"People thought it was my culture to be in the house (but) I felt somehow my life was wasted...you ask yourself, what have (you) really achieved. And I felt I didn't achieve anything" (Naira). "You have to be able to distinguish between a good and bad job offer. You have to be daring. Now I have marketable skills and I want a permanent job" (Nana).

This chapter analyzes the problem of labour force discrimination on the basis of race and gender against African immigrant and refugee women in Metro Toronto. The analysis, which draws upon both the qualitative and quantative research data, is presented in three parts. Part I presents a profile of the surveyed women's social attributes and work skills. Part II compares the labour market location of the women surveyed, and that of other African women, with that of all women in the 1991 Toronto CMA. The argument made is that African women's location in the Metro Toronto labour force is the outcome of systemic and individual racism encountered in Canada, exacerbated by the recession. Three important issues at the centre of this discrimination are examined in some detail: 1) the devaluation of professionally trained African women's credentials and certificates; 2) the requirement of Canadian work experience, and 3) individual racism and sexism. The ways in which the women's employment is affected by other processes related to bureaucratic arrangements and the recession are commented upon briefly. Part III analyzes the women's responses to this discrimination, highlighting their coping strategies.

Our research did not access women from Southern Africa, but women from anglophone Africa are otherwise well-represented in our sample -- 38 percent came from West African countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia) and 29 percent from East African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania) -- in which English is the official language. The experiences of women from former British colonies have been shaped by the same colonial heritage that has shaped Canadian religious, educational, political institutions and bureaucratic organizations, including the propensity to have been exposed to and internalized Victorian patriarchal beliefs with respect to work, morality and sexuality. The experiences of women from the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia) and from francophone Africa with the Canadian labour market differ somewhat from those of women from anglophone Africa because of the fact that their countries of origin share fewer cultural and institutional elements shared by countries, including Canada, which were at one time part of the British empire. For example, the fact that some francophone women, and most women from the Horn of Africa, are raised in the Muslim confession may have an effect on their labour market experiences in Canada (see Jeneba and Aicha, Chapter Six). A salient experience shared by many of the women surveyed is that most come from countries which have undergone, or are currently undergoing, major political and economic upheavals.

The majority of the women surveyed -- over 73 percent -- are between the ages of 25 and 44, and thus in their most productive (and reproductive) years. This compares to just over 63 percent of African females and 44 percent of all women in this age range in the 1991 Toronto CMA. Given the African women's youthfulness, their employment or lack of employment has long-term implications for their ability to establish a solid foundation for their own and/or their families' futures in Canada.

With respect to marital status, 58 percent of the women surveyed were married compared to 25 percent who had never married. (Note, 16 percent of the sample was between the ages of 15 and 24). This data may suggest two things: first, that a substantial number of African women are not in a hurry to marry before they secure meaningful employment and, second, that a certain proportion of African women are not conforming to traditional African expectations with respect to marital behaviour. Indeed, the data suggests that the marital pattern of some African women in Canada conforms to that of Canadian-born women of the younger generation.

More than two-thirds of the women surveyed have lived in Canada for 10 years or less. In fact, Africans who have lived in Canada for over ten years are over-represented in our sample -- 21.3 percent -- compared to only 13.9 percent for Africans in the 1991 Toronto CMA who had arrived in Canada by 1981 or earlier; only 8.5 percent of the women surveyed have been here for one year or less.

While approximately 30 percent of the women in our sample came to Canada sponsored by husbands/fiances, a notable number -- 20 percent -- came for political reasons. Thirteen percent came to study and only later decided to stay; 11.7 percent reported that they came seeking better economic opportunities. These figures show that many women make independent decisions, at least with respect to coming to Canada, and undermine the stereotype that African women come as dependents only. In fleeing political instability, economic crisis, and patriarchal attitudes, most women come with high hopes of making a better living. When one takes their educational backgrounds into consideration, their optimism is well-founded.

Our data indicates that most African women who migrate to Canada become permanent citizens. As the title of the book ‘We’re Rooted Here and They Can’t Pull Us Up’: Essays in African Canadian Women’s History (Bristow et al 1994) suggests, the women intend to be "rooted" in Canada. One-third of the women had entered the country as refugees, but only 10.6 percent were categorized as refugees at the time of the survey. Forty percent of the women were landed immigrants and 35 percent citizens ; these figures illustrate that the majority of African women have a long-term commitment to Canada. While increasing numbers of Africans are entering Canada as refugees, our data indicates that it is erroneous to consider African communities in Metro Toronto as refugee communities. Africans are not a transitory group without an interest in or need for employment. It is significant that 66 percent of the women surveyed had obtained permission to work in Canada prior to arrival. We have suggested that a woman's status at entry affects her access to resources and social integration. With respect to the relationship between entry status and employment, our data supports this assertion. The percentage of women employed was highest -- about 75 percent -- among those who entered Canada as independent immigrants, compared to 56.6 percent among family-sponsored women and approximately one-third among refugee women (see Table 5.11).

