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Gendered Paths to Legal Citizenship:[Note 5. Even though we recognize that different forms of citizenship ...] The Case of L atin‐ A merican Immigrants in P hoenix, A rizona
Author(s) -
Salcido Olivia,
Menjívar Cecilia
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5893.2012.00491.x
Subject(s) - legalization , citizenship , immigration , latin americans , gender studies , residence , phoenix , sociology , metropolitan area , political science , immigration law , demographic economics , law , geography , politics , demography , archaeology , economics
In this paper we seek to contribute to a greater understanding of legal citizenship by exploring the gendered experiences of L atin‐ A merican‐origin immigrants in the greater P hoenix metropolitan area as they go through the legalization process. To explore this gendered angle we rely on in‐depth interviews conducted from 1998 through 2008 with women and men from G uatemala, El S alvador, H onduras, and M exico. The data reveal that although immigration policies and procedures are presumably gender neutral, they are in fact inflected with gendered meanings and enacted in gendered social structures. Gender ideologies permeate the processes to differentially affect the legalization, permanent legal residence, and citizenship processes of immigrant women and men. This article points to key gender inequalities in immigration law.