Abstract:

This paper is based on the preliminary findings of a SSHRC funded project at OISE titled "Skilled in Vulnerability: Democratizing Workplace Learning amongst the Contingent Workers." As part of that project we interviewed fifty-one women who were working in call centers, supermarket stores and garment factories. The women workers we interviewed had diverse cultural, educational and family background. Most of them were immigrants mainly from South Asia, South- East Asia, and Africa. Majority of the women had a college or university degree while some had high school education. However, in spite of being well educated and well equipped for professional jobs, a large proportion of them took up low paid, temporary jobs in order to sustain themselves in Canada. Unable to find employment in their own fields, due to de-recognition of their qualifications in Canada, many women started working as call center operators, supermarket cashiers or sewers in the garment industry as these jobs are easily available and provided them with some financial resource. Others looked at these jobs as stepping-stones to upgrade their qualifications in Canada with the hope that they could secure better employment in their own fields.