Entrepreneurship As Immigrant Women's Strategy for Coping with Unemployment: A Canadian Case Study

Immigrant women, particularly those from Africa, often confront devaluation of their foreign credentials and work experiences gained from their countries of origin.  Some of the women who migrated to Canada under the family unification program are often perceived as dependants of their husbands and, therefore, not destined for gainful employment.  The fact remains however, that economic challenges often confront the women's families as husbands/fathers' incomes do not adequately meet the needs of family members especially where children are involved.  Mothers who cannot find gainful employment and who have limited access to child care, often resort to setting up small-scale enterprises in the basements of their homes.  Such enterprises generally involve hair-braiding, tailoring, and sale of ethnic food and products which yield some much needed income for meeting some of the needs of family members.  This paper will highlight what establishing an enterprise entails and the challenges small-scale entrepreneurs confront in running their enterprises some of which are transnational in nature.  The paper will also explore ways in which support can be generated for the growth of such enterprises in order to become major alternative means of employment for unemployed African immigrant women in Canada.