Navigating Migration, Financial Independence and the Dilemmas of Internalised Oppression of Families, Traditions and Norms; The Disparities, and Gendered, and Racialised Experiences of Migration and Assimilation of Keralite Healthcare Workers in the NHS United Kingdom.

Feminist researchers, thinkers, writers and sociologists have over the years worked to claim the rightful place that feminine voices and women’s contributions and potentials have in all aspects of societal change. As a PhD Scholar and writer carrying out a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded study that adopts a feminist, postcolonial, anti-racist methodology to address inequal representation of migrant narratives in literature, I employ short fiction and sociology to catalyse change and represent difference (migrant narratives). In this paper, by focusing on the works of Gayatri Spivak, bell hooks, Michel Foucault, and Kimberlie Crenshaw I will explore the gendered, and racialised experiences of migration and assimilation of Keralite healthcare workers in the NHS United Kingdom, a large proportion of who are women nurses.

Drawing from my thesis that challenges stereotyping and lack of representations causing marginalisation of migrants and adversely impacting collective self-esteem of communities, this paper will consider power strategies, performative masculinity, internalised oppression and gendered norms, familial traditions, and societal hierarchies. It will discuss the impact of media portrayals of gender roles and their impact on conformism and in embedding damaging stereotypes. Considering intersectionality of race, religion, gender, and class, and hierarchies within society and overlapping dominant ideologies of the paper will analyse their impact on migrant experiences becoming unequal for women despite their financial independence. The struggles of assimilation and segregation of migrant communities that can lead to female oppression within traditional familial structures.

In conclusion, focussing on gender disparity, the paper will initiate a dialogue on the need for migrant narratives and reliable representation of female voices in literature, thereby challenging conformism, internalisation of dominant ideologies that deeply root damaging gender norms, thereby disproportionately impacting women, and obstructing them from equal participation and their attainment of full potential in contributing to global social change.