Comparison of the women's reasons for migrating with the data on their status at entry is revealing with respect to why, in the final analysis, many African immigrant and refugee women are employed in low status, low paying jobs. The women who participated in the survey were not, for the most part, independent class immigrants (15 percent) but rather entered in either the family class or as refugees (33 percent). The fact that only 2 of the women surveyed were sponsored by employers suggests that few employers have sought out African women to work in Canada (see Bamuntu, Chapter Six).

At the time they entered Canada, over 66.4 percent had some college or university education. Judging by their educational qualifictions, most of the African women surveyed are highly employable. By Canadian standards, the educational credentials of 45 percent were judged as equivalent to a community college or university degree. As reported in Tables 5.16 and 5.17, the sample contained 39 foreign-trained professional women. Our study is not the first to report a high level of education for certain groups of immigrant women (Trovato and Grindstaff 1986; Richmond 1989). While our sample is, admittedly, a convenience sample (see Chapter Four), the high number of well-educated women is indicative of Canada's immigrant selection process which attracts the most learned and elite from abroad. Even though they migrate from cultures which differ significantly from Western industrial societies, the women's elite status in their societies of origin contributes to the belief in Canada that they will assimilate into the mainstream easily and quickly. As reported in Table 5.12, 42 percent of the women surveyed came to Canada with the expectations of getting managerial or professional jobs (this includes teachers and nurses). Our study is a case illustration of the labour market outcome of the immigration selection process when it involves highly educated people from the south. It is important to note here that education of girls in many African countries is not a simple issue. Parents who educate their daughters and the daughters themselves sacrifice a great deal in order to make that education possible. Our highly educated sample is thus the result of a great deal of monetary, social, and psychological investment by both the parents and the women themselves. It is precisely the acknowledged awareness of this investment that motivates African women to strive to meet high standards and pursue their career ambitions "relentlessly" (see Akiki, Chapter Six).

Our study establishes that many African women come to Canada with high hopes of getting additional training and education. As reported in Appendix 7, Table 7, more than half the women surveyed attended English language classes. Though they entered the country with a high level of education, over one hundred of the African women interviewed had pursued further education in Canada; several attended and achieved university education in Canada, earning first, second, or third degrees, sometimes in an effort to make their African educational qualifications conform to Canadian standards. Thus, our data indicates that African women take education seriously. Most Africans are socialized from childhood to place a high value on education. In the neo-colonial educational institutions in which they are educated, western forms of education are believed to be the only way to achieve social mobility and economic security.

The women reported that the devaluation of their educational credentials is one of the most difficult realities they have had to deal with in Canada. As reported in Figure 5.6, the credentials of a significant 60.1 percent of the 123 of women had their educational credentials evaluated in Canada were evaluated as less than the Canadian equivalent while those of 39 percent were evaluated as equivalent to Canadian degrees (see below). Women are forced to revise their high expectations downward and face the sobering reality that the energy and money they invested in their education does not have the anticipated results. Irrespective of the fact that their education and prior work experience were devalued, that many women sought additional education and upgraded their skills in Canada attests to the fact that the women surveyed believe in education. Both our survey data and testimonies in the in-depth interviews indicate clearly that many African women are not happy with the results of the evaluation of their foreign education and work experience. Aspirations for training in Canada ranked very high for 84 percent of the women surveyed. Fewer women received training on the job -- 19.1 percent -- than sought academic education -- 28 percent. Without exception -- from those with the least (Maimouna and Bamuntu) to those with the most education (Akiki and Jeneba), the women interviewed were highly motivated to improve themselves to get work in Canada commensurate with the work they had back home and/or with their aspirations. None identified with the role of housewife. Naira went back to school full-time after her fifth child was born.

Though English language competence does not guarantee employment, knowledge of English correlated positively with the labour market participation of the women surveyed. Of women who did not speak English well at all, 3 were employed and 9 unemployed. The respective figures for women who spoke English moderately well were 19 employed and 30 unemployed. One-third of the women who spoke English very well were unemployed (39 women) and 68 employed. Of the 51 women who identified themselves as unemployed, 27 spoke English moderately well or not at all, compared to 24 who spoke it very well.

Basic English language skills are fundamental to an immigrant's social adaptation and integration. A woman who is able to speak English can communicate independently with service providers; she is not dependent on others to translate for her. Moreover, though paid work outside the home is fundamental to integration, only menial jobs are available for non-English speakers. A woman who speaks English can compete for a wider range of jobs. Francophone African women attending the workshop argued that the language barrier is the major hindrance to a successful job search. Moreover, speaking English with an accent can be a barrier to employment. Sixty percent of the women who were unemployed viewed their accent as a barrier to employment. Employed women, however, were divided equally on this issue -- the same number (35) said their accent was a barrier to employment as said it was not. Nevertheless, this data supports the argument that the ability to speak English is an important factor with respect to women's labour force participation.

