“You better stay healthy and postpone any illness until I can be with you”: the multidirectional ‘care ecologies’ of migrant women during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Drawing upon the concept of ‘care ecology’, in this paper we explore migrant women’s unpaid caring activities and emotional labour within the spatial orderings of the COVID-19 pandemic in and beyond Aotearoa New Zealand. In dialogue with 12 middle-class migrant women, this paper sketches a complex picture of the ways informal and unpaid caring activities are conducted across multiple scales of body, home, countries of origin and Aotearoa. The findings revealed migrant women’s caring activities were disturbed, intensified, and informed by spatial structures of the pandemic, including border closures, lockdowns and (in)accessibility to care services in Aotearoa and their homelands. These results highlight further that unpaid care, both at transnational and local levels, is not simply due to an individual’s capacity and feelings of responsibility, but is also a collective spatial construction that is shaped by a range of social, cultural, and political factors. Our research emphasises that addressing mental health challenges of migrant women during the pandemic requires targeted policies that acknowledge their invisible emotional labour and cater to their specific needs.

Resumen

Basándonos en el concepto de ‘ecología del cuidado’, en este artículo exploramos las actividades de cuidado no remuneradas y el trabajo emocional de las mujeres migrantes dentro de los ordenamientos espaciales de la pandemia de COVID-19 en Aotearoa, Nueva Zelanda y globalmente. En diálogo con 12 mujeres inmigrantes de clase media, este artículo esboza un panorama complejo de las formas en que se llevan a cabo las actividades de cuidado informales y no remuneradas en múltiples dimensiones del cuerpo, el hogar, los países de origen y Aotearoa. Los hallazgos revelaron que las actividades de cuidado de las mujeres migrantes se vieron perturbadas, intensificadas y condicionadas por las estructuras espaciales de la pandemia, incluidos los cierres de fronteras, los confinamientos y la (in)accesibilidad a los servicios de cuidado en Aotearoa y sus países de origen. Estos resultados resaltan además que el cuidado no remunerado, tanto a nivel transnacional como local, no se debe simplemente a la capacidad y los sentimientos de responsabilidad de un individuo, sino que también es una construcción espacial colectiva moldeada por una variedad de factores sociales, culturales y políticos.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article s’appuie sur le concept d’« écologies du care », pour explorer les activités de care non rémunérées et le travail émotionnel des migrantes au sein des ordres spatiaux de la pandémie de COVID-19 en Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande et en-dehors de ce pays. Cet article dialogue avec douze migrantes de classe moyenne et peint un tableau complexe des manières dont les activités de care informelles et non rémunérées prennent place à travers les dimensions multiples du corps, du foyer, des pays d’origine et d’Aotearoa. Les constatations révèlent que les structures spatiales de la pandémie ont dérangé, intensifié, et guidé les activités de care de ces femmes, notamment les fermetures de frontière, les confinements et l’accès (ou le manque d’accès) aux services de soin en Aotearoa et dans leurs pays d’origine. Cela souligne davantage que le care non rémunéré, que ce soit au niveau transnational ou à l’échelle locale, n’est pas seulement dû aux capacités et aux sentiments de responsabilité d’un individu, mais est aussi une construction spatiale collective qui est façonnée par un nombre de facteurs sociaux, culturels et politiques.

KEYWORDS:

• Unpaid care
• transnational care
• middle-class migrant women
• New Zealand Aotearoa
• COVID-19 pandemic

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Cuidados no remunerados
• Cuidado transnacional
• mujeres inmigrantes de clase media
• Nueva Zelanda Aotearoa
• pandemia de Covid-19

MOTS-CLEFS:

• Care non rémunéré
• care transnational
• migrantes de classe moyenne
• Aotearoa Nouvelle-Zélande
• pandémie de COVID-19

Introduction

This paper aims to explore the relationship between unpaid care practices, spatial contexts, and emotions for middle-class migrant women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa). Research shows women bear the primary burden of unpaid care, including caring for children, the elderly, and vulnerable family members, with such caregiving tasks are essential for functioning families, communities, and economies worldwide (Bahn et al., 2020; Power & Herron, 2021; UN WOMEN, 2020). Yet, unpaid care and its emotional toll, including burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue, often go unnoticed and receive insufficient attention in social and public health policies, even during health crises like COVID-19 (Dugarova, 2020; Ho & Maddrell, 2021; Raghuram, 2012; Sarrasanti et al., 2020; Tronto, 2013).

