Female Immigrants Within The Harrisonburg Community
by: Daisy O' Neil
Many students at James Madison University are unaware that the surrounding residential area is home to many immigrants. While sheltered within campus, students never have the opportunity to learn about their surrounding areas. Reading this I hope you are able to learn something about the Harrisonburg immigrant community!
All of the immigrants, with many different backgrounds, are important within the Harrisonburg community. But I want to specifically focus on the unique experiences of female immigrants. As discussed in my other blog post Migration: Is It a Feminist Issue?, female immigrants while traveling and even after they have settled into their communities, face a considerable amount of health problems, with limited access to healthcare, and sexual violence.
That being said, I think it is important to note that Harrisonburg’s International Women’s Day celebration is run by a committee of most, if not all, immigrants. Giving female immigrants the ability to organize a celebration for International Women’s Day allows them to feel acknowledged by the community, knowing that being marginalized as a woman is not the same as an immigrant woman.
A lot of these women are still adjusting to the new freedoms of the United States. Many of the women come from countries that have patriarchal societies, more so than the US. The committee of women who organize Harrisonburg’s International Women’s Day celebration acts as a support system for one another says an article in the Daily News record “We Are One”. Being able to have that support for one another in the community allows the female immigrants not to feel neglected or lost within the larger community.
After all of this information, you may be asking yourself, how can I help the female immigrants within Harrisonburg? A great place to start would be informing yourself on the intersections that affect people’s lives, especially females. Additionally, you could donate female care items (i.e., feminine products, razors, etc.) to Church World Service, a center in Harrisonburg that aids and assists immigrants in the resettling of their lives. Little tasks like that can go a long way and together we can make female immigrants within Harrisonburg feel welcomed.