About 25 percent of the women we surveyed had no work experience in their country of origin. Sixteen percent of the women were between the ages of 15 and 24 when surveyed, and almost 15 percent had been sponsored to Canada as girls by their parents or other relatives. Several (such as Nana -- see Chapter Six) came to Canada to further their educations and later decided to stay; others migrated immediately after their graduation from secondary school, college, or university.

Only 18 percent of the women surveyed reported having had experience in the formal sector. Despite the smallness of this sector and the difficulties of getting work in it in their countries of origin, this fact illustrates that a good number of African women are "job ready" when they come to Canada. The important point here is to understand the extent to which the women's educational and work experiences are invalidated in Canada.

A significant number -- almost 70 percent -- had work experience prior to migrating to Canada. The fact that the largest percentage of these, just over 50 percent, had worked in the informal sector is not shocking if viewed critically in the context of the economic policies initiated and implemented by colonial and neo-colonial regimes in their natal countries. The economies in most of the countries they have left behind have been subjected to stringent structural adjustment programmes with their attendant social repercussions. Escalation in the cost of living due to high rates of inflation resulting from implementation of structural adjustment policies has affected all social classes. To make ends meet, not only the urban proletarians, but those in the middle and upper middle classes have become involved in labour-intensive, untaxed income-generating activity characteristic of the informal economy such as hawking goods and selling cooked foods on the streets.

The state makes an effort to provide immigrants and refugees relevant information about employment opportunities and training programmes. Data from our sample indicates, however, that there is still much that needs to be done in this area, especially when one considers the women’s youthfulness, educational achievements, past employment experiences, and reasons for migrating. Given the fact that Canada is allowing in young, able-bodied, and relatively highly qualified women with high expectations about getting work, our figures indicate a serious gap in the transfer of enabling knowledge/ information to Africans as a group. Over 80 percent of the women surveyed reported that they did not receive any information regarding employment opportunities and conditions when entering the country. Such knowledge is essential to facilitate the difficult process of integration and the move from the resented situation of dependence on social welfare to one of functioning as a fully independent Canadian citizen (see Jeneba and Aicha, Chapter Six).

Getting additional training and education is a major strategy African women use in their efforts to make themselves competitive on the labour market. The women we surveyed were more likely to be employed if they had gotten Canadian training, i.e. possessed Canadian educational credentials (see Table 5.10). The percentage of women with Canadian training differed by occupational sector, being highest among women in mangerial/professional, service/high skill, and clerical workers, and lowest among service, low skill and factory workers. However, over half the unemployed women had received training in Canada. Given the fact that the percentage of women surveyed with professional qualifications and experience was high before they entered Canada, this data suggests two things: (1) that for some highly educated women earning Canadian credentials is a strategy to legitimate their already existing skills; (2) that the Canadian credentials earned by other women represents new skill acquisition. The fact that women with Canadian credentials are more likely to be employed suggests employers are more likely to hire those with Canadian credentials.

Most of the women entered Canada with high expectations about their ability to eventually get good jobs. A significant 42 percent had very high expectations of landing a managerial or professional job; almost 20 percent aspired to clerical or sales jobs. Despite the high number of women in our sample sponsored to Canada by their husband or fiance, very few -- only 3.2 percent -- expected to be homemakers. This data reveals African women’s high sense of self-esteem, strong sense of self-determination and considerable ambition (see Akiki, Nana, and others in Chapter Six).

Comparison of the women's idealized expectations and actual labour force location at the time of the survey, reported in Table 5.12, reveals a high rate of unemployment among African women and a considerable gap between their expectations and employment status. The unemployment rate among the women surveyed, which is very similar to that reported in the 1991 Toronto CMA among African women -- 28.3 percent and 27.8 percent, respectively (Figure 5.10) -- was 15 percent higher than that reported for all women. Nine of the unemployed women surveyed reported that they were not hired because they lacked Canadian experience, while the rest, almost half (31), reported being unemployed due to structural problems in the Canadian economy -- being laid off, a contract ending, being unable to find a job ("there are no jobs"). The fact that over half the 70 women said "yes" in answer to a question about whether they would be willing to take a job which pays less than social assistance illustrates the women's desire to be self-supporting. The correspondence between employment expectations and reality differed by occupational group, being least among professional and other women who aspired to high status jobs (see data reported for specific occupational groups in Chapter Five). Over 25 percent of the women surveyed expected to be employed in the managerial and professional sector when they entered Canada, yet only 8 percent were working in this sector. However, women who aspired to clerical or sales jobs were generally working in those economic sectors.