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the circulation of unpaid care for transnational families due to border closures, restrictions on international travel, and lockdown measures (Chacko et al., 2023; Schilliger et al., 2023). Additionally, the closure or limited access to care services and the expectation to work from home while caring for children and/or vulnerable family members have heightened the strain of unpaid domestic work for women (Kabeer et al., 2021; Näre, 2020; OECD, 2021; Power & Herron, 2021; Willers, 2020). Despite this, many women, particularly women of colour, engaged in volunteering acts of care for their communities based on cultural values of helping others (Andersen et al., 2022). Yet the responsibility of providing unpaid care can put volunteer caregivers’ well-being at stake, with such risks heightened during times of emotional uncertainty and stress (Bahn et al., 2020; Mak & Fancourt, 2021; Mak et al., 2022).

The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled a surge in xenophobia and hate incidents worldwide, particularly targeting migrants and Asian communities due to the racialization of the virus (Hennebry & KC, 2020; Teixeira da Silva, 2020; Wang et al., 2021). Such stigma, exclusion, and racist attitudes have disproportionately impacted ethnic and migrant groups, hindering their access to crucial care facilities and resources, including public spaces for healthcare and leisure (Askins, 2015; Coen et al., 2021; Lin, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened existing social inequalities, particularly affecting vulnerable groups like the elderly, low-income communities, migrants, and essential workers (Schilliger et al., 2023). Equally important, highly-skilled middle-class migrants have faced challenges in accessing social support networks established to care for their families in their countries of origin due to changes in border and mobility policies. To date, transnational care literature has overlooked the care experiences of middle-class, highly skilled migrant women (Chacko et al., 2023; Wong, 2014).

In dialogue with 12 middle-class migrant women, we explore the relationship between spatial contexts, emotions, and experiences of care-giving and -receiving during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to highlight the importance of adopting a care ecology approach in understanding the complexities of care and emotions in times of crisis and beyond and to provide insights for policy and practice that are attuned to the diverse needs and experiences of migrant women (Bowlby & McKie, 2019). We also seek to contribute to the growing scholarship aiming to highlight the importance of unpaid care, respective emotional challenges, and the issue of access to spaces of care and emotional support for diverse groups of women.

Literature: emotional geographies of transnational care

Transnational care involves both material exchanges (financial aid, gifts) and emotional exchanges (communication via letters, phone calls, and video calls). Baldassar and Merla (2014, p. 22) conceptualize transnational care as ‘the reciprocal, circular, multidirectional and asymmetrical exchange of care that fluctuates over the life course within transnational family networks subject to the political, economic, cultural and social contexts of both sending and receiving societies’. Each form of care requires different resources, means, and policies to facilitate their circulation, including financial resources, information, knowledge, and social relationships (De Silva, 2018; Kilkey & Merla, 2014). For instance, middle-class migrants often perform direct care through sending remittances, international travel, and being physically present with care receivers such as parents and friends (Merla et al., 2020). Another way care is performed is through the presence of migrants and their family members in online spaces via the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) requiring internet, access and knowledge of technologies (Cabalquinto, 2022).

Physical, virtual, and social spaces support and/or hinder care relationships and the availability of care (Atkinson et al., 2011; Conradson, 2003). As various scholars have highlighted, geography, gender, cultural norms, life course trajectories, and social structures each shapes the nature of care and the formation of networks (Raghuram, 2012; Rottenberg et al., 2023; Van Boeschoten, 2015). Understanding the relationship between space, place, and transnational care is crucial for informing policies and practices that support the provision and circulation of care.

