Guyanese Women In America Essay

Some of them came to the United States illegally because they had heard so much about the wonderful opportunities that were available here. Family was another reason why many women decided to come here because they wanted a better life for themselves and their children. In general the decision to migrate to the United States was a complicated puzzle to fix in itself but “Success in America depended on the policies of the United States, and the U.S. economy determined the immigrants’ possibilities of employment” (Clarke, 2002). Accepting American culture was no longer a barrier for Guyanese women immigrant because as Foner described the growing American influence on the Caribbean culture “British influence has declined, while American political, economic, and Cultural influence has

grown. Modern technology—especially television, phones, and jet travel—and growing tourism allow people in the most remote West Indian villages to have an up-close view of American life before they even get here (Foner, 2001). Thus these kinds of barriers will now have prepared new comers to accept the new changes and cultural differences as they tried to assimilate in their new environment.
Although most Guyanese women is know the local Creole language (often referred to as “broken English”), in schools they were taught to speak and write in “formal” English although most do talk with a noticeable Caribbean accent. Today the women I interviewed in the Richmond hill Queens Community own their own properties, businesses, and some have become representative in the local government system. This is all because women tend to be more organized than men and will do whatever it takes to succeed without giving up. The American Dream is the most ideal concept of Guyanese women’s empowerment. A very good example of women empowerment is the Queens Borough president herself Helen M. Marshall who happens to be the Daughter of a Guyanese woman.

Conclusion

These interviews helped to shed some light on the largely understudied subgroup of Indo- Guyanese women, by analyzing their past and current experiences and assessing their post-immigration gender-related social and financial positions to date.

Generally, the women who took part in my interview talked positively about their post-immigration financial and social statuses but at the same time shared with me the hurdles they had to endure because they depended solely on their spouses. All of the women also said that they felt grateful now that they adapted to the American culture. The also shared that they have managed to keep their culture intact by interacting with others from the same background and practices in their predominantly Indo-Guyanese community. The women described that their primary reason for journeying to the United States was to offer the opportunities they could not get as a child, to their children. More so, they felt that their life experiences had certainly been affected in the process. Today they have improved their lives as well as their gender equality roles within the families, and now partake in decisions regarding social, financial, and other important

issues.