One-third of the women surveyed got their first job in the manufacturing sector and half in the sales, service and clerical sectors. This suggests that, no matter what their professional qualifications and past work experience, most African women begin their participation in the Canadian labour force by working at low-status, low-paying jobs. The willingness of the women interviewed to start at the bottom and work their way up is illustrated by Aicha's testimony. A skilled midwife and medical practitioner who had travelled to Europe on several occasions before her family was forced into exile by political upheaval, Aicha was willing to work as a cleaning lady to have her own money and get off welfare in Canada. "A job is not a bad thing", she said. She felt demeaned by her encounters with welfare. "They don't treat you with respect... We are a mature people who know how to do things but we don't know how to sort out our problems without money."

Despite the surveyed women's generally high level of education, there are major discrepancies between their pattern of labour force participation in five key occupational categories (a pattern which is similar to that reported for all African women), and that reported for all women in the 1991 Toronto CMA. African women surveyed are over-represented in the service sector and under-represented in the medical and education related sectors. This is strong evidence that African women are discriminated against on the basis of race in the Metro Toronto labour market.

Comparison of data on gender in relation to labour force participation clearly reveals evidence of gender discrimination. Just as all women earn less than all men, African women earn less than African men. Further evidence of racial discrimination against African women comes from the fact that African women earn less than all women (see Figure 5.12). African women are divided almost equally with respect to their views on gender in relation to job opportunities. Eighty-one women were convinced that African men find work more easily than African women, while 88 women felt that was not the case.

Given the gap between expectations and employment outcome, the fact that the women reported a great deal of job dissatisfaction is not surprising. While over 30 percent of the women surveyed reported they were satisfied with their current employment status, only 7.4 percent viewed their jobs as creative; 30 percent had jobs with full employment benefits. A majority of the women had looked for work in a field which differed from that in which they were trained. Two-thirds of the women indicated that the process of job search in Canada was unfair. On the other hand, the fact that the women who participated in our survey generally had safe jobs and that few were doing shift-work suggests that the women surveyed were privileged in relation to many African women workers. The percentage belonging to unions was virtually the same as that reported for the wider population -- 29.3 percent compared to 29.7 percent, respectively..

The fact that the employed women surveyed reported higher annual household incomes than that reported among the general African population in the 1991 Toronto CMA appears to contradict our argument that our data illustrates processes of labour force discrimination against African women. Twenty-six of the women reported living in households in which the annual income was over $40,000. On the other hand, 39 women reported living on social assistance (see "Unemployed Women", Chapter Five). The average full-time annual income of African women in the 1991 Toronto CMA was 61.2 percent of that of all women and 71.8 percent that of African men. We argue that discrimination against African women on the basis of race and gender contributes to these discrepancies.

We argue that African women's labour force location is the outcome of three types of discrimination discussed below, as well as bureaucratic arrangements and the recessionary economy.

We use the world "credentialism" to refer to the devaluation of an individual's foreign credentials and work experience. Credentialism functions to prevent foreign-trained professionals from exercising their professions in Canada and to protect the interests of Canadian-born professionals. The experiences of the highly educated group of women accessed by our research with "credentialism" reveal a great deal about how systemic discrimination operates against foreign-trained professionals in Canada. On the basis of our data, supplemented by the women's views as expressed at the Focus Group Discussion and the Workshop, we argue strongly that discrimination on the basis of credentialism is one of the major barriers professional African women encounter in Canada.

Though only a piece of paper, because it distinguishes holders from non-holders a certificate has considerable symbolic and social value. It acknowledges that its holder has specific training and skills, legitimates its bearer's right to exercise those skills (his or her profession) because s/he has undergone the ritual of an examination which proves that s/he has the requisite knowledge to perform such skills, and entitles the bearer to membership and status in a professional community. Certificates introduce a ranking, hierarchical order in social relationships because bearers of certificates have a level of achievement which sets them apart from non-bearers and entitles them to membership in a select group. The devaluation of an individual’s credentials cannot take away what the individual knows but it discounts aspects of the individual's past experiences and undermines the individual's publically acknowledged social worth and, hence, her/his societal location. In addition to its considerable psychological impact on individuals, such devaluation undermines the legitimacy of the institution and/or country in which the degree was awarded. In short, the devaluation of certificates functions to not only rank holders, but the countries from which those holders come. It is not uncommon for the credentials of individuals with certificates from former British colonies to be evaluated differently than holders of certificates from Britain. For example, those who are licensed to practice medicine in South Africa can do so in Canada, but not those from Ghana. Yet British colonial education was a uniform hegemony with exams set by Cambridge or Oxford standards. This reveals that discrimination on the basis of race is operative with respect to credentialism.

