 2.35 (SD = 1.11). This was a ﬁve-point scale with one indicating “extremely
satisﬁed” and ﬁve indicating “not at all satisﬁed.”

The Motion with Assistance Providedg Refugge Services Scalp was aimed
at measuring the degree to which participants were satisﬁed with speciﬁc assistance in
given areas provided to them by the local refugee resettlement agency, and it consisted of
the following items: "The help Refugee Services caseworkers have given you in getting a
job,” “The help Refugee Services caseworkers have given you in accessing healthcare,”
“The help Refugee Services caseworkers have given you in accessing transportation,”
“The help Refugee Services has given you in learning English,” “The help Refugee
Services has given you in meeting others who share your language and culture,” “The
help Refugee Services has given you in working with government agencies,” and “The
way in which Refugee Services has helped members of your family with their needs.”

Item-total correlations for this scale ranged ﬁom .32 to .66. The reliability coefﬁcient for

69

this scale was .73, and the scale mean was 2.83 (_S_D = 1.12). Response options were on a
ﬁve-point scale with one indicating “extremely satisﬁed” and ﬁve indicating “not at all
satisﬁed.”

The Qa_ughter’s Education Scale was intended to measure participants’
perceptions of their daughters’ educational experiences and needs in resettlement, and it
consisted of the following items, “My daughters enjoy school” and “My daughters do
well in school,” as well as two reverse coded items: “My daughters do not have problems
with their schoolwork” and “My daughters do not often get into trouble at school for the
way that they behave.” Item-total correlations for this scale ranged from .20 to .76. The
reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .70, and the scale mean was 1.55 (E = .68). This
was a ﬁve-point scale with one indicating “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating
“deﬁnitely disagree.”

While a daughter’s education scale was constructed, a corresponding son’s
educational scale was not utilized. This scale was not signiﬁcantly related to any
variables of interest. In addition, items related to participants’ lack of English ability was
only included in scales where its factor loading and item-total correlations were high
enough to warrant inclusion.

The Daycare Utilization Scale was aimed at assessing participants’ perceptions of

 

the American daycare system, and it consisted of the following two items, “Putting my
children in daycare is a good choice for me” and “Putting my children in daycare means
that I have more freedom.” The item-total correlation between items in this scale was

.86. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .92, and the scale mean was 2.38 SD =

70

1.63). This was a ﬁve-point scale with one indicating “deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve
indicating “deﬁnitely disagree.”

Lastly, the Concerns RegardirgChildren Scal_e was aimed at understanding those
concerns participants had about their children in resettlement, and consisted of the
following items, “Your sons’ schooling,” “Your daughters’ schooling,” “Receiving
tutoring for your children,” “Your sons’ becoming more American,” and “Your
daughters’ becoming more American.” Item-total correlations for this scale ranged from
.69 to .82. The reliability coefﬁcient for this scale was .90, and the scale mean was 3.33
(SD = 1.54). Response options were on a ﬁve-point scale, with one indicating, “not at all
a concern” and ﬁve indicating, “always a concern.”

See Table 1 for the correlation between individual scales.

Table 1
Correlations Between Soﬁalg

Social Neighborhood Neighborhood Understanding FIA

Support Satisfaction Characteristics FIA Satisfaction
Social Support 1.00 .15 .26 .30 .27
Neighborhood 1.00 -.28 .19 -.45
Satisfaction
Neighborhood 1 .00 .00 .33
Characteristics
Understanding 1 .00 .30
FIA -
FIA 1 .00
Satisfaction

71

Table 1 cont’d

Social Support

Neighborhood
Satisfaction

Neighborhood
Characteristics

Understanding
FIA

FIA '
Satisfaction

Obstacles to
Accessing
Food
Resources

Obstacles to
Completing
Housework

Obstacles to
Social Support

Obstacles to
Accessing
Transportation

Obstacles to
Obtaining
Improved
Housing

Obstacles
to
Accessing
Food
Resources
.23
.54
.53
.00
.43
1 .00

Obstacles to Obstacles to

Completing Social
Housework Support

-.61

.17

.02

-.43

-.19

.52

1.00

72

-.58

.07

-.45

.07

-.50

.05

.41

1.00

Obstacles to
Accessing

Transportation

-.33

.24

-.27

.00

-.07

.63

.78*

.63

1.00

Obstacles
to
Obtaining
Improved
Housing

-.23

-.37

.28

-.49

-.36

-.37

.28

.15

.05

1.00

Table 1 cont’d

Social Support

Neighborhood
Satisfaction

Neighborhood

Characteristics

Understanding

FIA

F IA
Satisfaction

Obstacles to
Accessing
Food
Resources

Obstacles to
Completing
Housework

Obstacles to

Social Support

Obstacles to
Accessing

Transportation

Obstacles to
Obtaining
Improved
Housing

Obstacles to
Asking for
Help

Obstacles
to
Asking
for Help

-.65

.32

-.59

-.28

-.86**

-.14

.34

.75*

.26

.22

1.00

Adjustment

-.37

.34

.50

.35

-.23

-.71*

-.12

-.45

-.23

-.41

Conﬁdence in
Ability to
Learn English

.43

-.14

.57

.41

.02

.13

-.19

-.08

-.09

.15

-.36

73

Satisfaction
with Health
Care

.22

-.ll

.91**

-.14

.09

-.Ol

.03

-.42

-.31

.38

-.37

Overall
Satisfaction
with
Refugee
Services

.85"

-.14

.60

.28

.54

.02

-.57

-.83**

-.52

-.ll

-.88**

Table 1 cont’d
Adjustment

Conﬁdence in
Ability to
Learn English

Satisfaction
with Health
Care

Overall
Satisfaction
with Refugee
Services

Social Support

Neighborhood
Satisfaction

Neighborhood
Characteristics

Understanding
FIA

F IA
Satisfaction

Obstacles to

Accessing
Food
Resources

Satisfaction
with
Assistance
ﬁom
Reﬁrgee
Services
.55

-.09

.85**

.41

.27

.04

1.00

Daughters’
Education

.27

-.06

.66

.36

.34

.51

.39

1.00

Daycare
Utilization

.29

.46

.04

.00

-.23

.42

74

.30

.35

1.00

Concerns

Regarding

Children

.03

-.43

.10

.42

.64

-.51

.46

.50

.46

1.00

Table 1 cont’d

Obstacles to
Completing
Housework
Obstacles to
Social Support

Obstacles to
Accessing
Transportation

Obstacles to
Obtaining
Improved
Housing

Obstacles to
Asking for
Help

Adjustment

Conﬁdence in
Ability to
Learn English

Satisfaction
with Health
Care

Overall
Satisfaction
with Refugee
Services

Satisfaction
with
Assistance
from Refugee
Services

Daughters’
Education

-.33

-.49

-.38

.05

-.62

.53

.82"

.71*

.76*

1.00

.17

-.14

.19

-.14

-.52

.23

.80*

.38

.42

.74*

1.00

75

-.14

.03

—.11

.47

.ll

.36

—.04

.23

.01

.10

.07

-.41

-.14

-.24

-.12

-.4O

.57

-.22

.11

.21

.08

-.19

Table 1 cont’d

Daycare l .00 -. l 9
Utilization

Concerns 1 .00
Regarding

Children

** Correlation is signiﬁcant at the .01 level (2-tailed).
* Correlation is signiﬁcant at the .05 level (2-tailed).

Indices

The Obstacles to Practicing Faith Index was intended to measure those obstacles
participants experienced to attending a place of worship. The mean for this four item
index was 3.17 (SD = .57). This was measured using a four-point scale, with one
indicating “very much an obstacle” and four indicating “not at all an obstacle.” See
Table 2 for the inter-item correlations.

Table 2

Obstacles to Attending a Place of Worship Index

I don't know much I am scared that I will I don't want to
about places of experience attend events at a
worship and events racism/discrimination place of worship
that are held there from others if I attend

events at a place of

worship
I don't have the resources .38* .20 .06
I need to get to a place of
worship
I don't know much about 1.000 .02 .17
places of worship and
events that are held there

76

Table 2 cont’d

I am scared that I will 1.000 .18
experience

racism/discrimination

from others if I attend

events at a place of
worship

** Correlation is signiﬁcant at the .01 level (2-tailed).
* Correlation is signiﬁcant at the .05 level (2-tailed).
Power Analysis

Power was computed using PASS computer program (Hintze, 2001). Due to the
small sample present in the current study, power was computed at p < .10 for parametric
tests. T-tests were found to have approximately 80% power to detect signiﬁcance, at p <
.10. This is a one standard deviation difference between means. Correlations were
likewise found to have approximately 80% power to detect a correlation of .35 or larger
signiﬁcant at p < .10. Non-pararnetric tests were found to have sufﬁcient power at p <
.05. Fisher’s exact test was found to have approximately 80% power to detect a .50
difference in proportion between the compared subgroups signiﬁcant at p < .05.

To compensate for loss of power that resulted from the small sample size in the
current study, the least conservative Bonferoni adjustment was utilized in order to
account for loss of power as a result of conducting multiple t-tests (the Adjusted
Bonferoni test; J accard & Wan, 1996).

Data Analysis

All data were entered in a format suitable for quantitative analysis using SPSS

data analytical package. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to distinguish

those needs identiﬁed most often by the sample. Such an analysis allowed the

77

 

investigator to construct a hierarchy of needs that allowed for the prioritization of
solutions. Data ﬂom open-ended questions were used in order to ﬂame this process.

Certain relationships emerged ﬂom exploratory data analysis. The investigator
was particularly interested in assessing whether the following variables accounted for
signiﬁcantly different responses ﬂom women: age, marital status, number and ages of
children, the length of time women had lived in the United States, and women’s
satisfaction with their life in the United States.

It was expected that younger women (women in their 20’s and 30’s) would have
different concerns related to employment, adjustment, and childcare than older women,
as women’s roles within the home change as they age. Second, it was expected that
single women, due to the lack of a second breadwinner, would have more needs related to
obtaining employment, childcare, and ﬁnancial help than married women. Conversely, it
was expected that married women would have more concerns related to their family’s
expectations of them regarding employment. Third, it was expected that women with
teenaged children would have different concerns related to their children than women
with younger children would have. Teenaged children may be more likely to rebel and/or
have problems at school due to inadequate previous schooling, while women with
younger children may be more concerned that their children will assimilate to American
culture due to their young age and will have more concerns related to childcare and
employment. Teenaged children may furthermore be more likely to help women with
their household tasks, thus making it easier for women to be employed. Additionally, the
number of children a woman has may inﬂuence her needs related to employment and

childcare. Fourth, it was expected that women who had resided in the United States for

78

 

longer periods of time would face less obstacles to obtaining resources due to an
increased understanding of the processes involved in obtaining resources. Lastly, it was
expected that women who indicated that they were satisﬁed with their life in the United
States would have had experiences that were more positive overall than those of women
who are not happy with their life in the US. It was expected that women who felt that
they were adjusting well to US. society would face fewer obstacles to obtaining
resources, would have access to more resources, would have larger social support
networks, and would have fewer overall problems with life in America. It was expected
that other signiﬁcant relationships would also emerge.

In order to understand differences between groups on continuous variables, it was
intended that Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) be used. However, due to the small
sample size present in the current study this did not prove to be a feasible data analytic
procedure. Correlations between ordered variables were ﬁrst computed. In order to
understand the effects of these variables upon speciﬁc aspects of women’s needs (both
jointly and uniquely) multiple regression was used. Fisher’s Exact Test, crosstabulations,
and t-tests were additionally computed in order to assess the relationship between
individual variables and participants’ needs (e.g., the relationship between a participants’
marital status and speciﬁc services that she would like to see more of).

Lastly, all raw data were examined statistically and graphically for features like
skew, outliers, and inﬂuential cases. Results ﬂom this preliminary examination informed

decisions regarding the data analytic techniques that were employed.

79

Results
Description of Participants
Participants were 31 Muslim refugee women resettled within the Greater Lansing
Area between 1997 and 2002. Of the 31 participants, 11 were ﬂom Iraq (four of the Iraqi
participants were Kurdish and seven were Arab), 15 were Afghan, three were Sudanese,

one was Somali, and one was Syrian. Participants ranged in age ﬂom 19 to 63 with a

- .1,

mean age of 36.5. While participants came ﬂom diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, "

they were all Muslim women ﬂom patriarchal nations.

_v~..v -(__

All participants were serviced by a local refugee resettlement agency and various [
government agencies such as the local Health Department. Only women who were
resettled within the ﬁve years prior to when interviews were conducted were sampled, as
it was believed that these women face the greatest number of challenges due to their
recent arrival in the United States.

All but three participants had lived in the Greater Lansing Area the entire time
since their resettlement. The three participants who moved to the area did so within the
two years prior to their interviews. Eight participants had stayed in a refugee camp prior
to resettlement. Participants stayed in refugee camps between 6 months and 10 years,
with a mean stay of 5.21 years.

While 28 participants indicated that they were or had been married, only 15
reported that their husbands were living with them in the United States. Participants had
between 0 and 12 children living with them in the United States, with a mean of 3.9

children per household.

80

Twenty-two participants had some formal education, and the mean number of
years that participants attended school was 10.18 years. Of the 14 participants who had
completed 10 or more years of school, 2 completed some high school, 7 completed high
school, 3 completed some college, and 2 completed college. Thirteen participants were
employed. See Tables 3 and 4 for a summary of participants’ demographic information.

Table 3

Demoggaphic Characteristics of Sample

 

Statement N Mean Standard Minimum Maximum
Deviation

 

Age 31 36.51 10.50 19 63

Length of 22 10.18 3.26 4 15
school

attendance (in

yearS)

Number of 31 3.55 3.06 0 12
children per
family

Number of 25 3.96 2.98 0 12
children per

household in

US.

Number of 23 .61 .84 0 2
children aged
<= 5

Number of 23 1.67 1.52 O 6
children aged
6-12

Number of 23 .97 1.33 0 5

children aged
1 3-1 8

81

Table 3 cont’d

Number of 23 1.04 1.69 0 5
children aged
>= 19

Number of 23 1.96 2.01 0 8
boys per
household

Number of 23 2.35 1.55 0 6

girls per
household

Table 4

Categorical Demogrgaphic Information

 

Statement N . Percent Yes
Stayed in refugee camp 31 26%
Lived in Lansing since resettlement 31 90%
Are/were ever married 31 90%
Husband in US. with participant 28 54%
Employed 31 42%

An understanding of the characteristics of a given group is the ﬁrst step towards
understanding the needs of its members. As not much is known regarding Muslim
refugee women resettled in the United States, a brief overview of participants’ most
salient characteristics is provided.

An important difference between the Arab and Afghan study participants was that
while Arab participants have been consistently resettled since 1997, Afghan participants

have only been resettled since 2000, with the largest percentage of Afghan participants

82

(66.7%) having been resettled in 2001. Arab participants were also signiﬁcantly more
likely than Afghan participants to have stayed in a refugee camp prior to resettlement
(54.5% versus 13.3%; Fisher’s Exact Test = .04) and were slightly more likely to have
ﬂed their nation of origin with their husbands than were Afghan participants (55.6%
versus 35.7%). Arab participants were also more likely to be living with their husbands
in resettlement than were Afghan participants (Fisher’s Exact Test = .01). While 77.8%
of Arab participants were living with their husbands in resettlement, only 21.4% of
Afghan participants were living with their husbands.

In addition, while Afghan participants were only somewhat more likely than Arab
participants to have attended school (80% versus 45.5%), no Arab participants
interviewed worked in their nation of origin before resettlement. In contrast, 60% of
Afghan participants were employed prior to resettlement (Fisher’s Exact Test = .02). (SD
= 2.98). See Table 5 for demographics of the sample by participants’ nation of origin.

Table 5

Sample Demoggaphics by Nation of Origin

 

Statement Afghan Arab Total
Stayed in Refugee 13.3% 54.5% 25.8%
Camp

Fled Nation of 35.7% 55.6% 53.6%
Origin with

Husband

Living with 21.4% 77.8% 53.6%
Husband in

Resettlement

Attended Some 80% 45.5% 71%
School

83

1-'— r

 

Table 5 cont’d

Completed 10 or 46.7% 43.8% 74.2%
More Years of

School

Worked in Nation of 60% 0% 29%
Origin

Arab and Afghan participants were approximately equally likely to have
completed ten or more years of school. Speciﬁcally, 43.8% of Arab participants
completed ten or more years of school, while 46.7% of Afghan participants completed a
similar number of years of school. Those participants who had completed 10 or more
years of school were also surprisingly similar with regard to the level of school they had
completed. See Table 6 for a breakdown of the level of school participants completed by
ethnic origin.

Table 6

Percent Level of School Completed by Ethnic Origin
Ethnic Origin Some High High School Some College College

 

School
Arab 14% 43% 29% 14%
Afghan 14% 57% 14% 14%
Total 28% 100% 43% 28%

Participants furthermore tended to have large families. Twenty-three participants
had between one and twelve children living with them in the United States, with a mean

of 3.96 children per household.

84

. ' d'r

What Are the Particular Needs of Muslim Refugee Women Resettled in Mid-Michigan?

Participants overarching needs were 1) ﬁnancial, 2) needs related to their
adjustment, which included participants’ perceptions of general neighborhood and
community level resources, 3) needs related to their interaction with particular
community agencies and organizations, and 4) needs related to their children’s
adjustment. Participants’ adjustment needs included needs related to their understanding
of and adjustment to American culture, language needs, needs related to their access to
social support network, and needs related to their knowledge of and utilization of
resources available to them in their neighborhoods and communities. In addition,
participants’ needs related to their children’s adjustment ranged ﬂom concerns regarding
their children’s performance at school to needs related to their adjustment to American
culture and society. Many of participants’ needs were mediated by their nation of origin,
marital status in resettlement, and year of resettlement.

Financial needs. The ﬁrst area of need assessed was ﬁnancial. Due to concerns
regarding women’s comfort level with questions regarding their income, ﬁnancial need
was assessed using proxy measures. Speciﬁcally, variables such as employment status,
type of employment, family size, number of breadwinners per household, number of
household members who regularly send money to family residing elsewhere, and
satisfaction with monthly income were used in order to obtain an understanding of
participants’ level of ﬁnancial need.

