Migrant Women's Voices : Talking About Life and Work in the UK Since 1945

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- 1 The Working Lives of Migrant Women -- Finding employment in a changing labour market -- Women talking about employment, work and life -- Migrant origins -- Reading the text: stories of change and continuity -- Individual stories and world events: talk, memories and recollections -- The organization of the book -- 2 Moving Stories: Journeys to the UK -- Leaving Latvia -- 'Nursing's what in those days a lot of ladies did' -- Twice migrants: India, East Africa and the UK -- Temporary migration -- 'A little bit of dirty business': moving within Europe -- Seeking asylum -- 3 Making Things: Textiles, Toys, Shirts, Seat Covers and Engines -- Spinning and weaving in the 1940s -- 'That solder stinks': on the line in the late 1940s -- Manufacturing work at home -- Sewing seat covers: working for Ford -- 'Hard to touch meat': providing airline meals -- 'The smell there, the plastic': on the line -- On the blue shift: working for BMW -- 4 Waged Domestic Work: Cleaning, Catering and Childcare -- 'Now nobody wants to do the cheap work': forms of domestic service -- Scrub the dishes and polish the floors: hospital domestic labour -- 'I didn't come to England to be a slave': working as an au pair -- 'The guests, they don't see us': agency work in hotels -- 5 Body Work: Nursing, Occupational Therapy and Caring for the British -- 'We did clean then': nursing as the NHS was established -- 'We thought we were doing the SRN': nurses from the Caribbean -- 'It was discrimination in a very subtle way': Indian nurses -- 'It's a good thing to be kept on your toes' -- 'I've never thought to call myself as an immigrant': the NHS and travel opportunities -- 'Go for nursing and get a job': nursing in three countries.