The procedures through which foreign-trained professionals must go to secure accreditation to exercise their profession in each province in Canada are detailed in Access! Report of the Task Force to Professions and Trades in Ontario (1989). According to the Access!, "there is a pervasive devaluation of foreign credentials and experience" due to the fact that:

- Ontario's occupations lack systematic, consistent and fair methods for assessing prior learning of people trained outside the province.

- often no credit is given for learning outside Ontario approved programmes.

- poor information on applicants' backgrounds and institutions of training often result in inappropriate denial of licensure or certification by regulatory bodies.

- self-governing bodies are reluctant to recognize training gained through work experience.

In an effort to manage the supply of professionals and trades people more equitably and effectively to demand, the Task Force recommended that:

- occupational regulatory bodies be required to provide a mechanism whereby the training or retraining needs of foreign-trained individuals may be identified and that retraining qualified, foreign-trained personnel be made a priority" (Toronto Board of Health 1991:21).

- standards and competencies required to teach at the primary school level in Ontario be developed.

Though the Task Force recommendations have enjoyed wide-spread support from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), they have never been implemented. As a result, the use of current evaluation procedures continues to deprive members of particular ethno-cultural groups as well as the wider Canadian public from benefiting from the expertise of foreign-trained African doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and engineers. Under the present system of evaluation and accreditation, foreign-trained individuals have a very limited number of options. They can take their credentials to the Comparative Education Service at the University of Toronto or, if they are professionals, to the appropriate professional association. Teachers are often directed to the Ministry of Education.

The Ontario Medical Association recently liberalized its accreditation procedures to enable foreign-trained doctors to compete for 24 pre-internment positions. It takes a candidate a minimum of 3 years to qualify as a Medical Officer with these procedures. The total cost is $1900 ($700 for the evaluating examination, and $600 each for two additional examinations), a price very few new immigrant women can afford.

To exercise their profession in Canada, foreign-trained nurses must pass an accreditation examination, which necessitates a high level of English language competence. Short courses which emphasize the medical vocabulary, familiarize students with clinical practices and inform them about the legal aspects of their profession in Canada, are available to foreign-trained nurses who wish to take the nursing accreditation examination. Few such programmes exist to orient and facilitate the entry of foreign-trained teachers into Ontario's teaching profession.

To fully understand the labour market discrimination encountered by African immigrant and refugee women necessitates a serious critique of the social construction and dynamics of "Canadian work experience". Both the survey and interviews document that the women were discriminated against because they lacked "Canadian experience". When asked to respond to a survey question about the factors which prevented them from getting work, 27 women cited "lack of Canadian experience". When asked how they got "Canadian experience", slightly over 40 percent of the women reported that they worked legally, and a substantial 22 percent that they did volunteer work; only 2 percent reported having worked illegally.

Bamum, a foreign-trained Registered Nurse (RN), recounted that she was told she needed two years "Canadian experience" before she could get full-time work as an RN. To get this experience, she, like many other foreign-trained nurses, worked as a health-care aide.

What can we do? Even if you want to work as a hospital volunteer, they won't let you touch anything because of legalities....so how can you get the two years' experience to start with? (Bamum)

There are two levels of discrimination on the basis of lack of Canadian work experience -- discrimination as an everyday practice, and the legal status of such discrimination. The everyday practice of refusing to hire a potential employee because s/he lacks Canadian experience is against the law because it is a clear breach of the Ontario Human Rights Code, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of place of origin (Ontario Human Rights Commission 1977; see also Judith Keane 1992 [Lomer and the City of Ottawa, 1964; Taylor and Via Applications 1986]). Moreover, discrimination on the basis of lack of Canadian experience goes against International Conventions that Canada has signed. The fact that discrimination in hiring on the basis of lack of Canadian experience is illegal is not generally well-known.

The fact that many of the women who participated in our research were highly educated professionals reflects the emphasis Canadian immigration authorities give to such qualifications as entry criteria. Canada recognizes immigrants' skills as necessary and vital to the economy. To recruit people on the basis of their skills, and then to devalue their skills and experience because of lack of Canadian experience once they enter the country, is a serious contradiction. It is discrimination precisely because it does not apply to Canadian-born citizens. "Canadian experience" applies only to a certain segment of the labour market -- new immigrants (African, Irish, Russian, etc.). Discrimination on the basis of lack of Canadian experience is not new (Tarnopolsky 1985). It was invoked during the 19th century in upper Canada (now Ontario) against Irish immigrants as well as those from lower Canada. It presupposes that new immigrants and refugees lack know-how and are not good workers because they have not been socialized to the Canadian work ethic. In addition, it reveals an assumption on the part of potential employers that new immigrants' accents, dress and demeanour will interfere with productive work. In some instances, stereotypical perceptions of immigrants as low, dirty latecomers contribute to this ethnocentric view, which encodes the belief that immigrants carry unwanted cultural baggage which is disadvantageous for productive work and capital maximization.