The majority of participants (58.1%) were unemployed. A signiﬁcant relationship
between marital and employment status emerged. Women whose husbands were residing

with them in resettlement were signiﬁcantly less likely to be employed than were women

85

who were single in resettlement (Fisher’s Exact Test = .02). While only 20% of married
women were employed, 69.2% of single women were employed. A signiﬁcant
relationship between marital status and a desire for employment did not emerge.
Similarly, a relationship between nation of origin and employment in resettlement did not
emerge.

It should furthermore be noted that all employed participants were working in the
lower-paying service industry. See Table 7 for a breakdown of participants’ place of
employment.

Table 7

Participants’ Place of Emploment

 

Type of Employment ‘ , N Percent
Hotel housekeeping 4 31%
Government compensated provider of care for other family 3 23%

members (both children and disabled adults)

Local industry 3 23%
Laundry service 2 15%
Crewmember at local grocery store 1 8%

Some participants additionally resided with unemployed relatives. Participants
had a mean of .19 ($2 = .48) other adults and a mean of .23 (S_D = .76) children other
than their own living in their household. No other children residing with participants
were employed, while other adults were unlikely to be employed (20% of other adults

were employed).

86

Participants’ own children were equally unlikely to be employed or to contribute
to their monthly household income. Overall, only 30.4% of participants’ children were
employed. When asked to indicate the amount of the overall household income
contributed by their employed children, participants indicated that their children
contributed either sporadically (49.2%) or never to this income (71.4%). Participants
furthermore indicated that their children held low-paying jobs such as cashiers,
crewrnembers at grocery stores, and janitorial staff.

Participants were also surveyed regarding the number of members of their
household who regularly sent money to family residing elsewhere. Overall, 30% of
participants indicated that at least one member of their families regulme sent money to
relatives residing elsewhere. Accordingly, a mean of .33 (SD = .55) members per
household regularly provided ﬁnancial assistance to family members not residing in their
home with them.

Participants indicated, on a scale of one to ten, with one indicating not at all
satisﬁed and ten indicating very satisﬁed, their level of satisfaction with the monthly
income to which their families had access. Participants’ mean rating of satisfaction was
4.77, g; = 2.88. This low rating dovetails with participants’ responses to open ended
questions. Participants indicated that they encountered difﬁculties making ends meet on
their income and basic necessities such as food, clothing, and rent were more expensive
than they were necessarily able to afford.

Adjustment needs. In order to assess participants’ adjustment needs, their
conﬁdence and perceived needs regarding their ability to learn English and to adjust to

their lives in the United States was assessed, as well as their feelings regarding their

87

W gm... “ani- him
J

social networks and their feelings and concerns regarding their neighborhoods. In
addition, participants were surveyed regarding their knowledge of and use of resources
available in their communities.

Linear regression was used in order to assess whether the number of years a
woman had spent in resettlement or her age were signiﬁcant predictors of her feelings
regarding her life in the United States as well as her conﬁdence regarding her ability to .
learn English. Participants’ year of resettlement or age were not found to be signiﬁcant 5
predictors of their feelings regarding their adjustment to life in resettlement, nor was year i

of resettlement found to be a signiﬁcant predictor of participants’ conﬁdence with regard i

 

to their‘ability to learn English. However, age was found to signiﬁcantly predict
participants’ levels of conﬁdence with regard to their ability to learn English [B = .36,
t(28) = 2.90, p < .01]. Participants’ age furthermore accounted for a signiﬁcant
proportion of the variance explained by their level of conﬁdence with regard to their
ability to learn English [R = .47, F(1, 29) = 8.40, p < .01]. Younger participants were
more conﬁdent in their ability to learn English. It should, however, be noted that this
signiﬁcance was primarily determined by the responses of the oldest two participants in
the sample, both of whom were aged 63. This amounts to a 15-year difference in age
between these participants and the next oldest participant. While there was insufﬁcient
data to effectively evaluate this relationship, it was supported by the ﬁndings of Chung et
a1. (1998), that older refugee women were less likely to believe that they are able to learn
English.

As can be seen in Table 8, the majority of participants were positive regarding

their new lives in the United States, indicating that they wanted to live in the United

88

States and that they enjoyed the opportunities they had in resettlement. Participants
however indicated that they did not necessarily understand American culture. Many
items had large standard deviations, thus indicating that there was considerable variability
across participants’ responses to these questions. The majority of participants
furthermore agreed with the item “I enjoy the opportunities I have in America,” as
evidenced by its relatively small standard deviation.

Table 8

Conﬁdence Regarding Adjustment to US Society

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely or
Somewhat
Agreed

I would like to learn more about American 31 1.55 1.15 87%

culture

I understand American culture 31 3.23 1.38 29%

I want to live in America 31 1.58 1.26 84%

I enjoy the opportunities I have in America 31 1.39 .10 84%

Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree

2 = Somewhat Agree

3 = Mixed

4 = Somewhat Disagree

5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

89

As can be seen in Table 9, in general, participants tended to consider leanring

English to be of importance and to be conﬁdent regarding their ability to learn English.

While participants tended to agree that learning English was difﬁcult for them, they also

agreed that they would be able to learn it. Participants furthermore tended to neither

agree nor disagree to somewhat disagree that they were too old to learn English. They

also neither strongly agreed nor disagreed with the statement that they found
opportunities to practice their English. In fact, the majority of participants tended to
agree with the statement that they would like more opportunities to practice their English,

as evidenced by the small standard deviation associated with this item and the fact that all

'——-p' 9:7 «.32-«ii. 21W

participants either deﬁnitely or somewhat agreed with this statement. Overall, these

items had large standard deviations, indicating that there was much variance across

participants’ responses to these questions.

Table 9

Conﬁdence Regarding Ability to Learn English

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely
or
Somewhat
Agreed

Learning English is difﬁcult for me 31 2.06 1.48 68%

I want more opportunities to practice my 31 1.03 .18 100%

English

I will be able to learn English 31 1.58 1.06 81%

I am too old to learn English 31 3.74 1.61 29%

9O

Table 9 cont’d

I ﬁnd opportunities to practice my English 31 3.06 1.88 45%
Learning English is not important to me 31 4.48 1.29 13%
Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree

2 = Somewhat Agree

3 = Mixed

4 = Somewhat Disagree

5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

As can be seen in Table 10, participants varied with regard to their feelings about
their social networks. Women tended to either agree or to be mixed with regard to the
statement that they were lonely and they tended to agree that they wished that they had
more relatives nearby. However, women also indicated that they have people to talk to
who understand their language and culture, and that they were somewhat happy with the
number of ﬂiends whom they had in the area.

Table 10

Participants’ F eelinga Regarding Their Social Networka

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent Who
Deviation Deﬁnitely or
Somewhat
Agreed
I am lonely 31 2.68 1.70 55%
I wish I had relatives nearby 31 1.16 .73 97%

91

Table 10 cont’d

I have people to talk to who understand my 31 1.45 .96 90%
language and culture

I have at least one ﬂiend whom I talk and 31 2.26 1.67 68%
socialize with regularly

I am happy with the number of ﬂiends I 31 1.84 1.42 74%
have in the area

I can depend on my ﬁiends to help me 31 2.10 1.49 65%
when I need it

I can depend on my family to help me 29 1.97 1.52 76%
when I need it

I would like more opportunities to meet 31 1.35 .84 90%
others like myself

I have made an effort to meet others who 31 1.58 1.03 84%
share my language and culture

Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree
2 = Somewhat Agree
3 = Mixed
4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

In spite of the fact that participants tended to agree that they were happy with the
number of ﬂiends they had, they were less likely to indicate that they had at least one
ﬂiend with whom they talked and socialized regularly. In fact, they tended to only
somewhat agree or to be mixed with regard to this statement. This is supported by the

fact that participants indicated a reasonably strong desire to meet others like themselves

92

(i.e., others who share their culture and language). It should, however, be noted that
participants were not passive with regard to this desire. They tended to agree with the
statement that they had made an effort to meet others who share their language and
culture.

Participants were slightly more likely to indicate that they could depend upon
their family to help them if they needed it than they were to indicate that they could
depend upon their ﬂiends. However, many of the items related to social support and
social networks had large standard deviations, signifying that there was considerably
variability across participants’ responses to these questions.

Linear regression was computed in order to assess the degree to which the length
of time a participant had spent in resettlement predicted the level of social support that
was available to them. No signiﬁcant relationship was found.

The degree of social support available to women was, however, signiﬁcantly
correlated with their ability to access help with their needs in resettlement. Speciﬁcally,
participants who experienced higher levels of social support were less likely to
experience obstacles to their ability to obtain assistance with day to day needs that arose
in resettlement [r(29) = -.37, p < .05] Participants who agreed with the statement that
they had access to social support (on a scale ﬂom one to ﬁve, with one indicating
“deﬁnitely agree” and ﬁve indicating “deﬁnitely disagree”) were thus more likely to also
indicate that they did not experience many obstacles in accessing help with their day-to-
day needs (on a scale ﬂom one to four, with one indicating “a big obstacle” and four

indicating “not an obstacle at all”).

93

Furthermore, as can be seen in Table 1 1, while the majority of participants were
satisﬁed with their neighborhoods, they did not tend to interact socially with their
neighbors. Participants generally agreed with statements indicating that they were
satisﬁed with where they lived, that they liked their neighborhoods, and that they felt safe
in their neighborhoods. Participants furthermore either somewhat agreed or were mixed
with regard to statements indicating that their neighbors spoke to them and that they felt
comfortable either speaking to or interacting socially with their neighbors. The items
with which participants tended to disagree most strongly were items regarding current
and potential discrimination they would face based upon their dress, ethnicity, and
language ability. In fact, participants were most likely to disagree with the statement that
their neighbors treated them differently because of these reasons and were the second
most likely to disagree with the statement that they were concerned that they would be
treated differently based upon their ethnicity, dress, and language ability. It is once more
notable that all items had large standard deviations, thus indicating that there was much
variability across participants’ responses to these questions.

Table 11

Partici ants’ Perc tions of their Nei borhoods

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely
or
Somewhat
Agreed

I am satisﬁed with where I live 31 1.68 1.22 87%

I like my neighborhood 31 1.61 1.23 84%

94

Table 11 cont’d

My neighbors speak to me regularly 31 3.06 1.73 42%
I feel safe in my neighborhood 31 1.45 1.03 84%
I think that my neighbors treat me differently 31 4.16 1.24 16%

because of the way I dress, because of where
I am ﬂom, and because I don’t speak English

I worry that my neighbors will treat me 31 3.97 1.38 19%
differently because of the way I dress,
because of where I am ﬂorrr, and because I

don’t speak English

I feel comfortable speaking to my neighbors 31 2.10 1.62 71%
I feel comfortable socializing with my 31 2.94 1.65 45%
neighbors

If something bad happened to me in my 31 1.39 .99 87%

neighborhood I would call the police

Scale:
1 = Deﬁnitely Agree
2 = Somewhat Agree
3 = Mixed
4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

Linear regression was computed in order to assess whether the time a participant
had spent in resettlement predicted their satisfaction with their neighborhood as well as
the likelihood that they would be living in a neighborhood with positive characteristics
(i.e., a neighborhood in which they were likely to feel safe, etc.) Neither was found to be

signiﬁcant.

95

In order to assess participants’ understanding of and utilization of various
important resources, they were asked a series of yes or no questions with regard to these
resources. Participants were speciﬁcally asked about their knowledge of emergency
services (including their knowledge of emergency phone numbers), their utilization of
transportation resources, ﬁnancial resources such as local banks, and the assistance they
received ﬂom their ﬁiends with their childcare needs.

Overall, it was found that participants’ knowledge regarding and utilization of
local resources tended to be low. Speciﬁcally, only 61.3% of participants knew the
correct phone number to call in the event of a medical emergency and 67.7% knew the
correct phone number to dial in the event of an emergency requiring the police or ﬁre
department. The remaining participants either indicated that they did not know what
number to call (22.6%), provided incorrect phone numbers (9.6%), indicated that they
would call a ﬂiend or relative in the event of a medical emergency (3.2%), or indicated
that they forgot what number to call in the event of a medical emergency (3.2%). The
majority of participants did have health insurance, and very few participants indicated
that they drive to where they need to go. Finally, all participants indicated that they paid
their bills on time each month. See Table 12 for a further breakdown of participants’
responses to these items.

Table 12

Participants’ Knowledge and Utilization of Resources

 

Statement N Percent Endorsed “Yes”
Do you pay your bills every month? 31 100%
Do you have health insurance? 31 97%

96

Table 12 cont’d

Do you take the bus when you need to go 31 55%
somewhere?

Do your ﬁiends and family help you baby-sit 19 47%
your children?

In case of an emergency, do you know how to 31 42%

get to the emergency room at the hospital?

In case of an emergency, do you know that you 31 36%
can go to the hospital without needing health

insurance?

Do you use an American bank? 31 16%
Do you drive when you need to go 31 7%
somewhere?

Crosstabulations and Fisher’s Exact Test were computed in order to assess
whether participants’ knowledge of and utilization of resources were signiﬁcantly related
to demographic characteristics such as their marital status, nation of origin, employment
status, and level of education.

Participants’ likelihood to utilize public transportation was the single variable that
was signiﬁcantly related to their demographic characteristics. First, it was found that
participants’ marital status in resettlement was signiﬁcantly related to their utilization of
public transportation services (Fisher Exact Test = .03). Speciﬁcally, 76.9% of single
participants indicated that they utilized the local bus service, while only 33.3% of married
women indicated that they utilized the bus service. Afghan participants were similarly
signiﬁcantly more likely to take the bus if they needed to go somewhere than were Arab

women (Fisher’s Exact Test = .02). While 80% of Afghan women indicated that they

97

took the bus when they needed to go somewhere, only 27.3% of Arab women responded
similarly.

Participants were asked whether a certain resource existed in their neighborhood,
and if yes, whether they had ever utilized it. If a participant indicated that they had
utilized a given resource, they were asked to rate its quality on a scale ﬂom one to ten,
with one being very low quality and ten being very high quality. Ff“

Only 6.5% of participants indicated that they had ever placed their children in »
daycare. All these participants gave the daycare center that they used a quality rating of t

ten. When asked about the store at which they do most of their grocery shopping, 35.5% i

 

of participants indicated that they do so at a large, local combined grocery and
department store chain, 19.4% shopped at a discount grocery store, and 16.1% shopped at
a combination of the combined grocery and department store and the discount grocery
store. The remaining participants shopped at numerous stores, including local grocery
stores, stores that sell ethnic food, and a combination of such stores with only 3.2% of
participants utilizing each of these stores or combinations of stores respectively.
Participants provided their grocery store of choice with an average rating of 9. 1 , with a
standard deviation of 1.4.

More than 40% of participants were aware of the existence of the majority of
surveyed resources within their community. Of these participants, more than 70%
indicated that they had utilized these resources at some point during the time that they
had spent in their neighborhood. The two exceptions were banks and community centers.
Only 32.3% of participants indicated that a bank existed in their neighborhood and 38.7%

indicated that they did not know if there was a bank in their neighborhood. However, of

98

those participants who knew of the existence of a bank, 50% had utilized this resource at

least once. Similarly, 16.1% of participants indicated that a community center existed in

their neighborhood and 35.5% indicated that they did not know if such a resource existed

in their neighborhood. Of those participants who indicated that a community center

existed in their neighborhood, 40% had utilized this resource at least once. See Table 13

for a further breakdown of those resources that exist in participants’ neighborhoods and

Table 14 for their average rating of the quality of these resources.

Table 13

Participants’ Knowledge of and Utilization of Neighborhood Resources

 

Statement N Percent Percent Don’t Know
Yes No (for resource

existence
questions only)

Is there a bus stop close to your 31 74% 16% 10%

home?

Have you ever used the bus? 23 74% 26%

Is there a park in your 31 65% 19% 16%

neighborhood?

Have you ever used the park? 20 70% 30%

Is there a drugstore in your 31 52% 39% 10%

neighborhood?

Have you ever used the drugstore? 16 88% 13%

Is there a Laundromat in your 31 42% 52% 7%

neighborhood?

Have you ever used the 13 85% 15%

Laundromat?

Is there a bank in your 31 32% 29% 39%

neighborhood?

99

‘ ..r‘r' "

Table 13 cont’d

 

Have you ever used the bank? 50% 50%

Is there a community center in your 31 16% 48% 36%
neighborhood? ‘

Have you ever used the community 40% 60%

center?

Table 14

Participants’ Average Rating of Resources in Community

Statement N Minimum Maximum Mean Standard Deviation
Bank 5 8.00 10.00 9.40 .89
Grocery Store 31 5.00 10.00 9.10 1.34
Drugstore 14 5.00 10.00 8.50 1.83

Park 14 3.00 10.00 8.36 2.10

Bus Service 17 1.00 10.00 7.65 2.45
Laundromat 1 1 5.00 10.00 7.64 2.1 1
Community Center 2 5.00 10.00 7.50 3.54

All ratings had large standard deviations. This is a reﬂection both of the fact that

participants’ ratings of the quality of these resources varied considerably (as can be seen

ﬂom the minimum and maximum ratings), but also of the fact that in some cases, as few

as two participants indicated that they had utilized a particular resource, and ratings were

thus based on a very small sub sample of participants.

100

Participants were asked to indicate their overall satisfaction with various areas of

their lives in resettlement (e.g., housing, number of ﬂiends, ability to ask for help when

needed, etc.) on a scale ﬂom one to ten, with one indicating “not satisﬁed at all” and ten

indicating “very satisﬁed.” On average, participants were the least satisﬁed with their

current housing as well as the transportation to which they had access, and they were the

most satisﬁed with their ability to practice their faith. All items had large standard

deviations, indicating that there was signiﬁcant variability across participants’

satisfaction ratings. See Table 15 for a further breakdown of satisfaction ratings.