Transnational care and gender

Feminist and migration studies on transnational care, inspired by Hochschild’s (2000) concept of ‘The global care chain’, emphasize that distance unpaid care is highly gendered with cultural expectations putting additional social pressures on women (as mothers, grandmothers, and daughters) (Baldassar, 2007; Fresnoza-Flot, 2021; Maehara, 2010; Parreñas, 2005). Guided by feminist ethics of care, such research has brought individual experiences of care, gender, family, emotion, and the importance of unpaid care to the forefront of transnational migration research and policy discussions (Ahlin & Sen, 2020; Manzo & Minello, 2020; Parreñas, 2005; Robinson, 2011). These studies have shown that such gendered-biased expectations have led to disproportionate employment rates, time constraints, and unequal access to self-care resources for migrant women (Maehara, 2010; Wong, 2014). This can induce negative feelings such as guilt, stress, and depression in migrant women (Baldassar, 2015; Joseph et al., 2022; Power, 2020).

Transnational care, policies and socio-economic contexts

Transnational care scholarship also explores the impact of care-related policies, resources, and migration regulations in both homelands and receiving countries on transnational care dynamics (Merla et al., 2020). Anthropological and social studies have highlighted that the practices and circulation of transnational care are facilitated and hindered by local and international policies, regulations and governments’ rhetoric regarding migration, protecting the labour market and nation-state sovereignty against terrorists and/or the racialized Other (Merla & Baldassar, 2011; Merla et al., 2020).

Restrictive migration policies and categorizations based on social axes of differentiation including occupation, gender, ethnicity and class, have resulted in inequality and ‘a hierarchy of stratified rights’ to access and enjoy entitlements and resources, including care-related resources and the right of freedom in mobility (Merla et al., 2020, p. 7). Such policies particularly impact migrants’ access to care spaces and diminish their ability to maintain familial and intimate relationships with their kin in their origin countries (Morris, 2003; Näre, 2020).

Social geographers have also argued that the commodification of care, influenced by neoliberalism and globalization, has created a class-based system in the relationship between migrant care workers and their employers (Schwiter & Steiner, 2020). Following this argument, there exists a criticism regarding a lack of knowledge in transnational care studies regarding how social class influences the care landscape of middle-class, highly skilled migrant women during crises (Etowa & Hyman, 2021). Our study aims to unravel some of the effects of social class, as it intersects with gender and migration during a global health emergency and contributes to this literature by focusing on the care experiences of this group of migrant women in Aotearoa.

The literature shows that the geography of care for migrants is complex, involving various scales and spatial settings, influenced by cultural and social factors such as gender, class, emotions, policies, and the availability of care resources in origin and receiving countries. Considering these factors, we argue for the need to study migrant women’s care experiences within a theoretical framework that incorporates their social positions, emotions, and care practices in relation to care-related policies and resources concerning migrants (Bowlby, 2011; Rottenberg et al., 2023).

Conceptual framework: care ecology

Feminist scholars emphasize the importance of care as a fundamental human need for individual and community well-being (Sarrasanti et al., 2020; Taylor, 2020; Tronto, 2013). Performing care involves caregivers, care receivers, and necessary resources, with complex emotional dynamics playing a significant role in long-distance care exchanges (Atkinson et al., 2011; Degavre & Merla, 2016; Williams, 2012). Bowlby (2011) theorizes care as consisting of both practical caregiving tasks (‘care for’) and emotional investments in the challenges and concerns of others (‘care about’). Thus, care encompasses both practical and emotional dimensions, which are often intertwined but not always inseparable.

Building upon this literature, we utilize the concept of ‘care ecologies’ to further understand how changes in migration policies and care resources impact the unpaid care activities and emotions of middle-class migrant women. We take inspiration from Bowlby and McKie (2019) who proposed the ‘care ecology’ framework to understand how individuals’ practices of providing and receiving unpaid care shape, and are influenced by, the availability and accessibility of care-related resources and services in broader social and political contexts. The care ecology approach thus comprises two interconnected spaces, namely ‘caringscapes’ and ‘carescapes’, emphasizing the dynamic interdependence between these aspects of care.