Discrimination on the basis of lack of Canadian experience is especially widespread during recessionary periods because it is an effective means to keep newcomers from competing for jobs. As used by potential employers as an excuse for not hiring African women, the requirement of Canadian work experience is a sophisticated and elaborate scheme of discrimination which effectively limits the women's labour force participation. Employers have little to fear in invoking it against African women.

Newcomers are expected to get Canadian experience by taking low-status, low-paying jobs or by doing volunteer work, often in fields unrelated to that in which they have training and experience. From employers' point of view, Canadian experience is a form of apprenticeship during which workers prove they (1) are reliable, responsible workers by doing menial work in a job for which they are overqualified; (2) have worked in the capacity of the job they are seeking (an impossibility since it presumes Canadian experience in the first place); (3) have worked as a volunteer in a capacity similar to that called for in the job they are seeking employment.

From our point of view, Canadian experience is an initiation ritual of effective exploitation or "benevolent racism" rather than an apprenticeship. The African women who talked with us were willing to start at the bottom of the occupational ladder and to accept low pay (see Aicha, Chapter Six). After getting "Canadian experience", however, most insisted on being paid what they are worth. Nana, who gained a marketable skill -- that of customer service representative -- while working on the job (she had a degree from a Canadian university), refused to take a lower paying job when she learned that the higher paying job she had wanted was filled. Bamuntu, on the other hand, was willing to work as a Health Care Aide at $9/hour, though the going rate was $11/hr. According to Nana:

You have to be able to distinguish between a good and bad job offer. You have to be daring. Now I have marketable skills and I want a permanent job.

As Aniki's and Ama's experiences show, some women drift into community work as a way of getting Canadian experience because barriers prevent them from pursuing their initial career goals. The way Aniki and Ama became involved in community work reveals the complex interlinkage between discrimination on the basis race and gender, lack of Canadian experience, volunteer work, unemployment, and being on welfare. Aniki became involved in community work when she was unable to get work in banking, though she came to Canada with 8 years' experience in banking services. Ama became involved in community work not as a volunteer, but as a welfare recipient, as a means to earn a little more money.

The general devaluation of women's work in the society at large is reflected by the fact that much community and social service work is relegated to women and/or volunteers. Volunteer work is gendered in that: 1) more women than men work as volunteers; 2) women are less likely than men to have an alternative to volunteer work; 3) women are more likely than men to stay in community work because of their ideological commitment and other "satisfactions". The gender factor is especially salient with respect to Aniki's situation. Whether or not she was getting paid, Aniki carried on with her work as a health care educator and administrative assistant. The problem for her is that her income is low even when she is paid. The fact that Aniki sees herself continuing to do community work in the next few years can be interpreted as a manifestation of the community ethic characteristic of African values. Though she has a child to support, Aniki views her low-paid work as a health care educator as contributing to the common good and more important than her own career aspirations, at least for the time being. "Someone has to do it; its for a cause and I can see a change... maybe banking would be just for me". Aniki's experience also illustrates that getting a job is not the primary motivation of some women who become involved in volunteer and community work.

As a result of encounters with systemic discrimination and/or the banal outcomes of bureaucratic processes, some of which have been exacerbated by the recession, many African women become disillusioned with Canadian experience. Maimouna injured her back while working as a health care aide, an injury which must be common among this occupational group. The way Maimouna's employer handled the case and the treatment she was given by the Workmen's Compensation Board worker suggest collusion existed between her employer and the Compensation Board.

On the other hand, Bamuntu's critique of the daycare assistant certificate course was based on her disillusion with the way job-placements work. The fact that students got work as supply teachers in the months immediately following completion of the course enabled the training delivery agency to claim they had placed the requisite percentage of students. However, few got long-term jobs because the work was being done by students enrolled in the daycare assistant training programme who were doing student placements. The sobering reality for many of the women interviewed was that training did not lead to a better job. Ama referred to the fact that she had quit a job to take a programming course, after which she could not find work, as "another mistake". The women do not begrudge the skills they learn when retraining. What they resent is being counselled to retain when they already have skills and/or are directed to programmes in which they earn diplomas which are no higher, but equivalent to or lower than those they bring with them to Canada (see Akiki). There is a need to ensure that training leads to work. For this reason, the most useful training programmes are those which include an on-the-job component which leads to long-term employment.

The prevalence of courses in job-search techniques rather than those which include on-the-job skills training, for which there is a greater need, is an outcome of bureaucratic contingencies relating to funding constraints (see Chapter Eight). Jeneba's and Aicha's training in job search techniques was of little use since, in the midst of the recession, neither could find work. As Jeneba, an engineer with a Masters degree from an American Ivy League university put it, after spending "your life educating yourself, you lose it; it's like history."