Table 15

Participants’ Satisfaction With Aspects of Their Lives in Resettlement

 

Statement N Minimum Maximum Mean Standard
Deviation

Satisfaction with 31 1.00 10.00 8.74 2.37

opportunities to practice

religion

Satisfaction with ability to 31 1.00 10.00 8.32 2.37

get food family enjoys in the

store

Satisfaction with ability to 31 1.00 10.00 7.42 2.31

meet new friends

Satisfaction with ability to 31 1.00 10.00 7.32 2.84

get housework done

Satisfaction with ability to 31 1.00 10.00 7.03 3.26

ask for help with every day

things when need

Satisfaction with current 31 1.00 10.00 6.35 2.86

housing

Satisfaction with 31 1.00 10.00 4.74 2.71

transportation

101

In order to assess the degree to which participants’ satisfaction ratings were
related to the time that they had spent in resettlement, these ratings were correlated with
their year of resettlement. The only relationship that was found to be signiﬁcant was
between year of resettlement and participants’ satisfaction with their ability to obtain the
kind of food their families enjoy in the store [r(29) = .37, p < .05]. Thus, the longer a
participant had been living in resettlement, the more likely she was to indicate that she
was satisﬁed with her ability to obtain the kind of food her family enjoys in the store.

Linear regression was computed in order to assess the degree to which the length
of time a participant had spent in resettlement predicted her level of satisfaction with
various resources, but this relationship was not found to be signiﬁcant.

Participants’ responses to open ended questions regarding their adjustment
reinforced the above ﬁndings. In addition to a strong need to learn English, participants
indicated that it was often difﬁcult to successfully navigate their new environments and
to access needed resources. Participants speciﬁcally expressed a need for assistance with
accessing transportation related resources and for information about where various
needed resources could be obtained (e.g., furniture).

Needs related to interaction with community agencies and organizations. A
number of questions in the interview pertained to obstacles that participants may have
experienced when interacting with various government and other agencies. First,
participants’ interactions with the local Health Department were considered. As can be
seen in Table 16, the majority of participants somewhat to deﬁnitely agreed with the
majority of statements regarding their experience with the local Health Department. The

majority of participants thus agreed that they were satisﬁed with services provided to

102

them by the Health Department, that they felt that they could be honest with their doctors,
and that, on average, they had access to female doctors, and/or felt empowered with
regard to their ability to ask for women doctors or interpreters and/or with regard to
asking questions when they did not understand medical tests or procedures. However, it
should again be noted that standard deviations for the majority of these items were large,
indicating that there was much variability across participants’ responses to these
questions. Items with the smallest standard deviations were those related to participants’
satisfaction with services they received at the Health Department, as well as the manner
in which Health Department employees treated them. On average, participants agreed
with statements indicating that they were satisﬁed with overall Health Department
services. Participants were least likely to agree that female interpreters were available to
them, that they understood medical procedures such as tests, and that they only felt
comfortable seeing a female doctor.

Table 16

Participants’ Experiences With the Local Health Department

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely
or
Somewhat
Agreed

I am happy with the medical care I receive 31 1.55 1.18 84%

I am happy with the medical care my family 29 1.31 1.04 93%

receives

Female doctors are available to me 31 1.39 .84 84%

I feel comfortable asking for a female doctor 31 1.39 1.20 90%

103

Table 16 cont’d

 

Female interpreters are available to me 30 2.33 1.63 57%

I feel comfortable asking for a female interpreter 31 1.65 1.33 81%

I feel comfortable talking with my doctor when I 31 1.23 .76 97%

don't feel well

I can be honest with my doctor 31 1.32 1.01 94%

I understand medical procedures such as tests 31 2.00 1.46 74%

I feel comfortable asking questions when I don't 31 1.39 .99 87% E

‘ understand tests .

k

I only feel comfortable seeing a female doctor 31 3.13 1.91 42%

Caseworkers at the Health Department respectful of 30 1.10 .40 97% l

my culture

Caseworkers at the Health Department are ﬁiendly 30 1.07 .37 97%

towards me

I am satisﬁed with the services I receive at the 31 1.13 .50 94%

Health Department

Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree
2 = Somewhat Agree
3 = Mixed
4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree
Nation of origin accounted for a signiﬁcant difference across participants’ desire
to only be seen by a woman doctor [t(24) = -3.64, p < .01]. On a scale ﬂom one to ﬁve,
with one indicating deﬁnitely agree and ﬁve indicating deﬁnitely disagree, Arab

participants were signiﬁcantly more likely to agree with the statement that they only feel

104

comfortable seeing a women doctor (_M = 2.00, S_D = 1.73) than were Afghan women (_M_
= 4.27, S_D = 1.44).

Linear Regression was computed in order to assess whether the year a woman
was resettled or her age accounted for her satisfaction with the services she received ﬂom
the Health Department. This relationship was not found to be signiﬁcant.

Participants’ responses to open ended question reinforced their need for access to
interpreters when attending doctor’s appointments. The majority of participants’
responses to open ended questions related to their healthcare related needs centered on ‘

their strong need for interpreters to accompany them to medical appointments.

 

Participants were furthermore asked a series of questions regarding their
interaction with the local government aid office, the Family Independence Agency (FIA).
As can be seen in Table 17, participants were most likely to disagree with statements
indicating that they understood forms and paperwork associated with FIA procedures and
were most likely to agree with statements indicating that caseworkers at FIA were
ﬁiendly and respectful towards them. Participants furthermore somewhat agreed or were
mixed with regard to the statement that they knew where to go for help with F IA forms
and procedures that they did not understand. It should once more be noted that all items
had large standard deviations, indicating signiﬁcant variability across participants’

responses to these items.

105

Table 17

Participants Experience With the Family Independgence Agency

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely
or
Somewhat
Agreed

I understand paperwork mailed ﬂom FIA 30 4.40 1.28 13%

I understand forms I have to ﬁll in at F IA 30 4.30 1.34 17%

I know where I can go for help with FIA forms and3l 2.81 1.74 55%

procedures that I don’t understand

Caseworkers at F IA are friendly towards me 28 1.96 1.29 64%

Caseworkers at FIA are respectful of my culture 26 1.77 1.27 77%

Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree
2 = Somewhat Agree
3 = Mixed
4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

Linear regression was computed in order to assess the degree to which
participants’ year of resettlement predicted their satisfaction with the services provided to
them by FIA or their ability to understand related forms and procedures. Neither
relationship was found to be signiﬁcant. However, a signiﬁcant relationship between

participants’ year of resettlement and their knowledge regarding where to go for

106

_ _.___._.___. __.-__

information with F IA procedures and paperwork that they did not understand emerged [B
= .48, t(28) = 2.26, p < .05]. The number of years a participant had spent in resettlement
accounted for a signiﬁcant proportion of the variance explained by their endorsement of
the item that they knew where to go for help with FIA forms and procedures that they did
not understand [R = .39, F(1, 29) = 5.12, p < .05]. The more recently a participant was
resettled, the less likely she was to know where to go for help with F IA forms and
procedures that she did not understand.

A signiﬁcant relationship also emerged between participants’ marital status and
their understanding of FIA forms and procedures [t(25) = -2.79, p < .01]. Participants
whose husbands were with them in resettlement were signiﬁcantly more likely to indicate
that they understood FIA forms and procedures (_M = 3.89, S_D, = 1.43) than were
participants whose husbands were not with them in resettlement (M = 5.00, S12 = 0.00).
The mean responses of participants whose husbands were with them in resettlement
tended to fall between “equally agree and disagree” and “somewhat disagree,” thus
indicating that these participants still do not feel entirely comfortable with their
knowledge regarding FIA forms and procedures; however, all participants who were
single in resettlement deﬁnitely disagreed that they understood such forms and
procedures.

It was lastly found that participants’ ability to understand FIA forms and
procedures was not signiﬁcantly correlated with their conﬁdence regarding their ability to
learn English.

Participants’ responses to open ended questions reinforced their need for

assistance with F IA forms and procedures. In addition to participants’ indication that

107

__-__

 

they did not necessarily understand these forms, there was signiﬁcant confusion amongst
participants with regard to the receipt of government beneﬁts. Overall, participants did
not understand which beneﬁts they were eligible for and did not understand changes to
their beneﬁts.

Participants were also surveyed regarding their experiences with a local refugee
resettlement agency. Overall, participants’ responses to these items ranged ﬂom
“somewhat satisﬁed” to “neither satisﬁed not dissatisﬁed.” Participants were the most
satisﬁed with Refugee Services caseworkers’ sensitivity towards their culture and the
least satisﬁed with the help Refugee Services has provided them in accessing
transportation and in meeting others who share their language and culture. All items had
large standard deviations, indicating that therewas much variability across participants’
responses to these questions. See Table 18 for a breakdown of participants’ responses to
these items.

Table 18

Participants’ Experience with Local Refugee Resettlement Agency

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent Very
Deviation or

Somewhat
Satisﬁed

The help Refugee Services gave you when you 31 2.55 1.67 55%

ﬁrst arrived

How accessible Refugee Services caseworkers 31 2.16 1.49 71%

are to you

How sensitive Refugee Services caseworkers are 31 2.55 1.46 55%

to your needs

How sensitive Refugee Services caseworkers are 31 1.74 1.09 74%

to your culture

108

“I. _—_A M an m"

Table 18 cont’d

How friendly Refugee Services caseworkers are
towards you

The help Refugee Services caseworkers have
given you in ﬁnding a job

The help Refugee Services caseworkers have
given you in accessing healthcare

The help Reﬁrgee Services caseworkers have
given you in accessing transportation

The help Refugee Services has given you in
learning English

The help Refugee Services has given you in
meeting others who share your language and
culture

The help Reﬁrgee Services has given you in
working with government agencies

The way in which Refugee Services has helped
members of your family with their needs

Your overall experience with Refugee Services

Scale:

1 = Very Satisﬁed

2 = Somewhat Satisﬁed

3 = Neither Satisﬁed nor Dissatisﬁed
4 = Somewhat Dissatisﬁed

5 = Very Dissatisﬁed

109

31

29

31

31

31

2.10

2.38

1.94

3.45

3.06

3.55

2.83

2.64

2.42

1.27

1.72

1.31

1.71

1.71

1.82

1.82

1.61

1.31

71%

66%

71%

32%

45%

37%

53%

54%

52%

“ mm; W‘s-.1 Sued”

Linear regression was computed in order to assess whether a participant’s time in
resettlement was related to their satisfaction with the services they received ﬂom Refugee
Services as well as their overall satisfaction with the agency. Neither relationship was
found to be signiﬁcant.

Responses to open ended questions largely centered on participants’ desire for a
thorough orientation upon their anival as well as for improved access to resources.
Overall, participants indicated that they needed a larger-scale orientation to their
environments and related resources upon arrival as well as a greater supply of furniture

and food to facilitate their immediate arrival in resettlement.

—.—.———7—.-.-—~—-——,1

Children ’s adjustment needs. Participants’ perceptions of their children’s needs
as well as their needs related to their children were additionally assessed. Results are
presented according to speciﬁc area of need.

As noted in Table 19, the majority of participants believed that their children were
doing well in school. Participants tended to agree with statements indicating that both
their sons and daughters did well in and were happy at school. These items also had
relatively small standard deviations, indicating that these were items with which the
majority of participants agreed. Similarly, participants tended to somewhat and deﬁnitely
disagree with statements indicating that their children often got into trouble at school for
the way that they behaved. These items had relatively large standard deviations,
indicating that there was variability across participants’ responses to these questions.
Participants lastly tended to neither agree nor disagree with statements indicating that
their children had problems with their schoolwork. In the case of boys speciﬁcally,

participants tended to neither agree not disagree to somewhat disagree with this

110

statement. These items again had large standard deviations, indicating that there was

much variability across participants’ responses to these questions. Only 11% participants

agreed with the statement that they would not send their daughters to school if they had a

choice.

Table 19

Participants’ Perception_s of Their Children’s Educational Needs

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely or
Somewhat
Agree

My sons enjoy school 15 1.07 .26 100%

My sons do well in school . 15 1.20 .77 100%

My sons have problems with their schoolwork 15 3.60 1.55 28%

My sons often get into trouble at school for the 15 4.27 1.44 13%

way they behave

My daughters enjoy school 14 1.07 .27 100%

My daughters do well in school 14 1.50 .94 86%

My daughters have problems with their school 14 3.43 1.74 36%

work

My daughters often get into trouble at school 14 4.93 .27 7%

for the way they behave

If I had a choice, I would not send my 18 4.39 1.33 11%

daughters to school

111

‘- «.41-n...) 2,041.5 um 115111.?

Scale:
1 = Deﬁnitely Agree
2 = Somewhat Agree
3 = Mixed
4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

Linear regression was utilized in order to assess the relationship between
participants’ year of resettlement and their concerns regarding their children’s
educational success. The relationship between participants’ year of resettlement and their
perceptions regarding their daughter’s educational success was found to be signiﬁcant.
Year of resettlement was a signiﬁcant predictor of participants’ tendency to agree that
their daughters were doing well in school [B = .24, t(12) = 2.03, p = .07]. Thus, the more
recently a participant had been resettled, the less likely she was to believe her daughters
were doing well in school. Year of resettlement furthermore explained a signiﬁcant
proportion of the variance associated with participants’ perceptions of their daughters’
educational success [R = .51, F(1, 12) = 4.14, p = .07].

As can be seen in Table 20, the majority of participants agreed that their children
were happy and had many new opportunities in resettlement. Standard deviations for
many of these items were large, signifying that there was variability across participants’

responses to these questions.

112

“- -mav‘ars—M
x .l' . ...

Table 20

 

Participants’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Adjustment

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent Who
Deviation Deﬁnitely or

Somewhat
Agreed

My sons have many new opportunities here in 17 1.29 .99 94%

America

My daughters have many new opportunities 19 1.05 .23 100%

here in America

My sons enjoy living in America 17 1.18 .53 94%

My daughters enjoy living in America 19 1.21 .92 95%

It isimportant for children to maintain culture 22 1.59 1.14 77%

I worry that my children will become too 3 22 2.86 1.70 46%

American

I worry that my son will suffer bad inﬂuences 17 2.59 1.62 59%

here in America

I worry that my daughters will suffer bad 21 2.81 1.78 52%

inﬂuences here in America

The way my daughter dresses and acts is 17 1.47 1.18 88%

important to the way others in the community

see our family

Being a woman in America means more 29 1.86 1.41 79%

ﬂeedom

Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree
2 = Somewhat Agree

3 = Mixed

113

 

4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

While participants tended to deﬁnitely agree that it is important for their children
to maintain their culture, some had concerns regarding their children becoming too
American or suffering bad inﬂuences in resettlement. Standard deviations for these items
tended to be large, thus indicating that there was variability across participants’ responses
to these questions. Participants additionally tended to agree that their daughters’ dress
and actions reﬂected upon their families, and they also tended to indicate that women in

America have more ﬂeedom.

q . “'1'“ m9“ gamma-a,

Linear regression was computed in order to assess the degree to which
participants’ year of resettlement, age, and the ages of their children were predictive of
their concerns regarding their children, but these relationships were not found to be
signiﬁcant.

As can be seen in Table 21, participants’ perceptions of the American daycare
system varied. Participants tended to somewhat agree that daycare is a good choice for
them and that it provides them with more ﬂeedom, however they tended to neither agree
nor disagree with the statement that they understood the American daycare system.
Participants additionally tended to somewhat disagree with the statement that they were
comfortable leaving their children with people other than their ﬂiends or family. All
items have large standard deviations, thus indicating that there is much variability across
participants’ responses to these questions. Linear regression was computed in order to
assess whether participants’ age, children’s age, or participants’ time in resettlement was

predictive of their responses to these items, but all were found to be non-signiﬁcant.

114

Table 21

Participants’ Attitude Towards Daycare

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Deﬁnitely or
Somewhat
Agreed

Putting my children in daycare is a good choice 15 2.53 1.68 53%

for me

Putting my children in daycare means more 16 2.31 1.70 69%

ﬂeedom for me

I understand the American daycare system 16 2.94 1.77 50%

I am comfortable with leaving my children inthe 17 4.12 1.41 12%

care of non-family members or ﬂiends

Scale:

1 = Deﬁnitely Agree

2 = Somewhat Agree

3 = Mixed

4 = Somewhat Disagree
5 = Deﬁnitely Disagree

Obstacles To Having Needs Met

Participants were asked a series of questions regarding speciﬁc obstacles they had

experienced in getting their needs met. Speciﬁcally, they were surveyed regarding

obstacles around housing, transportation, social, faith, housework, shopping, and

115

,A'hr

‘Tﬁ

 

informational needs. Responses were rated on a scale ﬂom one to four, with one

indicating a large obstacle to four indicating not an obstacle at all.

See Table 22 for a breakdown of obstacles participants experienced around

housing needs. The largest two obstacles participants faced to obtaining better housing

were their inability to afford better housing and their inability to speak English. The

smallest obstacle experienced by participants was their belief that landlords and housing
agencies would treat them differently based upon their ethnicity and cultural
backgrounds. The item to which participants’ responses were most variable related to

their knowledge regarding housing resources available to low-income individuals.

Table 22

Obstacles to Having Housing Needs Met

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent Who
Deviation Reported as

Somewhat
or Big
Obstacle

We're not able to afford better housing 31 1.55 .99 84%

Landlords and housing agencies treat me 31 3.71 .69 7%

differently because of the way I dress, because I

don’t speak English, and because I am not

American

I don't know what housing is available for low- 31 2.61 1.41 45%

income people

I don't speak English 31 1.42 .89 87%

Scale:

1 = A Big Obstacle

2 == Somewhat of an Obstacle

116

3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle

4 = Not an Obstacle At All

Linear regression indicated that year of resettlement was not a signiﬁcant

predictor of participants’ perceptions of obstacles to their ability to obtain better housing.

