New study examines impact of the pandemic on Calgary’s immigrant women care workers

Calgary, AB – Last October, during one of her daily press conferences, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam addressed the plight of care workers working in long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the course of her address, Tam cited the work of University of Calgary sociologist Dr. Naomi Lightman, PhD, directly quoting the assistant professor, much to Lightman’s surprise.

Lightman felt a tremendous level of gratification as she heard Tam read her written words on a national stage: “The most vulnerable workers provide the most essential services to the most vulnerable clients under the worst working conditions.”  

Says Lightman today: “When I heard our Chief Public Health Officer taking note of the importance of care work and the implications of the pandemic for these workers – it felt like my research had really resonated.” Indeed, it had. But to be certain, Lightman’s work in this field has only begun.

This month she begins her latest research project examining the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrant women care aides working in Calgary’s long-term care facilities. She undertakes this project thanks to the Thelma Margaret Horte Memorial Fellowship in Women and Society, a $10,000 annual research award that was established for the Faculty of Arts in Horte’s memory. Horte was a determined advocate of women’s rights, committed to advancing the cause of women in society and fighting for equality in the workplace.

“I’ve been researching immigrant women care workers in Canada for the past seven years,” says Lightman. “We know that these workers are disproportionately immigrant, racialized women – often Filipino and black women, in particular. I’ve been focused on their health and well-being, as well as that of their families and communities. I’ve looked at the financial implications of this work. Do they have savings? Are they eligible for benefits? How do they fare? When they reach retirement age, are they financially able to retire?”

Even before COVID-19 reared its oppressive head globally, Lightman says care work was often described as “3D work.” “It’s dirty, it’s difficult, and, more than ever before during these pandemic times, it’s potentially dangerous,” she says. “It’s work that, for the most part, Canadian born people are not interested in doing. These are hard, poorly paid jobs which don’t usually have adequate employment protections. They’re also jobs that people who don’t necessarily have other employment opportunities are able to do.”

Another factor contributing to the high number of immigrant women in care work is Canada’s federal caregiver program, says Lightman, with an immigration stream devoted to bringing in care workers from other countries. These individuals are regularly focused on making enough money to have their families join them in Canada – a costly and arduous process which typically keeps them stuck in a cycle of low wage work, where they struggle to get ahead financially. “They are living the reality of being disadvantaged in so many ways,” says Lightman.

This work – overwhelmingly done by immigrant, racialized women – is considered essential. Society relies on care workers to ensure that our family members are safe and well taken care of. And yet, in the sociology of work, these types of low wage workers have been ignored.

“It’s only now, with the pandemic, that people suddenly seem to care about care,” says Lightman. “Because of the current crisis in long-term care this has gained media attention. As with so many things during the pandemic, I think the situation is exacerbating existing inequalities and shining a light on them.”

Partnering with the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, Lightman has begun interviewing immigrant women care workers, with a focus on how their work, their security and their lives have been impacted by the pandemic. She seeks to give these marginalized women a voice.

“These women are not just cogs in the machine,” says Lightman. “They are the ones living this reality every day.”

In addition to documenting the daily realities and challenges of Calgary’s immigrant women care workers, Lightman is also looking for their ideas on reforming the system moving forward. She anticipates that they will have ideas and suggestions on issues ranging from government policies and funding to what leads to the best outcomes for the residents of care homes and what needs to be done as we transition, ideally, to a post-pandemic world.

Lightman plans on translating her findings into a policy report, which, she hopes, will lead to positive changes for immigrant women care workers.

For now, she takes heart that, as the vaccine begins rolling out in Alberta, health care aides are among the first to be receiving it. “This seems to indicate some recognition of the physical risks these women are engaging in,” Lightman says. “It doesn’t address their poor employment conditions, but it is, at least, a positive sign.”

 

Media Contact: 

Heath McCoy 
Senior Communications Specialist
Faculty of Arts
University of Calgary 
Ph: 403-607-8461
hjmccoy@ucalgary.ca 

 

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