The employment history of clerical and service workers illustrates the way in which the over-supply of workers and lack of jobs characteristic of the recessionary labour market shapes the women's career patterns. Typically, clerical workers' employment histories consists of a series of short-term jobs (see Nana). No matter how many times Ama trained and retrained, her 20 year work history in Canada was characterized by lateral but not upward mobility.

Canadians' perception of African women's cultural distinctiveness, rather than the women's real distinctiveness, is the major barrier women encounter in their efforts to get work. That perceptions of African women as culturally "other", rather than their existing skills and capabilities, affects their employability is illustrated in a particularly striking way by Jeneba's experience. A Muslim with a master's degree in environmental engineering, Jeneba entered Canada as a refugee. She was identified as capable and intelligent young woman in Africa and recruited to work on a research project funded by the World Bank and awarded a UN scholarship to a prestigious American university. Canadian employers and potential employers have, in contrast, treated her with bare courtesy if not disdain. As a Muslim woman and a refugee, what could she possibly know about engineering, research and environmental issues? It is easier to work with the "other" on their own territory than on one's own.

A particular form of these erroneous perceptions of African women as "other" is the widely held view that African women do not know how to use or have experience with industrially manufactured technology. The supervisor at the hospital at which Ntenen volunteered would not let her use the computer, even though it was the same kind that Ntenen had at home.

The women are shocked by the racism they encounter in Canada, since it did not exist for them at home. They have to learn to recognize racist behaviour and to distinguish it from ignorance. Ama said:

When you get here you are in such a shock. I don't know if I should use the word `barriers'. Try to get a factory job, if you're lucky, or a cleaning job.

Naira referred to herself as "naive" because "all those years I was home (having babies) I was protected from racism". As a worker in a daycare centre serving single parents, many of whom were white Canadians on welfare, Naira encountered racism directly from clients, fellow workers and her supervisor. This experience forced Naira to reanalyze her situation and she adopted a more nuanced attitude about life in Canada. "I can deal with my workplace, but I don't want them to destroy me". Some women follow training programmes designed to educate newcomers about Canadians' cultural expectations (differences in gender socialization, such as Jeneba's shyness to say she was an engineer in front of strangers, differences in communication patterns between nurses and patients, differences in teaching philosophies). Though "it is very hard to change" (Jeneba), the women are willing to present themselves in ways which Canadians view as culturally appropriate. A workshop participant said, "I love my African dress, but I'm not going to work somewhere with it". Yet Canadians whom one would expect to have a certain degree of cultural sophistication, such as the instructor in the nurses' refresher course at George Brown, continue to exhibit ethnocentric behaviour:

The instructor was okay -- she gave each one of us the mark we deserved. Still, the comments she passed about Africa annoyed me. She would say that there is research that shows aids is from Afica and hunger is African. For this lady, anything that is bad is from Africa. I did well in class and got high marks on exams. She asked me if I was a British-trained nurse because she found it hard to believe that I was trained in Africa. At times, some of their questions grieved me so much (Bamum).

In contrast to the nursing instructor, who acted out of ignorance, the supervisor in the Provincial government office who expected Nana to "bow down" exhibited racist behaviour.

While women encounter ignorance, racism and discrimination, they also find those who treat them genuinely and those that "love them" (Bamum). In some instances, it is the women's willingness to talk with strangers, including whites, which enables them to get needed information. Naira got the lead to her first job in Canada through a white woman at Welcome House who later became a friend. Akiki's idea to pursue teaching ESL grew out of a conversation with a fellow teacher. Several women's willingness to network across racial and gender boundaries proved useful with respect to getting access to information and jobs. In dealing with the Workman's Compensation Board, Maimouna activated networks both within and beyond those of fellow nationals, soliciting the help of a countryman at her church, her white doctor, who acted as an intermediary for her with the WCB case worker, and the interviewer. She also contacted the Workman's Advisory Union and her Member of Provincial Parliament.

Each woman develops strategies to deal with prejudice and misunderstanding. Nana said:

People ... can't place me and ask me where I'm from. As soon as I say I'm African, you can see a change. Its so deceiving. All of a sudden, the respect disappears. I don't want to be treated like an Afro-American or Afro-Canadian...You're judged so cruelly. I'm not ashamed. I don't care about this racist thing. I just hold my head high and sail through.

The women's testimonies reveal the psychological and physical effects barriers and discrimination have on their well-being. The self-confidence of the youngest and arguably one of the most gifted women interviewed, Nana, who came to Toronto from Quebec because she thought "things would be better", was undermined by discrimination. Unable to get a job after repeated efforts, Jeneba "was so depressed. I was not sleeping well. Sometimes I think that the fact I was over-stressed caused the car accident I was in."