See Table 23 for a breakdown of obstacles experienced by participants to having

their transportation related needs met. The most signiﬁcant obstacle to obtaining better
transportation was their lack of ﬁnancial ability to purchase a car or to purchase a better
car. The least signiﬁcant obstacle to their ability to obtain better transportation was the ‘
lack of a convenient bus line in their neighborhood. While participants endorsed many 1'

obstacles to their ability to obtain transportation, these items had large standard

 

deviations. The item with the least variability was participants’ indication that they did

not have sufﬁcient ﬁrnds to obtain better transportation.
Table 23

Obstacles to Accessing Transpprtation

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Reported
as
Somewha
t or Big
Obstacle

We can't afford to buy a car or to buy better car 31 1.39 .88 87%

I don't know how to take the bus 31 2.48 1.36 52%

There is no convenient bus line in my neighborhood 31 2.74 1.46 42%

I don't feel comfortable taking the bus 31 2.10 1.30 58%

I can't afford to take the bus 31 2.61 1.36 45%

117

Table 23 cont’d

My lack of English makes it difﬁcult to take the bus 31 1.87 1.23 71%

I am uncomfortable going places without my 30 1.83 1.26 77%
husband/family

I don't lmow how to drive 31 1.71 1.22 77%
I don't have access to driving lessons 31 2.16 1.37 65%
Scale:

1 = A Big Obstacle

2 = Somewhat of an Obstacle

3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle
4 = Not an Obstacle At All

Linear Regression was computed in order to assess the degree to which
participants’ year of resettlement determined their concerns regarding their ability to
obtain transportation. This relationship was found to be signiﬁcant. The more recently a
participant was resettled, the less likely she was to indicate that she encountered obstacles
to obtaining transportation [B = .26, t(28) = 2.26, p < .05]. Year of resettlement similarly
accounted for a signiﬁcant proportion of the variance explained by participants’
endorsement of obstacles they experience to obtaining transportation [R = .39, F (1, 29) =
5.12, p < .05]. Participants’ marital status in resettlement also signiﬁcantly affected the
degree to which they experienced obstacles to obtaining transportation [t(26) = -2.80, p <
.01]. Participants who were married in resettlement experienced greater obstacles to
obtaining transportation (M = 1.60, S_D = .81) than did unmarried participants (M = 2.54,

SD = .97).

118

See Table 24 for a breakdown of obstacles experienced by participants when
attempting to obtain the food their family cats in the store. The largest obstacle
experienced by participants to obtaining the kind of food their family enjoys in local
stores was their inability to read the labels on food products, while the smallest obstacle
encountered was the fact that food they enjoyed was not sold in American grocery stores.
Standard deviations for all items were large.

Table 24
Obstagﬂes to Obtaining Food Enjoyed by Family
Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who
Reported as
Somewhat

or Big
Obstacle

‘Q" -4. «1.1 “we a‘viéc-‘AInT
(O

 

The kind of food we eat is not sold in American 31 3.23 1.26 29%
grocery stores

The food we eat is more expensive in American 31 2.97 1.22 36%
grocery stores

It is hard for me to read the labels on food products 31 1.94 1.23 68%

Scale:
1 = A Big Obstacle
2 = Somewhat of an Obstacle
3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle
4 = Not an Obstacle At All
Linear regression indicated that year of resettlement was a signiﬁcant predictor of

participants’ perceptions of obstacles to their ability to obtain the food their family

119

 

enjoys. The more recently a participants was resettled, the fewer obstacles she indicated
encountering to obtaining the kind of food her family enjoys in the store [B = .36, t(28) =
2.77, p < .01]. Participants’ year of resettlement furthermore accounted for a signiﬁcant
proportion of the variance explained by their perceptions of obstacles to obtaining the
food their family enjoys in the store [R = .46, F(1, 29) = 7.66, p <.01]. Participants’
marital status in resettlement similarly accounted for signiﬁcant differences across their

perceptions of obstacles to obtaining the kind if food their family enjoys in the store

71‘1-‘5‘4 J ‘,a_~':'
'.¢

[t(26) = -2.93, p <.01]. Participants whose husbands were with them in resettlement

 

indicated that they experienced greater obstacles to obtaining the kind of food their

w‘ll'

family enjoys (M = 2.60, S_D = 1.24) than did participants who were single in
resettlement (M = 3.65, SD = .59).

See Table 25 for a breakdown of obstacles experienced by participants to
completing their housework in a manner that satisﬁed them. On average, participants did
not experience signiﬁcant obstacles to completing their housework. The largest obstacle
experienced by participants was an inability to understand American cleaning products
and the smallest was a lack of time to complete their housework due to their employment
commitments. The majority of items had large standard deviations, indicating that there
was much variability across participants’ responses to these questions. The item with the
smallest standard deviation related to participants’ inability to complete their housework

due to their own employment commitment.

120

Table 25

Obstacles to Completing Housework

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Reported
as
Somewhat
or Big
Obstacle

I don't have time because I work 31 3.84 .58 3%

My family members don't have time to help because31 3.13 1.31 32%

they work

I don't understand American cleaning products 31 2.54 1.41 52%

I don't know how to use appliances around the 31 3.65 .84 10%

house

Idolaundrybyhand 31 3.42 1.12 16%

I don't know where the Laundromat is 31 3.68 .87 13%

Scale:

1 = A Big Obstacle
2 = Somewhat of an Obstacle
3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle

4 = Not an Obstacle At All

Linear regression indicated that participants’ year of resettlement was a

signiﬁcant predictor of the number of obstacles they experienced to completing their

housework in a satisfactory manner. The more recently a participant was resettled, the

smaller the obstacles she experienced to completing household tasks [B = .35, t(28) =

3.29, p < .01]. Year of resettlement furthermore accounted for a signiﬁcant proportion of

121

‘—r-—»;-r—v—_-;q

the variance explained by obstacles participants experienced to getting their housework

done [R =.52,1=(1,29)= 10.83, p <.o1].

See Table 26 for a breakdown of those obstacles participants experienced to

expanding their social support networks. The largest obstacle to meeting new people and

making new friends experienced by participants was their inability to speak English,

while the smallest obstacle was that Americans are not usually ﬂiendly towards them.
Standard deviations for these items were large, indicating that there was much variability
across participants’ perceptions of those obstacles they encountered to expanding their

social networks. Linear regression was computed in order to assess whether a r -

.41
. . b
‘4
.r

... ..

..u-c .- rug-1.1.

 

participants’ year of resettlement was a signiﬁcant predictor of their perception of

obstacles to making friends, but this was found to be non-signiﬁcant.

Table 26

Obstacles to Expanding Social Support Networks

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Reported
as
Somewhat
or Big
Obstacle

I don't have enough opportunities to meet others 31 2.68 1.25 45%

who share language and culture

I don't know where I can meet others who share 31 3.16 1.13 29%

my language and culture

I don't have the resources I need to meet new 31 1.94 1.26 71%

people (e.g., transportation)

I don't speak English 31 1.61 1.05 77%

122

Table 26 cont’d
Americans are not usually ﬂiendly towards me 31 3.32 1.08 19%
Scale:
1 = A Big Obstacle
2 = Somewhat of an Obstacle
3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle
4 = Not an Obstacle At All
See Table 27 for a breakdown of those obstacles experienced by participants to

their ability to attend events at a place of worship. Participants generally did not

WI. wﬂcm— “A”
m. o “ a

experience signiﬁcant obstacles to attending a place of worship. The largest obstacle
experienced was a lack of resources needed to attend a place of worship (e.g.,
transportation). The smallest obstacle experienced by participants was a lack of desire to
attend events at a place of worship. Standard deviations for items related to a lack of
resources needed to attend events at a place of worship and a lack of knowledge
regarding events held at a place of worship were large, indicating that there was
signiﬁcant variability across participants’ responses to these items. However, little
variability existed across participants’ responses to items related to a fear of
discrimination they may experience as a result of attending events at a place of worship
or a lack of desire to attend a place of worship. Linear regression was computed in order
to assess whether year of resettlement was a signiﬁcant predictor of obstacles
experienced by participants to attending a place of worship, but this was found to be non-

signiﬁcant.

123

Table 27

Obstacles to Attending a Place of Worshi

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Reported as
Somewhat
or Big
Obstacle

I don't have the resources I need to get to a place of 31 2.26 1.37 58%

worship (e.g., transportation)

I don't know much about places of worship and 31 2.84 1.28 36%

events that are held there

I am scared that I will experience 31 3.77 .56 7%

racism/discrimination ﬂom others if I attend events

at a place of worship

I don't want to attend events at a place of worship 31 3.81 .65 7%

Scale:

1 = A Big Obstacle

2 = Somewhat of an Obstacle
3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle

4 = Not an Obstacle At All

See Table 28 for a breakdown of obstacles experienced by participants to

obtaining help with every day concerns in resettlement. On average, participants did not

experience signiﬁcant obstacles to obtaining help with everyday concerns. The largest

obstacle experienced by participants was insufﬁcient English needed to speak to their

neighbors, while the smallest obstacle was the lack of a working telephone needed to call

124

fun-an..- Limit. to,
J

I; ‘i'l‘l

someone in order to ask for help. All participants had access to a working telephone.

Linear regression was computed in order to assess whether a participant’s year of

resettlement predicted the degree to which they would experience obstacles to obtaining

help when needed, and this was found to be non-signiﬁcant.

Table 28

Obstacles to Obtaining Assistance with Day-to-Dav Concern_s_

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Who

Reported as
Somewhat
or Big
Obstacle

I don't know enough English to speak to my neighbors 31 1.77 1.23 74%

I don't know my neighbors 31 2.26 1.29 61%

My neighbors don't speak to me 31 2.48 1.26 52%

I don't have family in the area whom I can ask 31 3.06 1.24 32%

I don't have a working telephone to call Refugee 31 4.00 .00 0%

Services

I don't feel comfortable asking workers at Reﬁrgee 31 2.81 1.40 36%

Services for help

I don't who to ask when I need help 31 3.03 1.22 32%

Scale:

1 = A Big Obstacle

2 = Somewhat of an Obstacle
3 = A Little Bit of an Obstacle

4 = Not an Obstacle At All

125

How Can the Community Better Respond T o the Needs of Muslim Refugee Women?

In order to understand how the community can best respond to the needs of

Muslim refugee women in resettlement, it is necessary to understand both participants’

concerns as well as those resources that they would like to see enhanced.

First, participants were surveyed regarding those issues that were of greatest

concern to them. See Table 29 for an enumeration of participants’ concerns.

E3.
1 1.
Participants’ greatest concerns centered around resource areas such as the need to obtain 1‘
1
medical care for themselves and their families, being able to learn English, being able to j
1.
buy a car, and knowing what to do in the event of an emergency. Participants were i

similarly concerned about their children’s education and about not having relatives in the

area. All items, with the exception of concerns regarding the ability to learn English, had

large standard deviations. The majority of participants tended to be highly concerned

about their ability to learn English.

Table 29

Participants’ Concerns

 

Statement N Mean Standard Percent
Deviation Endorsed

Always or
Often a
Concern

Being able to learn English 31 4.74 .82 94%

Not having relatives nearby 31 4.35 1.36 87%

What to do in case of an emergency 31 4.39 1.15 87%

Being able to buy a car 26 4.38 1.10 81%

Having medical care for yourself 31 4.29 1.32 81%

126

Table 29 cont’d

Your sons’ schooling

Your daughters’ schooling

Having medical care for your family

Being able to buy a better car

Being able to ﬁnd better housing

Not having ﬁiends in the area

Receiving tutoring for your children

Being able to take care of your family
Obtaining childcare for your children

Being able to learn more about American culture
Your own ability to earn money

Your husband's job

How to ask for help with everyday things when you
need it

Being able to ﬁnd cheap groceries

Your sons becoming more American

Your daughters becoming more American
Getting your housework done well

Your relationship with your husband

Racism and/or other forms of discrimination
Having opportunities to practice your faith
Being able to attend events at a place of worship

The quality of your house/apartment

127

16

17

29

13

31

31

18

29

16

30

31

12

31

16

22

31

13

31

31

31

31

4.25

4.12

4.14

3.85

3.81

3.81

3.78

3.10

3.63

3.77

3.65

3.25

3.61

3.32

3.19

2.95

3.23

2.54

2.71

2.74

2.71

2.77

1.48

1.58

l .48

1.51

1.64

1.60

1.63

1.54

1.71

1.28

1.72

1.86

1.28

1.62

1.76

1.84

1.59

1.66

1.75

1.71

1.74

1.63

81%

77%

76%

69%

68%

68%

67%

66%

63%

63%

61%

58%

52%

52%

50%

46%

45%

39%

39%

36%

32%

32%

ﬁr
o

 

Table 29 cont’d

Being able to learn how to ride the bus 31
Being able to ﬁnd the food your family cats 31
Scale:

1 = Never a Concern

2 = Rarely a Concern

3 = Sometimes a Concern
4 = Often a Concern

5 = Always a Concern

2.45

2.45

1.73

1.61

32%

26%

Participants were furthermore asked a series of yes or no questions regarding

resources that they may or may not have wanted. See Table 30 for a breakdown of

participants’ responses. The need for the following resources were the most endorsed by

participants: English classes, help obtaining better housing, organized opportunities to

meet others who share their language and culture, more opportunities to attend events at a

place of worship, and help adjusting to life in America.

Table 30

Needs Endorsedpv Particgran_ts

 

Statement N Percentage of Participants Who Endorsed
This Need

English classes 31 97%

Help obtaining better housing 31 97%

Help adjusting to life in America 31 97%

Organized opportunities to meet 31 94%

others who share your language and

128

Table 30 cont’d

culture

More opportunities to attend 31 90%
activities at a place of worship

More help with your children’s 29 89%
schoolwork

More help working with FIA 31 87 %
Help with obtaining or maintaining 31 87%
a car

Job or skills training 31 81%
Help learning how to earn money 31 77%
ﬂom home

Better childcare 29 72%

Help understanding and using the 29 72%
American childcare system

Cheap childcare 29 67%
Help with landlord-tenant disputes 31 61 %
Help learning how to ride the bus 31 61%

Participants’ desires for certain resources were found to signiﬁcantly relate to
variables such as their marital and employment status, as well as their nation of origin.
First, participants who were single in resettlement were signiﬁcantly more likely to
indicate a need for assistance with landlord-tenant disputes than were married
participants (Fisher’s Exact Test = .01). While only 33.3% of married participants
indicated a desire for this resource, 92.3% of single participants indicated that they would

beneﬁt ﬂom the provision of such a service. Similarly, single women indicated a greater

129

need for job or skill training than did married women (Fisher’s Exact Test = .04). While
66.7% of married women endorsed a need for this resource, 100% of single women
indicated a similar need. Single women furthermore indicated a greater need to learn
how to ride the bus (84.6%) than did married women (40%; Fisher’s Exact Test = .02).
Single women also indicated a larger need for cheap childcare (100%) than did married
women (50%; Fisher’s Exact Test = .05).

Participants who wanted to become employed indicated a desire for different
resources than did those who wanted to remain unemployed. Participants who wanted to
become employed indicated a greater need for assistance with obtaining or maintaining a
car than did participants who did not desire employment (Fisher’s Exact Test = .04).
While 57.1% of participants who wanted to remain unemployed endorsed a need for this
resource, 100% of participants who wanted employment indicated a need for this
resource. Similarly, participants who indicated a desire for employment were more likely
to indicate that they wanted to learn how to ride the bus (Fisher’s Exact Test = .01).
While only 14.3% of participants who wanted to remain unemployed endorsed this
resource, 81.8% of participants who wanted to become employed endorsed a need for this
resource.

Participants’ nation of origin also accounted for differences across desired
resources. Afghan participants indicated a far greater need for assistance with landlord-
tenant disputes (93.3%) than did Arab women (27.3%; Fisher’s Exact Test = .01).
Afghan women also indicated a far greater need for childcare resources as well as a
desire for help with understanding the American childcare system than did Arab women

(40% and 100% respectively; Fisher’s Exact Test = .03).

130

The Particular Strengths of Muslim Refugee Women

In order to understand those strengths that participants bring to the process of

resettlement, they were surveyed regarding those aspects of life in America that they feel

positively about as well as their particular skills. See Table 31 for a list of those aspects

of life in America that participants’ regarded positively. On average, participants viewed

their new lives in America positively and believed that they and their families had many f"

new opportunities in resettlement. However, for some participants resettlement resulted

in a decrease in their standard of living.
Table 31

Mitive Aspects of Life in America

 

 

Statement N Percentage of Participants
Who Endorsed Item

It is safe here in America 31 97%

Your family has better employment 30 97%

opportunities here in America

Better opportunities for yourself 31 94%

Better opportunities for your husband 15 93%

Better schooling for your children 22 91%

Your family has a higher standard of living 31 81%

See Table 32 for a breakdown of participants’ skills and Table 33 for their

subjective rating of their abilities in each of these areas, on a scale ﬂom one to ten, with

one indicating not at all good and ten indicating excellent. Participants who indicated

that they could make things with their hands were able to knit, embroider, crochet, and

131

make pillows. It should ﬁrrthermore be noted that standard deviations for participants

mean ratings of their abilities in these areas were large.

Table 32

Participants’ Skills

 

Statement N Percentage of Participants
Possessing This Skill

Cooking 31 100%

Sewing 31 71%

Speak other languages 31 55%

Working with children 31 45%

Making things with your hands 31 32%

Teaching 31 19%

Clerical work 31 16%

Technical work 31 7%

Table 33

Subjective Rating of Skill

 

Statement N Minimum Maximum Mean Standard
Deviation

How good are you at teaching? 6 7.00 10.00 9.50 1.22

How well can you cook? 31 7.00 10.00 9.32 1.11

How good are you at working with 15 5.00 10.00 8.87 1.46

children?

How good are you at clerical work? 5 5.00 10.00 8.40 2.30

132

Table 33, cont’d
How well can you sew? 22 1.00 10.00 7.45 2.37

How good are you at technical work? 2 5.00 8.00 6.50 2.12

 

133

Discussion

The current study sought to elucidate the overall needs of Muslim refugee women
resettled in Mid-Michigan, the obstacles they experienced to having these needs met, the
ways in which the community can best respond to these needs, and the women’s overall
strengths. Participants’ needs were descriptively examined, while regression, t-tests,
crosstabulations and Fisher’s Exact tests were computed in order to examine the
relationship between participants’ needs and their various demographic characteristics.
The results ﬂom these analyses will be examined and discussed in more detailed below.
Description of Participants

An examination of participants’ demographic characteristics brought to light the
fact that signiﬁcant differences related to their nation of origin, year of resettlement, and
marital status were present across participants. Speciﬁcally, Muslim refugee women with
particular groupings of demographic characteristics tended to be resettled at similar
times, thus giving rise to differing needs across these groups.

