Abstract:

Immigrant studies have revealed that in Canada many immigrant women, often with high educational credentials, end up in the service, processing and manufacturing sectors (Ng, 1988, Boyd, 1992). These jobs are low paid, with no benefits, social security, labour standards, or other state guarantees. Working in jobs that are unrelated to their professional backgrounds often entails a learning process for these women. In this paper, drawing on the preliminary interview data of "Skilled In Vulnerability: Work-related Learning Amongst Contingent Workers", we present two types of informal learning undertaken by highly educated immigrant women working as call center workers, supermarket cashiers and garment sewers in Toronto.