Grandmothering at work: conversations with Sikh Punjabi grandmothers in Toronto

Abstract

This article sheds light on the work of immigrant Punjabi Sikh grandmothers in the settlement of their adult immigrant children and grandchildren in Toronto. The authors demonstrate that grandmothers face a variety of challenges, but most significantly their dependence on their children, which is a result of official state sponsorship policies that maintain the invisibility of their unpaid work and their legal vulnerability. Drawing on socialist feminist literature, the concept of ‘global care chain’ and 16 life-story-style interviews, the authors highlight the agency of these grandmothers despite all odds.

Keywords:

• grandmothering
• women's work
• transnationalism
• culture
• family

Notes

Interviews were conducted by Pramila Aggarwal as part of fieldwork for her PhD dissertation.