This interrelation between participants’ demographic characteristics allows for a
line to be drawn separating women along these dimensions. Accordingly, participants
who fell into the two emergent categories, namely those women who were resettled most
recently ﬂom Afghanistan and who tended to be single in resettlement, and those women
who have been resettled consistently over the ﬁve years prior to their interviews ﬂom
nations with a strong Arab inﬂuence and who tended to be married in resettlement,
experienced different needs and different obstacles to having these needs met. Overall,
these differences appear to be most strongly related to participants’ marital status in

resettlement with some gaps being ﬁlled in by their other demographic characteristics. It

134

is consequently of particular importance to understand Muslim refugee women’s needs in
relation to these characteristics. The following discussion will thus be ﬂamed within this
context.

The Needs of Muslim Refugee Women Resettled in Mid-Michigan

Participants’ overarching needs were 1) ﬁnancial, 2) the need to learn English, 3)
the need for an orientation to American culture, 4) improved social support, 5) the need
for an orientation to resources available in their neighborhoods and in the larger
community, 6) improved access to resources such as transportation, 7) and needs related
to their children’s well-being and adjustment. These will each be discussed in turn.

Financial need. Overall, many participants’ ﬁnancial needs resulted ﬂom the fact
that their often large families (including both participants’ children and other relatives)
were supported on a single income. This was rendered more pronounced both by the fact
that those participants who were employed held low-paying positions, as well as the large
percentage of single heads of household (30.8%) who were unemployed, thus increasing
their families’ dependence upon government aid. Participants and their families therefore
experienced considerable ﬁnancial need, a factor that may signiﬁcantly hamper their
overall well-being.

Economic deprivation plays a speciﬁc role in the well-being of low-income
families, especially households headed by single women. For example, Siefert, Heﬂin,
Corcoran, and Williams (2001) identiﬁed a signiﬁcant relationship between households
headed by single women and a lack of access to sufﬁcient food resources (i.e., both
parents and children in the household do not have enough food to eat). Poverty is

furthermore associated with risks to the physical and mental health of both impoverished

135

adults and children (Abernathy, Webster, & Vermeulen, 2002; Belle & Doucet, 2003;
Cattell, 2001; McDonough & Berglund, 2003), thus placing the well-being of low-
income refugee families at increased risk. This is further signiﬁcant in light of Chung et
al. (1998)’s ﬁnding that low income was a signiﬁcant predictor of psychological distress
amongst refugee women. The serious obstacles to their economic well-being faced by
single and other Muslim refugee women thus places the physical and psychological
health of both them and their families in jeopardy.

Participants’ ﬁnancial needs were moderated by their marital status, with single
women signiﬁcantly more likely to be employed than were married women. This
difference is likely a reﬂection of the fact that single heads of household were solely
responsible for the ﬁnancial well-being of their families, while married women may have
chosen to depend upon their husband’s income in order to maintain the full-time care of
their children and their other household responsibilities.

Financial concerns were often additionally pronounced for largely Afghan single
heads of household who may not have had access to many opportunities to improve their
economic viability. The pressure to obtain immediate and continued employment in
order to provide for their families may restrict these refugee women’s abilities to pursue
education and training that may improve their future chances of obtaining well-paying
employment and may thus render them more dependent upon government aid (Lovell, et
al., 1987). Recent welfare reform ﬁrrther restricts lifetime receipt of aid to recipients and
does not allow them to count time spent in educational pursuit towards the work quota
required of them in order to maintain their beneﬁts, thus further restricting their ability to

develop the skills necessary to improved their employment potential (Davis, 1998;

136

Hardina 1999). Single refugee women therefore risk becoming trapped in poverty as they
may lack the means to overcome obstacles to their economic well-being.

Role conﬂicts and pressure ﬂom their families to not become employed may have
been pronounced for largely Arab married refugee women who were not solely
responsible for the economic well-being of their families. As such, these women may
have found it difﬁcult to become employed, especially if they have never done so, while
still maintaining the care of their families (Ha & Mesﬁn, 1990; Lovell, et al., 1987). This
may have been made worse for those women whose husbands placed pressure upon them
in order to remain unemployed and to rather maintain their household responsibilities
(Benson, 1994; Lipson & Miller, 1994). In light of such concerns, married Muslim
reﬁrgee women may have chosen to remain unemployed in order to maintain the care of
their families while depending upon their husbands for economic sustenance.

This may also have resulted ﬂom cultural differences with regard to participants’
deﬁnitions of their roles and responsibilities, as evidenced by the fact that 60% of Afghan
women, who were signiﬁcantly more likely than Arab women to be single, were
employed prior to resettlement, while no Arab women were similarly employed. It is
thus possible that Arab refugee women held stronger cultural beliefs regarding their roles
as caretakers of their homes and children than did Afghan women, resulting in a stronger
desire on the part of Arab refugee women to remain unemployed in order to maintain
their culturally deﬁned domestic roles (Carolan, 1999).

Sufﬁcient data were not available to further explore these relationships. While no
signiﬁcant relationship emerged between participants’ marital status and their desire for

employment, nor between their nation of origin and employment in resettlement, a large

137

employment, nor between their nation of origin and employment in resettlement, a large
enough sample was not present in the current study to accurately evaluate these
relationships.

Participants were also reluctant to utilize the American banking system. This
reluctance may affect their ﬁnancial well-being, as it may hinder their ability to save

effectively, to obtain credit, to pay bills, and to cash paychecks. In addition, such

 

at
reluctance reﬂected participants’ potential lack of trust in and understanding of systems I
and services available to them in the larger community. It thus poses a signiﬁcant

challenge to Muslim refugee women’s adjustment, as it does not allow them to develop i

an understanding of their new environment and the skills to navigate this environment,
while preventing them ﬂom accessing necessary and/or helpful ﬁnancial services.

In order to ensure the well-being of Muslim refugee women in resettlement, it is
necessary to pay speciﬁc attention to ways in which these women’s ﬁnancial needs can
be alleviated as well as the ways in which these needs interact with their demographic
characteristics. In addition to a need for the kinds of job skills training and employment
placement services that would prepare Muslim refugee women for well-paying
employment, it may be necessary to examine ways in which those married women who
choose to remain home may become employed in a manner that would allow them to still
maintain their household responsibilities (e.g., operating a home-based daycare) while
supplementing their family income. It may additionally be necessary to provide all
Muslim refugee women with an orientation to ﬁnancial services available to them in their

communities in order to improve their overall ﬁnancial well-being.

138

participants’ positive attitude towards their ability to learn English will no doubt provide
them with the needed conﬁdence and motivation necessary to facilitate this process, they
did express a need for more opportunities to practice their English. This is signiﬁcant in
light of the fact that participants tended to disagree that they found opportunities to
practice their English and were equally unlikely to indicate that they spoke with or
mingled with others in their neighborhood with whom they may have needed to speak
English. Muslim refugee women may thus not have many opportunities to practice their
language skills, rendering it essential to provide them with access to structured
opportunities to do so.

These results reinforce the ﬁndings of Ha and Mesﬁn (1990) and Lovell, et al.
(1987) who found that refugee women risk becoming socially isolated due to a lack of
language skills, but do not have the means (e.g., transportation) to attend necessary
language classes. A lack of language ability may similarly serve to restrict refugee
women’s employment abilities (Ha & Mesﬁn, 1990), thus further reinforcing the
importance of assisting them with their English language needs. Beiser and Hou (2001)
similarly found that English proﬁciency was a salient job securing advantage for refugee
women. Chung et a1. (1998) lastly found that low English proﬁciency was a signiﬁcant
predictor of psychological distress amongst refugee women, thus underscoring the
importance of providing Muslim refugee women with assistance in this regard.

Adjustment needs. Participants’ adjustment needs centered on their desire for a
thorough orientation to their new environments, and included their need for links to
important community resources and potential sources of social support. The ﬁrst step in

effectively orienting refugee women to their new surroundings may therefore be to

139

important community resources and potential sources of social support. The ﬁrst step in
effectively orienting refugee women to their new surroundings may therefore be to
provide them with access to sources of information about American cultural norms and
practices. While participants were generally positive regarding their new lives in
resettlement, they indicated that they did not necessarily understand American culture.
Such a lack of understanding may render refugee women mistrustful of individuals and
institutions in their new environment and may consequently inﬂuence their willingness to
utilize resources or to interact with others in their communities. An inability to negotiate
their host culture may therefore serve to isolate refugee women (Allotey, 1998). An
initial cultural orientation that takes place when refugees ﬁrst arrive and still feel
overwhelmed may not be sufﬁcient to satisfy this need. It may therefore be desirable to
provide Muslim refugee women with access to sources of cultural information on a long-
term basis. More research is needed in order to assess the extent to which refugee
women may require such assistance.

Improved social support. Access to social support networks was a further factor
that related to the adjustment of Muslim refugee women in resettlement. Speciﬁcally, the
higher a participant’s level of social support, the less likely she was to indicate that she
encountered obstacles to obtaining assistance with day to day needs that arose for her in
resettlement. Access to social support networks therefore provided participants with an
additional resource upon which to draw when they encountered daily needs and concerns
and served them as a valuable source of assistance with the process of adjustment in
resettlement. Access to social support networks additionally serves to buffer refugee

women against the stresses of resettlement (Chung, et al., 1998; Donna & Berry, 1999;

140

Indra, 1996). In fact, the loss of their social support networks may lead to greater levels
of mental illness in refugee women (DeVoe, 1989).

In light of the utility of social support networks in assisting Muslim refugee
women with overcoming day to day concerns that arise for them in resettlement and thus
facilitating their adjustment, it is imperative that attention be paid to participants’ strong
indication that they would like to meet others like themselves (i.e., others who share their
language and culture). Furthermore, while participants were proactive in attempting to
meet others who share their language and their culture, for some participants loneliness
was a concern. Providing Muslim refugee women with organized opportunities to meet
others who share their language and culture may therefore be of particular utility to them.
This is especially signiﬁcant in light of the fact that access to preexisting refugee
communities may serve to assist refugee women with the process of adjustment and
provides them with a particular buffer against further psychological distress (Dona &
Berry, 1999).

It should be noted, however, that the composition of participants’ social support
networks were not known. Hence, it is possible that in addition to their strength, these
networks were made up of knowledgeable and/or well connected individuals who were
able to provide participants with high quality practical assistance and advise. It is
therefore possible that the strength of Muslim refugee women’s social networks alone is
not sufﬁcient in order to fully facilitate their adjustment and that the composition of these
networks are also a factor that needs to be taken into consideration. Data ﬂom the

current study were insufﬁcient to evaluate this possibility.

141

Need for an orientation to community resources. An additional signiﬁcant aspect
of Muslim refugee women’s adjustment in resettlement is their ability to successfully
navigate the resources that are available to them both in their neighborhood and the
greater community (Berry & Kim, 1988; Indra, 1991). Refugee women’s knowledge and
utilization of these resources not only reﬂect their level of comfort with their new
surroundings, but also their ability to successfully seek out and obtain those resources and
services that facilitate their day to day adjustment and life in resettlement.

First, while the majority of participants indicated that they had access to health
insurance, their knowledge of other important community medical resources was limited.
Speciﬁcally, many participants did not know the correct number to dial in the event of an
emergency, did not know how to get to the local emergency room, and did not know that
in the event of an emergency one does not require health insurance in order to go to the
emergency room. Participants thus lacked important knowledge regarding emergency
medical and other resources that may place them and their families in additional jeopardy
in the event of an actual emergency.

Transportation needs. Large percentages of participants additionally did not
utilize or have access to transportation resources. In addition to the fact that 55% of
participants did not use the local public transportation system, only 7% drove.
Participants thus lacked access to a key resource that would allow them ﬂeedom of
mobility and its associated beneﬁts (e.g., the ability to attend events and programs, ﬁnd
employment, and the ability to run daily errands). These ﬁndings reinforce those of Ha

and Mesﬁn (1990) who found that inadequate access to transportation was a signiﬁcant

142

 

obstacle to refugee women’s ability to obtain employment and to attend English language
programs.

It is also notable that utilization of public transportation services was the single
community-level resource that was signiﬁcantly related to participants’ demographic
characteristics. Both Afghan and single women were signiﬁcantly more likely to utilize
public transportation resources than were Arab and manied women. This most likely
resulted ﬂom the fact that Afghan women were more likely to be single in resettlement
than were Arab women. In order to fulﬁll their responsibilities as sole providers for their
families it may have been necessary for single women to venture out and to utilize what
transportation was available to them in order to obtain employment and/or to access
various needed resources. It is furthermore also likely that the majority of married
women chose not to utilize public transportation resources and to rather depend upon
their husbands or other family members for transportation. This dovetails with the fact
that married women were unlikely to be employed, thus reducing their need for
independent transportation to and ﬂom work.

It should be noted that participants were generally dissatisﬁed with the
transportation to which they had access. In addition to the fact that participants may have
viewed public transportation as inconvenient, they may also have been anxious about not
being able to navigate the local bus system, a situation that is aggravated by their lack of
English as it prevents them ﬂom obtaining assistance ﬂom others if they were to get lost.
Muslim refugee women may beneﬁt ﬂom accessible driving lessons as well as a

thorough orientation to the public transportation system. This would familiarize them

143

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with bus routes and procedures in order to reduce any anxiety they may feel with regard
to this experience.

Issues for children. It is notable that while 53% of participants indicated that they
did not receive assistance with childcare ﬂom their family or their ﬂiends, they did not
express a strong overall need for childcare resources. While this may have been the
result of a genuine lack of need, as participants’ children may be old enough to not
require such care or they may rely on older their children for such assistance, participants
did indicate that they were not necessarily comfortable leaving their children with
individuals other than their family or friends. These ﬁndings support those of Ha and
Mesﬁn (1990) who found that refugee women were reluctant to use the American
daycare system and did not understand it. This reluctance to utilize the childcare system
may prevent participants ﬂom becoming employed, as they may not be able to reconcile
their need to care for their families with the need to obtain employment in the absence of
others who can assist them with this task. If refugee women are to be assisted with
becoming employed, it will be necessary to provide them with a thorough orientation to
the American daycare system designed to overcome their potential reluctance to utilize
this resource or to assist them in placing their children with a daycare provider with
whom they are familiar and comfortable (e.g., another refugee woman who operates a
home-based daycare).

Utilization of neighborhood resources. In contrast to their knowledge about and
utilization of community-level services and resources, participants tended to be
knowledgeable regarding resources available to them in their neighborhoods, with the

exception of banks and community centers. Furthermore, the majority of participants

144

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who indicated that certain resources existed in their neighborhood had used this resource
at least once.

It should be noted that while participants indicated that some resources (e.g., drug
stores) were not necessarily present in their neighborhood, it is possible that individual

participants understood the concept of neighborhood differently as the parameters of

 

what is meant by this term were not deﬁned prior to asking the question. It is thus
difﬁcult to assess whether participants do in fact tend to reside in neighborhoods where
certain resources are not available to them. Future research will be necessary in order to

best understand the neighborhood conditions under which Muslim refugee women reside.

 

However, participants’ lack of knowledge regarding banks and community
centers in their neighborhood reﬂected their insufﬁcient knowledge regarding certain
potentially useful resources that may be available to them. While participants’ lack of
utilization of local banks has been discussed, their lack of awareness of community
centers may be additionally problematic. While participants indicated that they utilized
parks in their neighborhood, community centers represent an additional recreational
facility that may be of interest to refugee parents and children alike. It is additionally
notable that those participants who have utilized a community center in their
neighborhood gave this service the lowest overall satisfaction rating of all. However, this
was based on ratings provided by a very small number of participants, rendering it less
dependable. It may therefore be helpful to refugee women if they were provided with
more information regarding community centers that may provide their children with
healthy recreational outlets and may expose adult women to potential opportunities to

meet others in their area.

145

Interaction with community agencies and organizations. Overall, participants’
experiences with the three service and government agencies in question tended to be
positive. First, participants were satisﬁed with the services they received ﬂom the local
Health Department and felt empowered with regard to their ability to interact with its
representatives. However, participants did indicate that female interpreters were not
readily available to them and that they did not understand medical procedures such as
tests.

In order for refugee women to be maximally comfortable with their doctors and to
be able to communicate with them regarding tests and other medical procedures, it is
necessary that they have access to interpreters with whom they are comfortable. In order
to ensure that refugee women are comfortable speaking to their doctors through an
interpreter it is ideal that this be a woman. This would reduce patients’ discomfort when
discussions are of a more personal nature. The need to ensure that refugee women have
access to female interpreters can therefore not be overemphasized. Such access also
assists Muslim refugee women in becoming more empowered regarding their own
medical care. Interpreters can assist Muslim refugee women in understanding medical
procedures and with discussing health concerns with their doctors. Providing refugee
women with access to female interpreters is thus an essential component of ensuring their
overall health and well-being in resettlement.

Muslim refugee women furthermore varied with regard to their desire to only be
seen by a female doctor. Arab women were signiﬁcantly more likely than Afghan
women to agree that they only felt comfortable seeing a female doctor. It is thus

important to be aware of cultural factors that may inﬂuence refugee women’s preferences

146

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for doctors of a certain sex and to be sensitive to this need. If a woman is not
comfortable seeing a male doctor, she may be less likely to go to the doctor or to be
comfortable discussing concerns with them. Not taking into consideration Arab refugee
women’s preference for female doctors may result in a detrimental effect to their health.
It is however also the case that participants agreed that they generally had access to
female doctors, thus indicating that this need is largely being met.