After the initial shock of racism, many African women develop the ability to observe racist behaviour with a certain objectivity. Nana's observations on how the public reacted to her accent on the phone -- and to her presence in face-to-face situations -- are instructive. On the phone, some people did not always trust her because she had an accent: "Some women want to speak to a man. When they see you face-to-face -- black -- at first they think you don't know anything". Naira described how her co-workers "...regard English as your second language and, if you have an accent, they think you don't know much." Naira eventually stopped contributing her ideas at group meetings because they were coopted by her supervisor. "We have skills that are being denied, but they use them in their meeting like its their idea".

In discussing her job prospects, Bamum observed that popular beliefs about the relative status of visible minority groups affects African nurses' success. "If a Chinese nurse and I apply for the same job, they will take the Chinese nurse before they take me, even though the Chinese nurse's accent is not good." Her observation that racial discrimination is a more serious barrier to getting jobs than accent grew out of her experiences looking for work. Ama found that her English language skills did not give her an advantage in a multicultural factory setting. "When the bosses want decisions, they come to you, but when there are promotions, they hire Italians".

The strategies the women used to deal with their emotional crisis reveal their creativity and resourcefulness. Nana became aware of the seriousness of her anxiety when she began having nightmares. Reading books on self-healing did not help, so she sought help from psychics who interpreted her dreams and gave her advice which bolstered her self-esteem. Naira's ability to make a counsellor and friend out of a mirror in her basement, which she "loved... because I could talk to it like another human being", enabled her to deal with her "quiet depression" and lack of self-esteem due to many years of marital misunderstanding. Several women, such as Maimouna and Aicha, find comfort in religion, but they do not rely on religion to solve their problems. Though she had a modest education and few financial resources, Maimouna was an exemplary citizen who took steps to protect her rights when she was wronged by her employer and the Workman's Compensation Board. She had little doubt, however, that her own honesty, intelligence and courage would not be enough to deal with the systemic discrimination of which she was a victim. For that reason, she enlisted the help of those -- African and non-African -- whom she thought could deal more effectively than she with the bureaucracy.

A small number of women pursue self-employment to support themselves and as a means of having more control over their employment situation. Some view self-employment as a way to contribute to community economic development:

(We) need to create jobs for ourselves if noone will do this for us, and to involve our children so that they don't end up on the street. It is a way to fight the system and stay off welfare (Mama Njina).

As described in Chapter Eight, a small number of women -- centrewomen -- undertake organizational activity with the explicit goal of promoting the employment and other interests of African women.

We have organized an engineering association. People trained in medicine have also organized. We meet with members of the provincial and federal legislatures at every opportunity to inform them of our situation (Jeneba).

Some of the women very much enjoyed working in multicultural work environments. Akiki, who mentioned the ethnicity of her school's principal and that of certain of her fellow teachers, delighted in the children's surprise when they learned she was from Africa rather than the West Indies. Nana obviously got a certain pleasure each time her supervisor asked her if a procedure was correct and legitimated her work in front of sceptical clients. As parents, several women participated in multicultural events at their children's school. Such activity lead to Naira being hired to tell folktales and teaching the schoolchildren to sing lullabies in her own language.

The women take every opportunity to try to improve inter-ethnic relations and instruct others about African values and life-ways. Though it was no doubt a good business move, Mama Njina went into partnership with a West Indian couple. One of her business goals is to create understanding between people of different backgrounds, including West Indians and people from different parts of Africa.

This analysis shows that African women's employment histories are shaped by the systemic and individual racism they encounter in Canada, exacerbated by the recession. Misunderstandings and stereotypes about African cultural and social realities and African women as "other" are widespread in Canada. Each woman entered Canada with the expectation that she could get work which would enable her to pursue her career and/or get training which would enable her to contribute toward creating a better life for herself and her family, yet all experienced the sobering realities of systemic and individual racism, with its accompanying psychological hardships. While some women's coping strategies have enabled them to overcome barriers and realize their ambitions, despite credentialism and other forms of discrimination, the outcome for other women remains unclear. Aicha's closing words reveal both her high motivation to get work and the urgency of her need for a job. Her words are the eloquent testimony of an individual who has revised her expectations downward in the Canadian context, where her past work experiences and educational credentials have been devalued and where she has experienced discrimination because of her racial and cultural distinctiveness. Bamuntu expresses her disillusion with her Canadian experience, and her unwillingness to accept the work role and social status to which she has been relegated. The experiences of both women reveal processes which can lead to the creation of an underclass of visible minorities with its attendant social consequences.

"A job is not a bad thing" (Aicha).

"How long will I be a nanny? I will die like this" (Bamuntu).

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