The importance of providing Muslim refugee women with healthcare services
with which they are comfortable is further highlighted by the fact that many refugee
women are victims of violence during the process of ﬂight and may consequently
experience lingering health concerns with which they may require assistance in
resettlement (Allotey, 1998). These concerns may relate to refugee women’s sexual
health, and they may not wish to discuss these with doctors and interpreters with whom
they do not feel entirely comfortable. Refugee women’s comfort with the healthcare
system is therefore an essential component of ensuring their well-being. The importance
of these considerations are further reinforced by the ﬁndings of Weinstein, Sarnoff,
Gladstone, and Lipson (2000), indicating that refugee women were unlikely to receive
adequate gynecological care and encountered signiﬁcant problems in communicating
with medical professionals, thus inﬂuencing the quality of medical care to which they had
access.

It should additionally be noted that the differential experiences of Afghan and
Arab women during ﬂight might have exposed them to differing dangers and may give
rise to differing health needs in women ﬂom these nations residing in resettlement.

Speciﬁcally, Afghan women were more likely than Arab women to have ﬂed without

147

their husbands, a situation that may have increased their vulnerability to sexual assault.
However, Arab women were more likely than Afghan women to have stayed in refugee
camps, and may consequently have been exposed to similar dangers. This danger may,
however, have been moderated by the presence of their husbands; as a result, their risk of
assault may have been lower than that of Afghan women. While data ﬂom the current
study were not sufﬁcient to further evaluate these relationships, such demographic
characteristics are an essential component of the understanding of the health related needs
of Muslim refugee women and warrant ﬁrrther investigation and consideration.

Participants’ experiences with F IA also tended to be positive, and they generally
agreed that FIA workers were ﬁiendly and respectfully towards them. However,
participants indicated that they experienced difﬁculties understanding FIA forms and
procedures, both when these were completed in person and when received through the
mail. This is likely a result of the fact that such forms and related procedures are in
English, and refugee women often do not possess sufﬁcient language skills in order to
effectively understand these. This is made worse by the fact that participants tended to be
unsure about where to go for help with such forms and procedures.

An inability to understand FIA forms and procedures may have detrimental
consequences for refugee women who do not comply with associated regulations and
demands. Such non-compliance may have a negative effect on refugee women’s
beneﬁts, or at the very least, may lead to confusion on their part with regard to reasons
why their beneﬁts change over time. It may thus be necessary to put in place a system
whereby Muslim refugee women can receive speciﬁc assistance with FIA forms and

procedures that they do not understand.

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It is notable that the more recently participants have been resettled the less likely
they were to know where to go for help with FIA forms and procedures that they did not
understand. Government aid is inevitably a signiﬁcant concern to recently resettled
refugees who are not yet employed and are thus entirely dependent upon this source of
income. It may thus be necessary to provide explicit assistance in this regard to newly

resettled refugees. Single women were also signiﬁcantly less likely than married women

.37

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to know where to go for help with such forms and procedures. While this may be a result fl .

of the fact that Afghan women, who tend to be single, had been resettled most recently, it

 

may also be the case that these women were used to depending upon their husbands for l . -.
assistance with administrative matters and were not certain how to deal with such
concerns in their absence. As the sole caretakers of their families, single refugee women
are particularly dependent upon government aid to supplement their incomes and it is
therefore especially important that they be familiar with the forms and procedures
associated with their receipt of such aid. It may ﬁrrthermore be necessary to provide
explicit assistance with FIA forms and procedures to single Muslim refugee women.
Participants tended to be reasonably satisﬁed with the services provided to them
by the local refugee resettlement agency. It is however notable that one of the areas with
which participants were the least satisﬁed was the role this agency has played in assisting
them with meeting others who share their language and culture. As participants
expressed a strong need to increase their social support networks, and such networks
serve to facilitate their adjustment, it may be helpﬁrl to organize more opportunities for
refugees to meet one another. It may be particularly helpful to provide newly resettled

reﬁrgees with opportunities to meet those who have been living in resettlement longer

149

 

and who may thus be able to assist in orienting newly resettled refugees to services and
opportunities available to them in resettlement (Dona & Berry, 1999).

Children ’s adjustment needs. Participants were generally positive with regard to
their children’s adjustment and well-being in resettlement. Participants believed that,
overall, their children were happy at school and in resettlement and that they were
adjusting well. The only exception was the fact that participants indicated that their
daughters encountered problems with their schoolwork. In fact, the more recently a
woman was resettled, the more likely she was to indicate that her daughters had problems
with their schoolwork. This is likely the result of the fact that these women’s daughters
have not yet had sufﬁcient time to adjust to the local school system and may therefore
still have been experiencing problems at school. Girls may additionally not have
attended school prior to resettlement, thus worsening any problems they experienced with
their new schoolwork. It is, however, notable that participants indicated that their
daughters were happy at school and that they enjoyed this experience, in spite of any
problems they may have encountered.

While participants were conﬁdent regarding their children’s adjustment, they did
harbor concerns about them becoming too American and suffering negative inﬂuences in
resettlement. Participants additionally felt that it was important for their children to
maintain their culture. Providing refugee children with links to their cultural roots as
well as assistance with their transition to the American school system may be helpful to
Muslim refugee women. This is particularly signiﬁcant as women tend to be primarily

responsible for the socialization of their children, and may be blamed by their husbands if

150

 

 

their children lose touch with their cultural roots, thus causing domestic strife (Lipson &
Miller, 1994).

It should be noted that it is likely that the reality of refugee children’s lives differ
ﬂom the perceptions of their parents, and in order to obtain accurate data regarding their
experiences it will be necessary to interview refugee children themselves. Data ﬂom the
current study were solely used in order to understand Muslim refugee women’s concerns
regarding their children, rather than the children’s actual experiences and perceptions.

Satisfaction with life in resettlement. Participants rated most aspects of their lives
in resettlement with reasonably high satisfaction ratings, indicating that in many ways
they are adjusting well to their new environments. However, many of these items had
large standard deviations, indicating that while some participants were reasonably
satisﬁed with these various aspects of their new lives, others were signiﬁcantly less
satisﬁed. As year of resettlement was not a signiﬁcant predictor of participants’ level of
satisfaction with these surveyed features of their lives in resettlement, it is necessary to
consider other factors that may affect Muslim refugee women’s satisfaction with their
lives in resettlement. Such factors are numerous and beyond the scope of this research,
but do warrant further detailed investigation.

It is notable that participants were the least satisﬁed with their current housing
and the transportation to which they had access, with transportation receiving particularly
low satisfaction ratings. These are thus two service areas where Muslim refugee women
may require particularly targeted assistance. In addition to assistance with accessing

transportation resources, it may be helpful to provide refugee women with information

151

 

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. .'

 

regarding available housing programs for low-income individuals or to assist them with
the process of obtaining more satisfactory housing.

It should also be noted that the relationship between participants’ year of
resettlement and their level of satisfaction with their ability to obtain the kinds of food
their family enjoys is most likely a reﬂection of the fact that Afghan participants were
more likely to have been resettled more recently than were Arab participants. It is likely
that due to cultural and geographic differences, the kind of food enjoyed by Afghan
families differs ﬂom the food enjoyed by Arab families. It is thus possible that the food
enjoyed by Afghan families, who are more likely to have been recently resettled, is more
easily obtained in Mid-Michigan than the kinds of food enjoyed by Arab families, who
have been resettled consistently over a ﬁve-year period. It may be helpful to assist those
Arab women who ﬁnd it difﬁcult to obtain culturally appropriate food with ways of
locating such culinary resources.

Obstacles to Having Needs Met

Participants experienced various obstacles to having their housing, transportation,
social, faith, housework, shopping, and informational needs met. The largest of these
were language and resource related. First, participants’ inability to speak English was
one of the most signiﬁcant obstacles to their ability to access improved housing,
transportation, food their family enjoys, social support, and obtaining assistance with
everyday concerns that arose for them in resettlement. These language difﬁculties
rendered it difﬁcult for participants to be able to navigate complex ﬁnancial and service
organizations and to communicate with others in their environment in order to develop

relationships or to obtain assistance with daily concerns. This once more highlights the

152

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need to pay particular attention to providing refugee women with opportunities to
effectively develop their language skills in order to facilitate their access to key
resources.

A lack of ﬁnancial resources was an additional obstacle to participants’ abilities to
access improved housing and transportation, while a lack of access to transportation was
an obstacle to their ability to attend a place of worship. It is thus particularly important to
provide refugee women with information about and assistance with navigating services
available to assist low-income individuals with accessing key resources such as
transportation and housing.

Participants further experienced speciﬁc obstacles to meeting their transportation
related needs. First, in addition to their indication that they lacked the ﬁnancial and
language resources needed in order to purchase a car and/or to navigate the public
transportation system, many participants indicated that they did not feel comfortable
going places without their husbands and/or other family members. This was likely due to
a combination of the fact that many women may have been fearful of getting lost or
encountering situations with which they were not able to deal alone and may therefore
have been more comfortable if they were accompanied by other family members when
leaving their homes, while others simply did not feel comfortable going out alone. These
obstacles highlight the need to pay speciﬁc attention to Muslim refugee women’s
transportation related needs.

It is furthermore notable that single and primarily Afghan participants, who had
been resettled more recently, encountered fewer obstacles to obtaining transportation than

did Arab participants who were married in resettlement and who had been resettled over a

153

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longer period of time. This is likely a reﬂection of the pressures encountered by single
refugee women in order to venture into their communities to obtain employment and
various other needed resources. It may thus be necessary to pay speciﬁc attention to
assisting married Muslim refugee women in overcoming their concerns regarding the
transportation system, while providing newly resettled single Muslim reﬁrgee women
with targeted transportation assistance aimed at assisting them with obtaining
employment, etc. In addition, if manied Muslim refugee women are simply not
comfortable venturing out alone, it may be necessary to establish alternative forms of
transport for these women in order to assist them in attending necessary programs and
classes.

How Can the Community Better Respond to the Needs of Muslim Refugee Women?

In order to best respond to the needs of Muslim refugee women, it is necessary to
understand their overarching concerns as well as the types of services that these women
would like to see more of. This allows for an understanding of those issues that are
perceived as most salient by reﬁrgee women themselves to be developed. These are areas
in which additional or modiﬁed programming may be necessitated.

Participants’ overarching concerns reinforce the other data that have been
discussed up to this point. These concerns emphasize participants’ need to effectively
adjust to their host countries. In addition to language needs, participants endorsed a
strong need for transportation, social support, medical and emergency resources, as well
as assistance with needs related to their children. Other concerns included: being able to
ﬁnd better housing, being able to learn more about American culture, receiving tutoring

for their children, their ability to earn money, obtaining childcare for their children, how

154

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to ask for help with everyday things when needed, and not having ﬂiends in the area.
These concerns reinforce the need for services aimed at Muslim refugee women to
include a strong focus on assisting them with the attainment of necessary resources,
enlarging their social support networks, an orientation to American culture, a source of
assistance with daily concerns, and assistance with their children’s needs.

The service needs endorsed by participants were additionally reﬂective of their
overarching concerns as well as their previously discussed needs. These needs once more
reinforce Muslim reﬁrgee women’s desire for services that would assist them with
speciﬁc aspects of their adjustment to their new environments (e.g., the need to be able to
access key resources). These needs were however moderated by participants’
demographic characteristics, once more highlighting the necessity of focusing on refugee
women’s demographic characteristics when their needs are considered, especially with
regard to the speciﬁc needs of single refugee women who are not able to rely upon their
husbands for income or other assistance.

Speciﬁcally, single women indicated a greater need for resources that would assist
them in effectively providing for their families and with areas of concern where
previously their husbands may have been of assistance to them. Single Muslim refugee
women indicated a greater need for assistance with transportation, obtaining employment,
obtaining cheap childcare, and help with landlord-tenant disputes than did married
women. In fact, 92.3% of single women endorsed a need for this latter service, reﬂecting
their need to now negotiate situations alone that they may previously have relied on their
husbands for assistance with. Similarly, 100% of single women endorsed a need for

employment and cheap childcare, while less than 70% of married women did so.

155

 

 

It is notable that while participants did not overwhelmingly express a need for
childcare, this was a more pronounced need for single women who may have required
such assistance in order to obtain employment that would allow them to support their
families than for married women who may have been able to rely on their husband’s
income. It may thus be necessary to speciﬁcally assist single women in navigating the
American childcare system as well as with obtaining childcare with which they feel
comfortable.

It is also notable that the majority of participants did not possess skills that
transfer well to their new environments. Participants tended to possess skills that were
best suited either to the informal economy or to their roles as homemakers (DeVoe, 1989;
Spero, 1985; Wihthol de Wenden, 1998). It may be necessary to provide refugee women
with particular assistance in developing more specialized skills that would allow them to
obtain well-paying employment or to provide them with opportunities to participate in the
home-based economy. The latter may be a particularly attractive option to women with
children who would prefer to remain home in order to manage their household
responsibilities and who may therefore wish to work ﬂom home.

It is encouraging to note that discrimination based upon their nation of origin,
clothing, or language skills was not perceived by the majority of participants as a
signiﬁcant concern or a barrier to accessing resources. While this may be a true
reﬂection of participants’ experiences, it may be possible that they did not feel
comfortable revealing such concerns or experiences during the process of an interview.
Such discrimination should be noted by service providers and acted upon and/or

prevented where possible.

156

1 ”use“;

I

 

signiﬁcant concern or a banier to accessing resources. While this may be a true
reﬂection of participants’ experiences, it may be possible that they did not feel
comfortable revealing such concerns or experiences during the process of an interview.
Such discrimination should be noted by service providers and acted upon and/or
prevented where possible.

%at are the Particular Strengths of Muslim Refugee Women?

Perhaps the most signiﬁcant strength that Muslim reﬁrgee women bring to
resettlement is their positive attitude towards their new environment. The majority of
participants viewed their new homes favorably and felt that they and their families had
access to improved opportunities in resettlement. Such positive attitudes may render it
more likely that Muslim refugee women will be conﬁdent regarding their ability to adjust
and that they will make an attempt to integrate in their new societies.

Summary

In summary, the overarching needs of Muslim refugee women were related to
factors that would facilitate their adjustment and were moderated by their demographic
characteristics, particularly their marital status in resettlement. While participants were
positive overall regarding their new lives in resettlement, a clear need emerged to better
assist them with the process of adjustment. Most importantly, participants expressed a
strong need for English language instruction, including opportunities to practice their
language, opportunities to expand their social support networks, and an improved
orientation to their new environment, including assistance with accessing necessary

resources.

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-Lg:

 

These needs were strongly moderated by participants’ demographic
characteristics, in particular their marital status in resettlement, their nation of origin, and
their year of resettlement. However, marital status had the most signiﬁcant impact upon
the needs of Muslim refugee women. Those participants who were single in resettlement
expressed the need for different resources and services than did married women. As a
result of their need to support their families on a single income, as well as the absence of
a partner to assist them with day-to-day concerns that arose, single women’s needs tended
to center on those resources required in order for them to achieve independence and
ﬁnancial stability. Single women were thus far more inclined than married women, who
were able to depend upon their husbands for income and assistance with resources, to
express a need for employment skills training, transportation, and childcare related
resources, as well as assistance with administrative tasks that they may have previously
been able to rely upon their husbands for.

Year of resettlement and nation of origin additionally accounted for some
differential needs across participants. Speciﬁcally, experience and knowledge regarding
their host country related to participants’ year of resettlement and thus gave rise to certain
needs being more pronounced for participants who have been resettled more recently
(e.g., participants who have been resettled more recently were less likely to know where
to go for assistance with FIA forms and procedures that they did not understand).
Cultural differences related to participants’ nation of origin accounted for potential
differences with regard to their role deﬁnition, giving rise to differing needs across

participants ﬂom different nations.

158

 

 

The importance of working to meet the needs expressed by Muslim refugee
women in resettlement is further emphasized by the interaction between these needs and
refugee women’s physical and psychological well-being, as well as the interrelationship
between these needs. For example, poor language skills affect a refugee women’s ability
to become employed and may also contribute to her social isolation, thus putting her at
greater risk of psychological distress. In addition, a lack of transportation may hamper
her ability to attend English classes, thus reinforcing her language problems. It is thus
imperative that the needs of Muslim refugee women be viewed holistically and that an
attempt be made to address these as such.

Limitations of the Current Study

Limitations of the current study primarily relate to its cross-cultural nature. The
ﬁrst and most signiﬁcant limitation of the study is its small sample size. As a result of
difﬁculties encountered in recruiting often-suspicious refugee women who lacked
familiarity with the concept of participation in research to be interviewed, a sample large
enough to identify many signiﬁcant relationships between key variables was not
obtained. A further result of this small sample size was that few participants representing
various sub samples were recruited. It was consequently difﬁcult to effectively examine
differences across these groups. For example, participants ﬂom differing nations with an
Arab inﬂuence were placed in a single category, in spite of potential differences that may
exist across these participants as a result of their differing nations of origin. This was
done because sufﬁcient participants ﬂom nations with a strong Arab inﬂuence, such as
Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan were not recruited. This limits the overall understanding

obtained of the needs of Arab participants ﬂom different nations as well as the contrast

159

_ _. K.

 

“a?“

between these Muslim refugee women’s needs and those of Muslim reﬁrgee women

resettled ﬂom Afghanistan.

 

An additional limitation was methodological. As a result of participants’ lack of
familiarity with the process of research, combined with the fact that numerous
participants were not ﬁrlly literate, it was often difﬁcult to obtain accurate responses on a

Likert scale. Many participants did not understand how to provide such responses. The

use of response cards further complicated this matter, especially when participants were
less literate. The cards served to confuse participants and rendered it more difficult for
them to provide accurate responses. Participants were thus allowed to respond to items
dichotomously and were then asked additional dichotomous questions in order to narrow
their responses to the categories provided. However, this approach was not always
successful as it required patience on the part of the respondent and increased the length of
the interview, thus increasing the likelihood that participants became fatigued and
provided less thoughtful responses.

A further limitation was participants’ lack of comfort with individual interviews.
The presence of other family members inevitably inﬂuenced participants’ responses to
interview items.

Some participants were also uncomfortable providing certain information

regarding their lives. For example, it is believed that due to fears regarding the potential

 

loss of their government beneﬁts, participants were not always forthcoming with
information regarding their children’s employment. It is additionally possible that

participants were not comfortable providing accurate information about various other

160

potentially sensitive aspects of their lives in resettlement. Hence, all results need to be
interpreted with this in mind.

A ﬁnal limitation is the strong relationship between participants’ nation of origin,
year of resettlement, and marital status. This serves to confound each individual variable
and renders it more difﬁcult to draw deﬁnitive conclusions regarding the relationship
between any single variable and participants’ needs.

Directions for Future Research

Future research should focus on further elucidating the relationship between
Muslim refugee women’s marital status, nation of origin, year of resettlement, and their
overall needs. It is particularly important for such research to focus on further exploring
the needs of Muslim refugee women as these relate to their nation of origin and/or ethnic
group. Cultural and other factors unique to a particular nation or ethnic group
signiﬁcantly interact with refugee women’s experiences and are thus critical to fully
understanding their overall needs. It is additionally important to examine the needs and
experiences of refugee women resettled ﬂom a variety of nations, including those where
Islam is not widely practiced. This would allow for an improved understanding to be
obtained both of needs that can be generalized across refugee women and those needs
that are speciﬁc to a given group.

An additional direction for future research may take the form of a longitudinal
investigation of Muslim refugee women’s needs and experiences in resettlement. Such
an investigation would allow for a deeper understanding of the evolution of refugee
women’s needs over time to be obtained and would allow for an improved understanding

of speciﬁc factors that inﬂuence their adjustment (e.g., time since resettlement). Such

161

w u r'bI-E“_ .'.§:_".I.‘~'ﬁ-

 

longitudinal research may be particularly well suited to further exploring the connection
between Muslim refugee women’s marital status in resettlement, as well as change in this
status over time, and their related needs.

A ﬁnal potential direction for future research is the speciﬁc needs of refugee
children. Reﬁrgee parents may not be privy to the realities of their children’s lives, and it
may be necessary to further explore these experiences in order to ensure that service

delivery to refugee children is maximally effective. It would thus be necessary to target

1:- 1.1

reﬁrgee children themselves and to use methods that are especially suited to tapping the ’

realities of children’s lives.

‘I‘S‘ - -.-
u
1
I
1..

Policy and Service Implications
The policy and service implications of the current research center on Muslim

reﬁrgee women’s need for a strong initial orientation to their new communities, as well as

 

for targeted assistance to be provided to them with speciﬁc areas of need.

The primary policy implications of the current research are the need to devote
additional funding to programs aimed at assisting refugee women with their initial
orientation in resettlement and to increase the amount of government aid that is made
available to them. It would additionally be helpful to both extend the time during which
Muslim refugee women receive government aid and to reduce associated employment
requirements in favor of skills training.

Providing increased funding to programs aimed at assisting refugee women upon
their resettlement would improve the ability of such programs to better serve Muslim
refugee women. Such funding would allow service providers to make available to

refugee women an extended and targeted orientation to their new environments and

162

would render it possible to hire additional staff to assist with meeting the speciﬁc needs
of Muslim refugee women. In addition, providing newly resettled refugees with
incl’eased government assistance over a longer period of time and reducing their initial
employment requirements would allow them the ﬂeedom to develop language and
OCCUpational skills that would assist them with obtaining well-paying employment. Such
Policy reform would thus allow Muslim refugee women the time and assistance needed to
dOfBVelop skills and to access resources necessary for their well-being in resettlement.

In addition, providing Muslim refugee women with intense and targeted service
Provision when they are ﬁrst resettled would improve their overall adjustment to their
new environments and subsequently their well-being. Making services and service
providers readily available to assist Muslim refugee in areas such as language acquisition,
the development of social support networks, and resource acquisition would greatly

facilitate the adjustment of these women. In addition, such services may be tailored to
the speciﬁc needs of Muslim refugee women based upon their various demographic
characteristics.

In conclusion, the necessity of providing Muslim refugee women with targeted
service provision, increased access to service providers who are able to assist them with
the process of resettlement, and sufﬁcient government aid cannot be overemphasized.
Improving refugee women’s overall initial adjustment to their new environments serves
to increase their future well-being and to thus reduce their potential dependence on
government and private resources. In sum, effective service provision to Muslim refugee

women may greatly improve their overall well-being, their successful adjustment in

resettlement, and their attainment of self-sufﬁciency.

163

. ;_-"q'..."!

 

APPENDIX A

Needs Assessment

164

Needs Assessment

Thank you very much for participating in this interview today. As we discussed before, I
will be asking you some questions about your life in the United States. Many women and
their families, experience difﬁculties moving to America, for many others, it may be a
valuable new opportunity, and for others still it is a mixture of both good and bad. I
Would like to ﬁnd out about the ways in which moving here has been both a negative
and/or a positive experience for you and your family. Remember, your answers will not
be shared with anyone outside of this research project, and your conﬁdentiality will be
Protected the maximum extent allowable by law. Nothing you say to me will in any way
affect any beneﬁts or services that you receive, ﬂom anyone in the community.

If there are any questions that you do not want to answer, let me know and we will skip

them. If at any point during the interview you have any questions or concerns, please let
me know.

Do you have any questions before we get started?

First, I would like to ask you some questions that will help me get to know you
better.

1) What country are you ﬂom? Iraq (Kurdish) 1

Iraq 2
Afghanistan 3
Other 4

 

2) What was the last place in (insert nation of origin) where you lived?

 

3) Is that a city, town, or a village?

 

 

City __1

Town—2

Village 3

4) When did you move to the United States? (year)
5) Before coming here, did you stay in a refugee camp Y__1
N 2

 

If N0 - continue.
a) If YES — How long did you live there before coming to the US?

(months)

165

 

6) Have you lived in Lansing the entire time since moving to the US? -------- Y 1

 

 

 

-------- N_2
If YES — continue.
a) If N0 - When did you move to Lansing? ---------- (Month/Year)
7) Are you married? Y__1
N_2
If YES - continue. '1' '
a) If N0 — Have you ever been manied? Y__l
N

 

 

__2 b

SKIP QUESTIONS 9 AND 10 IF PARTICIPANT INDICATES THAT HUSBAND
HAS NOT BEEN WITH HER SINCE BEFORE FLIGHT (E.G., HE DIED

 

 

DURING THE WAR).
8) If MARRIED/HAD BEEN MARRIED - Did you ﬂee (insert nation of origin)
with your husband? Y_1
N 2

If YES — continue.

If N0 and stayed in a REFUGEE CAMP —
a) Did your husband join you in the reﬁrgee camp or did you join your

 

 

husband in the refugee camp? Y__l
N_2

9) If MARRIED — Is your husband living with you here in America? --------- Y__1
--------- N 2

1 0) Did you ﬂee (insert nation of origin) with other members of your family
(including children, sibling, aunts, uncles, etc.)?

 

 

a) If stayed in a REFUGEE CAMP - Did any members of your family join

you in the refugee camp or did you join members of your family in the
refugee camp? Y 1

N 2

 

166

If DID NOT stay in REFUGEE CAMP - continue.

1 1) Did you ﬂee (insert nation of origin) with others who are not related to you?
..... = Y 1

----- — N 2

 

 

l 2) How many children do you have?

 

IfNO CHILDREN—skip to # 15

a) How many of your children are here in America with you? ---------

_ ._.____r

Of your children that LIVE WITH YOU HERE IN AMERICA, how many are...

b) - boys/ girls ? Boys -
Girls ii

 

 

c) - 5 and younger?
d) - between the ages of 6 and 12?
e) - between the ages of 13 and 18
f) - over the age of 18? '

 

 

 

l 3) Are any of YOUR CHILDREN WHO LIVE WITH YOU employed? ---Y__l

---N_2
If YES —
a) Do any of your EMPLOYED children contribute to the family income?
---Y_1
---N 2

If YES say - 01' your children that contribute to the family income, think
about the one that contributes the most -

b) What do they do?

c) How much of the overall household income do they contribute?

 

All
Less than all, more than half
Half
Less than half, more than none
None

167

1 4) How many other adults live in your home (OTHER THAN SELF AND

ADULT CHILDREN)?

 

 

a) Fill in the following grid for each other adult member of the household, say —

For each other adult who lives in your home, can you tell me their relationship to
you, their gender, age, their employment status, and whether they contribute to
your family income.

 

(Relationship

 

Gender

Age
18-30
31-50
51 and
above

Employed
Y/N

Nature of
Employment
(AS

SPECIFICALLY
AS POSSIBLE)

How much
of the
overall
household
income do
they
contribute?
All/ More
than half,
but less
than all/
Half/ Less
than half,
but more
than none /
None

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

168

"“7"" '— “—-.‘ ﬁsﬁﬁﬁ“: Q‘s-21

1 5) How many children, OTHER THAN YOUR OWN live in your home? --___

a) For each child, please tell me their age, gender, and whether they contribute
to your family income (if 15 or older).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Age Gender Employed How much of Nature of
5 and under Y/N the overall employment IF
6—12 household ANY
13-18 income do CONTRIBUTION
they MADE
contribute? (BE AS
All / More SPECIFIC AS
than half, but POSSIBLE)
less than all /
Half/ Less
than half, but
more than
none / None
N
l\

 

 

169

u—o..-.__,_.
... .-..r " Eli--3

Li;
I

«‘1

1 6) How many members of your household regularly give or send money to members
of your or their family who don’t live in your house?

.4
L

 

1 7) Have you ever gone to school?

2
N

 

If' N 0 — continue.

IF YES-

"'1

 

a. At what age did you begin going to school?

 

 

b. At what age did you stop going to school?
c. Between the age of _ and _, were there times when you did not go to

school for six months ore more?

 

ﬁzz-u“

 

 

 

 

 

N_2
If co Inpleted 10 YEARS OF SCHOOL OR MORE —
d. What is the highest level of school you have completed?
(Probe to understand correct option)
Some High School
High school
Some college—
College
Some Graduate/Professional
Graduate/Professional
l 8) Did you work to earn money in (insert nation of origin)? Y__1
N_2
1 9)]f lived in REFUGEE CAMP —
3) Did you work to earn money while you lived in the refugee camp? ------ Y___1
------N__2
2-()) How old are you? (Approximately is okay)
2 1 ) IF DON’T KNOW - What year were you born?

170

Now I would like to ask you about some every day parts of your life in the United
States. The following questions relate to those parts of life in America that some
other refugee women have said are important to their daily lives. Remember that
there are no right or wrong answers.

When women move to a new country, they often have to take on new responsibilities
like getting a job. This may be hard for them if they do it for the ﬁrst time or they
may welcome the new experience. I would like to find out more about what this has
been like for you.

1
2

 

A) Do you earn money outside of your home?

 

Y_
N
YES — continue

N O - skip to section B

What work do you do? (PROBE FOR DETAILS).

‘3'; ‘-’ " ......w .11.,
l '1
_ '.

 

 

Please tell me how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

 

1 ) I enjoy my job

2) I have made new ﬂiends at my job

 

 

3 ) My job takes away ﬂom the time I need to take care of my family (e. g., cooking
and other housework).

 

 

 

4) I am overqualiﬁed for my job

vv()1\’IEN WHO ARE FORMALLY EMPLOYED SKIP TO SECTION C

171

B) Would you like to work outside of your home? Y_1
N_2

 

 

YES — continue and say - PLEASE TELL ME HOW MUCH YOU AGREE OR
DIS AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS.

N0 — skip to # 4 and say — PLEASE TELL ME HOW MUCH YOU AGREE OR
DISAGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely r
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree I
1 2 3 4 5 l-
1) I would like to get a job because it will give me an opportunity to get to know 9

other people

 

 

2) Having a job will give me a chance to get out of the house

 

3) I want to be able to contribute to our family income

4) It is difﬁcult for me to meet the FIA expectation that I work outside
the home

 

 

5) I would prefer to earn money at home

6) Working outside of my home would take away from time I need in order to take
care of my family (e. g., cooking, housework, etc.)

 

 

7) Jobs for which I am qualiﬁed are not available

 

172

Say — I JUST WANT TO REMIND YOU THAT NOTHING YOU SAY TO ME
TODAY WILL BE SHARED WITH ANYONE WHO DOES NOT WORK
VVITH THIS PROJECT, THAT YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY WILL BE
MAINTAIN ED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY LAW, AND
THAT YOUR NAME WILL NOT BE CONNECTED TO YOUR RESPONSES.

 

C) Do you earn money for work you do at home? _

 

YES — continue
NO — skip to next section

What work do you do? (PROBE FOR DETAILS)

.. 3%: h .3.

 

 

 

Please tell me how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed . Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 S

 

l) I am satisﬁed with the amount of money I earn at home

 

2) I enjoy earning money at home

3) I would rather earn money at home than work outside of my home --------

ASK # 4 ONLY TO FORMALLY EMPLOYED WOMEN

<l) Earning money at home as well as working outside of my home still leaves me
enough time to take care of my other responsibilities (e. g., housework)

ASK #5 — 8 ONLY TO FORMALLY UNEMPLOYED WOMEN

5) Earning money at home leaves me the time I need to take care of my other
responsibilities (e. g., cooking and shopping)

 

173

6) I would rather work outside of the home, but other members of my family (e.g.,
husband, children, or any extended family members) prefer to have me work at

home

7) When I earn money at home, I have enough opportunities to meet other people

 

8) When I earn money at home, I have enough opportunities to get out of the house

 

174

W ; tiff—w ...-a
In. l'
l f-

When women move to a new country, their families have many new experiences.
Some of these experiences may be difﬁth to deal with and some may be exciting.
Now I would like to ask you about some of the experiences that you and your family

have had.

If NO CHILDREN — skip to #19

_I

 

A) Ask women who have BOYS - Is/Are your son(s) in school?

 

z~<
N

If YES - continue

IfNO - skip to B

Please tell me how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

 

1) My son(s) enjoy(s) school

 

2) My son(s) do(es) well in school

 

3) My son(s) has/have problems with his/their schoolwork

4) My son(s) often get(s) into trouble at school for the way he/they behave(s)

B) Ask women who have GIRLS - Is/Are your daughter(s) in school? ----------- Y__1
----------- N 2

If YES - continue

If NO — skip to #10

175

“7.? .5 i‘ﬁﬁhrﬁ
.. . r

Please tell me how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

5) My daughter(s) enjoy(s) school

 

 

6) My daughter(s) do(es) well in school

7) My daughter(s) has/have problems with her/their schoolwork

 

 

8) My daughter(s) often get(s) into trouble at school for the way she/they behave(s)

 

 

 

9) If I had a choice, I would not send my daughter(s) to school

 

10) Ask women who have BOYS - My son(s) has/have many new opportunities here in
America '

 

 

11)Ask women who have GIRLS - My daughter(s) has/have many new opportunities
here in America

 

 

12) Ask women who have BOYS - My son(s) enjoy(s) living in America -------

13)Ask women who have GIRLS - My daughter(s) enjoy(s) living in America

14) Only ask women with CHILDREN - It is important for my children to maintain
our culture

 

 

15) Only ask women with CHILDREN - I worry that my children will become too
American

 

 

16) Ask women who have BOYS - I worry that my son(s) will suffer bad inﬂuences
here in America

 

17) Ask women who have GIRLS - I worry that my daughter(s) will suffer bad
inﬂuences here in America

 

 

18) Ask women who have GIRLS - The way my daughter(s) dress(es) and acts is
important to the way in which my family is perceived in our community --

 

176

..‘~‘I A ‘13
F - .

. .I. ~' I. I ~ ‘ 'A:
«'1’ » '
. 'I

 

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5
19) Being a woman in America means that you have more opportunities -------

20) Only ask MARRIED WOMEN WHOSE H USBANDS ARE IN AMERICA - My
husband was an important man in (insert country) and it is important to him to
regain that here in America

 

 

21) Only ask MARRIED WOMEN WHOSE H USBANDS ARE IN AMERICA -
When my husband is unhappy at work, he treats other family members badly

 

22) Only ask WRRIED WHOSE H USBANDS ARE IN AMERICA - When my
husband is happy at work, he treats other family members well .............

 

23) Only ask MARRIED WHOSE H USBANDS ARE IN AMERICA - If my
husband has a job he enjoys here in America, he is easier to live with ------

24) Only ask women with CHILDREN — Putting my children in daycare is a good
choice for me

 

25) Only ask women with CHILDREN - Putting my children in daycare gives me
more freedom to get done what I need to do

 

 

26) Only ask women with CHILDREN - I understand the American daycare system

 

 

‘ 27) Only ask women with CHILDREN - I am comfortable leaving my children with
people other than my relatives and close ﬁiends

 

177

 

[VF-kt Fl; :i-‘Ki—‘ﬁﬁ .m.
I. . o
. ‘ ._
1“:_-
f
' I

 

 

When women move to other countries, they have to deal with the laws and
requirements of the new government. This might or might not be confusing if you
are encountering many of these for the first time. Now I would like to ask you more
about what your experience has been like with FIA. Please indicate how much you
agree or disagree with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

 

 

1) I understand the paperwork that is mailed to me ﬁom FIA

2) I understand the forms I have to ﬁll in at FIA

 

3) I know where I can go for help with FIA forms and procedures I don’t understand

me or“ “nu-tr
,. . .
_. ‘

 

 

 

4) FIA workers are friendly towards me

5) FIA workers are respectful of my culture

 

178

 

Healthcare systems are very different in different countries. This can sometimes be
confusing. Now I would like to ask you some questions about your experiences with
the American healthcare system. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

6)

7)
3)

9)

 

I am happy with the medical care which I receive

I am happy with the medical care that my family receives

 

 

Female doctors are available to me

 

I feel comfortable asking for a female doctor

Female interpreters are available to accompany me to the doctor ------------

I feel comfortable asking for a female interpreter to accompany me to the doctor

 

 

 

I feel comfortable talking to my doctor when I don’t feel well

I feel that I can be honest with my doctor about what is wrong with me ----

 

I understand medical procedures, such as tests

10) I feel comfortable asking questions when I don’t understand medical procedures

11)I only feel comfortable seeing a female doctor
12) Caseworkers at the Health Department are friendly towards me ------------

l3) Caseworkers at the Health Department are respectful of my culture --------

 

such as tests

 

 

14) I am satisﬁed with the services that I receive at the Health Department ----

179

 

 

In a new country, it may be hard to understand the new culture and language.
Many refugee women struggle to learn English while for others it is easy. Now I
would like to ask you some questions about your experiences with language and
culture. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following

statements.
Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

1) I would like to learn more about American culture

 

 

 

2) I understand American culture i .' a

3) I want to live in America

 

4) I enjoy the opportunities I have here in America

 

5) Learning English is difficult for me

 

6) I want more opportunities to practice my English

 

 

7) I will be able to learn English

 

8) I am too old to learn English

 

 

9) I ﬁnd opportunities to practice my English

10) Learning English is not important to me

 

180

Having family and friends in the area is important to many refugee women. Many
women have to leave their family and friends behind while others join their families
and friends in America and find new friends in resettlement. Now I would like to
ask you some questions about your family, friends, and activities where you can
meet others who share your language, culture, and religion. Please indicate how
much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
3)

9)

10) My religion is a source of strength for me

I am lonely

 

 

I wish that I had relatives nearby

I have people to talk to who understand my language and culture -----------

I have a ﬁiend who I talk to and socialize with regularly

 

 

I am happy with the number of friends I have in the area

I can depend on my ﬁ'iends to help me when I need it

 

 

I can depend on my family to help me when I need it

I would like more opportunities to meet others like myself

 

I have made an effort to meet others who share my language and culture---

 

11)I would like more opportunities to participate in activities at a place of worship

 

 

181

“Luanx

 

Refugee women have both good and bad experiences in the neighborhoods in which
they live. Now I would like to ﬁnd out more about your neighborhood, neighbors,
and the kinds of experiences you have had there and with them. Please indicate how
much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deﬁnitely Somewhat Mixed Somewhat Deﬁnitely
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree

1 2 3 4 5
1) I am satisﬁed with where I live __
2) I like my neighborhood __
3) My neighbors speak to me regularly __
4) I feel safe in my neighborhood
5) I think that my neighbors treat me differently because of the way I dress/where I

am from/I can’t speak English

6) I worry that my neighbors will treat me differently because of the way I

7)
8)

9)

dress/where I come from/I can’t speak English

 

I feel comfortable speaking to my neighbors

 

 

I feel comfortable socializing with my neighbors

If something bad happened to me in my neighborhood, I would call the police for
help

 

 

182

T*}‘

..v.'

 

In a new country, it is sometimes hard to know how to handle different things
that may happen. Now I would like to ask you some questions about things
that you may know how to deal with at home, but not in America.

1) In case of a medical emergency, what number would you call on the phone?

 

 

2) In case of an emergency such as a ﬁre, what number would you call on the
phone? __

 

3) In case of an emergency where you have to reach the police, what number would
you call on the phone?

 

 

4) In case of an emergency, do you know how to get to the emergency room at the
hospital? Y_1

 

 

5) Did you know that in case of an emergency, you can go to the hospital without

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

needing insurance? Y_1
‘ N_2
6) Do you have health insurance? Y_1
N_2
7) Do you take the bus when you need to go somewhere? Y_1
N_2
8) Do you drive to where you need to go? Y_1
N_2
9) Do you use an American bank? Y_1
N_2
10) Do your friends and family help you baby-sit your children? Y_1
N_2
1 1) Do you pay your bills every month? Y_1
N

 

183

 

 

Are there any parts of your life in America that you feel are important that we have
not yet talked about?

If yes - Would you please tell me more about those important parts of your life that
we did not talk about.

184

l' "‘h-A‘I . {a

 

Refugees often find that some things that they need and/or are important to them
are easier to access than others. Next, I would like to ask you some questions about
things that you may need in your everyday life and about how easy or'difficult it is
for you to access these things you need. Once more, remember that there are no
right or wrong answers to these questions.

1) On a scale ﬁ'om 1 to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating
extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with your current housing?

If you were to move, what obstacles, if any, do you think you would face in ﬁnding
new housing? Please indicate how much of an obstacle, if any, you believe the
following would be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all

1 2 3 4

a) We are not able to afford better housing

 

 

b) Landlords and housing agencies would treat me differently because of
where I am from/how I dress/I can’t speak English

 

 

c) I don’t know what housing is available for people who make very little
money (low-income housing)

 

 

d) I don’t speak English

 

e) Other --

 

2) On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating
extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with the transportation that you
currently have access to?

 

185

If you were to attempt to access different transportation, what obstacles, if any, would
you encounter? Please indicate how much of an obstacle, if any, you believe the
following would be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all

1 2 3 4

a) We don’t have enough money to buy a car or to buy a better car ---

b) I don’t know how to take the bus

 

 

c) There is no convenient bus line in our neighborhood

d) I don’t feel comfortable taking the bus

 

 

e) I can’t afford to take the bus

t) My lack of English makes it difﬁcult to use the bus

 

 

g) I am uncomfortable going places without my husband or other family
members

 

 

 

h) I don’t know how to drive

 

i) I don’t have access to driving lessons

j) Other

 

3) On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating
extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with the degree to which you are able to
ﬁnd the food your family eats in the store?

186

 

mg

“41-;

 

What obstacles, if any, do you face in ﬁnding food your family eats? Please indicate
how much of an obstacle, if any, you believe the following to be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all

1 2 3 4
a) The kind of food we eat is not sold in American grocery stores ----

b) Food we eat is more expensive in American grocery stores ---------

 

c) It is hard for me to read labels on food products

d) Other

 

4) On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating
extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with the manner in which you are able
to get your housework done?

What obstacles, if any, prevent you from getting your housework done in a manner
that satisﬁes you? Please indicate how much of an obstacle, if any, you believe the
following to be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all
1 2 3 4
a) I don’t have enough time because I work outside my home ---------

b) My family members don’t have time to help me because they work

c) I don’t understand American cleaning products

 

d) I don’t know how to use appliances around the house

 

 

e) I do laundry by hand

 

t) I don’t know where to ﬁnd a place where there are washers and dryers and
I can do my own laundry

 

 

g) Other

 

187

 

 

 

5) On a scale of l to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating

extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with the opportunities you have to meet
new friends?

 

If you were to attempt to make new ﬁiends, what obstacles, if any, would you

encounter? Please indicate how much of an obstacle, if any, you believe the
following would be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all

1 2 3 4

a) I don’t have enough opportunities to meet others who share my language
and culture

 

 

b) I don’t know where I could meet others who share my language and
culture '

 

c) I don’t have the resources needed to meet new people (e. g., transportation
to and from events)

 

d) I don’t speak English

 

e) Americans are not usually ﬁiendly towards me

 

i)Other

 

6) On a scale of l to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating

extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with opportunities you have to practice
your religion?

 

I88

 

What obstacles, if any, do you face to practicing your religion? Please indicate how
much of an obstacle, if any, you believe the following to be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all

1 2 3 4

a) I don’t have the resources I need in order to go to a place of worship (e.g.,
transportation)

 

 

b) I don’t know much about places of worship and events that are held there

 

 

c) I am scared that I will experience racism/discrimination from others if I go
to a place of worship

 

 

d) I do not want to attend events at a place of worship

 

e) Other

 

7) On a scale of l to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating
extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with the ability you have to ask for help
with every day things when you need it?

 

What obstacles, if any, do you face when asking for help? Please indicate how much
of an obstacle, if any, you believe the following to be.

A Big Somewhat of A Little Bit Not an Obstacle
Obstacle an Obstacle of an Obstacle at all

1 2 3 4

a) I don’t know enough English to speak to my neighbors --------------

 

b) I don’t know my neighbors

c) My neighbors don’t speak to me

 

d) I don’t have friends or family in the area whom I can ask -----------

e) I don’t have a working telephone to call someone for help with ----

189

f) I don’t feel comfortable asking workers at Refugee Services for help

 

 

g) I don’t know who to ask when I need help with any part of daily life that I
don’t understand

 

 

h) Other

 

8) On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 indicating not satisﬁed at all and 10 indicating
extremely satisﬁed, how satisﬁed are you with the amount of money your family has to
live on each month?

 

 

Are there any other resources (i.e., things you need) that you have a hard time
accessing that you we haven’t talked about that you feel are important?

If yes - Please tell me more about the resources that you have had a hard time
accessing.

190

Below I have a list of concerns that refugees sometimes face. These may or may not
be a concern for you. As I read the list, please let me know how much of a concern
each the following is to you (i.e., how much do you worry about the following)?

Never A Rarely A Sometimes A Often A Always A
Concern Concern Concern Concern Concern
1 2 3 4 5

 

l) The quality of the house or apartment you live in

2) Being able to ﬁnd better housing

 

3) Being able to buy a car

 

 

4) Being able to buy a better car

5) Being able to learn how to ride the bus

 

 

6) Being able to ﬁnd the food your family cats

7) Being able to ﬁnd cheap groceries

 

 

8) Being able to take care of your family

 

9) Having medical care for yourself

 

10) Having medical care for your family

 

l 1) What to do in case of an emergency (medical or otherwise)

12) Being able to learn English

 

 

13) Being able to learn more about American culture

14) Ask women with BOYS - Your son(s)’s schooling

 

 

15) Ask women with GIRLS - Your daughter(s)’s schooling

16) Ask women with CHILDREN - Receiving tutoring for your children to help with
their school work

 

 

17) Ask women with BOYS - Your son(s) becoming more American ............

——

18) Ask women with GIRLS - Your daughter(s) becoming more American -----

191

 

Never A Rarely A Sometimes A Oﬂen A Always A
Concern Concern Concern Concern Concern

1 2 3 4 5

19) Only ask MARRIED women - Your relationship with your husband -------

20) Only ask [MARRIED women - Your husband’s job

 

21) Your own ability to earn money

 

22) Ask women with CHILDREN - Obtaining childcare for your children ------

23) Getting your housework done well

 

24) Knowing how to ask for help with everyday things when you need it ------

 

25) Not having relatives nearby

26) Not having friends in the area

 

 

27) Having opportunities to practice your faith

28) Having opportunities to attend events at a place of worship

 

 

29) Racism and/or other forms of discrimination

192

 

Do you have any other concerns that we have not talked about?

If yes - Please tell me about more about these concerns that we have not talked
about.

193

 

Now I would like to ask you some questions about things you might need that are or
are not available to you.

I) Ask women with CHILDREN - Have you ever placed your children in daycare?

a) If yes — Please rate the quality of the daycare facility you used on a scale
of 1 to 10, with 1 indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high

 

 

 

quality.
53
__ 5 j
2) Where do you do most of your grocery shopping?
a) Please rate the quality of this store on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 "'
indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high quality.

3) Is there a bus stop close to your home? Y_1

N_2

D/K_3

a) If yes - Have you ever taken the bus? Y_1

N 2

b) If yes — Please rate the quality of this bus service on a scale of 1 to 10,
with 1 indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high quality.

 

4) Is there a drugstore/pharmacy in your neighborhood? Y_1
N_2

D/K_3

a) If yes — Have you ever used the drugstore/pharmacy? Y_1

N 2

b) If yes — Please rate the quality of this drugstore/pharmacy on a scale of l
to 10, with 1 indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high
quality.

194

 

5) Is there a place where you can use appliances to do your own laundry in your

neighborhood? Y_1
N_2

D/K_3

a) If yes — Have you ever done your laundry at the Laundromat (place where
you use appliances to do your own laundry)? Y_1

N 2

b) If yes - Please rate the quality of this Laundromat on a scale of 1 to 10,
with 1 indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high quality.

 

 

— r2;
8) Is there a bank in your neighborhood? Y_1 7.
N_2 ,
D/K_3
a) If yes — Have you ever used the bank? Y_1 ~
N_2 t
b) If yes — Please rate the quality of this bank on a scale of l to 10, with 1
indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high quality.
9) Is there a community center in your neighborhood? Y_1
N_2
D/K_3
a) If yes — Have you ever used the community center? Y_1
N_2
b) If yes — Please rate the quality of this community center on a scale of l
to 10, with 1 indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high
quality.
10) Is there a park in your neighborhood? Y_1
N_2
D/K_3
a) If yes -— Have you ever gone to the park? Y_1
N 2

b) If yes — Please rate the quality of this park on a scale of 1 to 10, with—1
indicating very low quality and 10 indicating very high quality.

195

Now I would like to ask you about those things that would improve the quality of
your life. Which of the following services would you like to see more of? Please
answer “Yes” if you would like to see more of a particular service and “No” if you
do not want to see more of a particular service (this may be because this service is
already satisfactory or because you do not believe that it would be very helpful to
you).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) English classes Y_1
N_2
2) Help obtaining better housing Y_1
N_2
3) Help with landlord-tenant disputes Y_1
N_2
4) Job or skills training Y_1
N_2
5) Help learning how to earn money at home Y___1 _;
. N jg.
6) Help with obtaining or maintaining a car Y_1
N_2 9
7) Help with learning how to take the bus Y_1
N_2 I“,
8) Better child care Y_1
9) Cheap child care Y_1 E?
N_2 E
10) Help in understanding and using the American childcare system ------------- Y_1 .
N_2
ll) Organized opportunities to meet others who share your cultural and/or ethnic
background and language Y_1 .{
N_2
12) More opportunities to participate in activities at a place of worship— --------- Y_1
N

196

 

13) Help adjusting to life in America

 

 

14) More help working with F IA

 

 

 

N
15) More help for your children with their schoolwork Y

 

Is there any other service that I haven’t mentioned that you would find helpful?
If yes - What other services would you ﬁnd helpful?

197

 

 

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Many of refugee women’s’ experiences here in America have been with agencies like
Refugee Services. In order to make sure that they can be as helpful as possible to
you and to other refugees, I would like to ﬁnd out more about what your experience
has been like working with Refugee Services. Please remember that you answers
will not be shared with anyone who does not work on this project, your
conﬁdentiality will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law, and your
responses will not be linked to your name.

Overall, how satisﬁed have you been with Refugee Services in the following areas —

Very Somewhat Equally Satisﬁed Somewhat Very
Satisﬁed Satisﬁed And Dissatisﬁed Dissatisﬁed Dissatisﬁed
1 2 3 4 5

 

1) The help they gave you when you ﬁrst arrived

 

2) How accessible caseworkers are to you

 

3) How sensitive caseworkers are towards your needs

4) The degree to which caseworkers are sensitive to your culture --------------

 

5) How ﬁiendly caseworkers are towards you

 

6) The help they have given you in ﬁnding a job

-;3».o.;.a... t-t:—'~.3a:r333:wzot.o 3.33-3M .34. .3 r .

 

7) The help they have given you in accessing healthcare

 

8) The help they have given you in accessing transportation

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tr‘fﬁaug mm b 2’»

 

9) The help they have given you with learning English

10) The help they have given you in meeting others who speak your language and
share your culture

till".""-Ig' h_‘;:‘ 'i' A .6! '1‘ I‘

 

 

l 1) The help they have given you in understanding and working with government
agencies

 

 

12) The way in which they help members of your family with their needs (e.g.,
schooling, etc.)

 

 

"s“ '.".‘ .1 ' . . :.‘.‘, 3".
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13) Your overall experience with Refugee Services

198

 

 

Is there anything about your experiences with Refugee Services that we haven’t
talked about that you would like to talk about?

If yes - Please tell me more about your experiences with Refugee Services.

 

199

 

Now I would like to ask you some questions about positive experiences you may
have had since moving to America. Please answer “Yes” or “No” to the following

questions.

1) What do you like about living in the US?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a) Better opportunities for yourself Y_1
N_2
b) Better schooling for your children Y_1
N_2
c) Better opportunities for your husband Y_1
N_2
(1) Your family has a better standard Of living Y_1
N_2
e) It is safe here in America Y_1 E.-
N 2 E

 

"
.1
..N‘
.‘v'

 

 

 

f) Your family has better employment opportunities in America ------ Y_1 .1
...... N_2 [12%;

:3

g) Other Y_1
N :9?

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200

 

Are there any aspects of moving to America that have been positive for you that we
have not talked about?

If yes - Please tell me more about these positive aspects of moving to America.

201

 

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Next, I would like to ﬁnd out more about skills you may have that can be helpful in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

your life here.
1) Can you make things with your hands? Y_1
N_2
IF YES — What can you make?
2) Which Of these do you have previous experience with?
a) Sewing Y_1
N_2
On a scale ﬁom l to 10, how well would you say you sew? ---------
b) Cooking Y_1
N_2
On a scale from 10 to 10, how well would you say you can cook?--
c) Clerical work Y_1
N_2
On a scale ﬁom l to 10, how good would you say you are at clerical
work?
d) Technical work Y_1
N_2
On a scale ﬁ'om l to 10, how good would you say you are at technical
work? __
e) Teaching Y_1
N_2
On a scale ﬁom l to 10, how good would you say you are at teaching?
f) Working with children? Y_1
N 2

 

On a scale from 1 to 10, how good would you say you are at working with
children?

 

 

202

 

2) DO you speak languages other than (insert language in which interview is being
conducted)? Y

 

 

a. If yes - what other languages do you speak/read/write?

 

 

b. If speak/read/ivrite another language — have you ever worked as an
interpreter/translator? Y

 

 

 

 

Do you have any other skills that I have not mentioned? Y

 

 

If yes — what are they?

 

 

 

203

 

 

Finally, I would like to ask you a few general questions about your life here in
America. These questions will help me to better understand what your
experiences have been like.

1) What has been the hardest part about living in Lansing and why?

2) What is the one thing that would have made the process Of moving to and
adjusting to America easier for you?

3) Please imagine yourself one year from now, what would you like to achieve in
that year?

4) What do you think reﬁrgees who are resettled in America need? Please talk about
everything that you can think about that they may need.

Conclusion m

.134

Thank you again for your time. I really appreciate your willingness to talk with me
today. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me (leave
name and phone number).

 

 

204

 

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205

 

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