Caringscapes encompass the dynamic nature of individuals’ caring practices and values, shaped by factors such as cultural norms and social positions (Bowlby & McKie, 2019). Carescapes refer to the relationship between infrastructures, resources, facilities, and policies that facilitate or hinder providing and/or receiving care (Primdahl et al. 2021). Carescapes encompass a range of policies and services, including transportation provisions, public open spaces, healthcare facilities, social support networks, affordability of transportation, and regulations pertaining to flexible work hours for caregivers. People’s access to these services may be limited by ‘changing ideas and discourses concerning care provision and the deserving citizen’ (Bowlby & McKie, 2019, p. 534). Thus, the caringscapes and carescapes shape, and are shaped, across time and space in relation to policies, resources, and shifting values and gender norms (Bowlby et al., 2010).

The ‘care ecology’ framework emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between caringscape and carescape (Bowlby, 2012; Power, 2020). It draws on the relational turn in Human Geography, acknowledging that space is shaped by relationships between bodies, objects, and sociocultural spaces (Hall & Wilton, 2017). Scholars highlight the dynamic interplay between emotions and the care landscape, influenced by political, cultural, and socio-economic factors. Therefore, studying them together provides comprehensive insights into the varied experiences of care across different spaces (Longhurst, 2001; Manzo, 2022). According to Bowlby and Jupp (2021), care ecology not only considers multiple aspects of care, including emotional, physical, and social care, but also recognizes that these dimensions are connected and influence each other.

Using the care ecology framework, we explore how COVID-19-related carescapes impacted the care practices of middle-class migrant women in both Aotearoa and their home countries. In our analyses, migrant women’s carescapes encompass institutional spaces and im/mobility policies in their homelands and in Aotearoa, including border closure and lockdowns, and access to resources like technology and community care (Bowlby & Jupp, 2021). Here, we examine participants’ unpaid care activities and experiences amid significant demands on formal care, overwhelmed social services, healthcare disparities, job loss, and instances of racism and discrimination. We explore how these factors influence perceptions, emotions, and unpaid caregiving among migrant women. Our research advances the understanding of care and emotions during times of crisis, offering insights for policy and practice that address the diverse needs and experiences of migrant women.

Context and methods

This study explores the unpaid care work of migrant women in Aotearoa during the initial two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aotearoa government implemented a science-informed strategy to combat COVID-19 in 2020 and the first half of 2021. This strategy involved nationwide and regional lockdowns, physical distancing measures, and the closure of the border to non-residents, alongside travel restrictions for all individuals (Baker et al., 2020). The border remained closed – except for highly limited access – for more than two years. The early actions of lockdowns and border closures enabled Aotearoa to temporarily hold off the full effects of the pandemic until the vaccine became widely available, delivering the country the lowest number of hospitalization and death among OECD countries in the early stages of the pandemic (Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora, 2022). During the early stages of the pandemic, then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was internationally praised for her approach that prioritized kindness, compassion, and communication (Craig, 2021), but domestically her leadership approach became highly politicized, increasingly undermined by mis- and dis-information. Until her resignation in early 2023, she was ‘consistently targeted with extremely misogynistic, vulgar, violent, and vicious commentary and content’ (Hannah et al., 2022, p. 5).

While essential for protection, the lockdowns and border closures in New Zealand had notable social, economic, and psychological repercussions, affecting various groups in unique ways (Bedeschi-Lewando et al., 2021). As s seen elsewhere globally, the pandemic worsened economic and gender inequalities in Aotearoa (Masselot & Hayes, 2020). Unpaid work and mental health issues increased, particularly among women (Bradbury‐Jones & Isham, 2020; Brown et al., 2021; Huckle et al., 2021). Concerns were raised about discrimination based on ethnicity and gender, including limited access to healthcare and COVID-related information for those without internet access or English proficiency (Officer et al., 2022).

This article utilizes qualitative data from a larger project examining women’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa (Thorpe et al., 2023). We recruited participants through our established networks, conscious about the social distance measurements, and the physical and emotional burden carried by women during the pandemic. Recruitment strategies were guided by a feminist ethic of care, emphasizing trust, rapport, respect, and empathy between researchers and participants (Averett, 2021). The full sample consisted of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 39 women from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, but for this paper we draw upon a sub-section of the data, focusing specifically on 12 migrant women living across Aotearoa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants’ ages ranged from 24 to 43 years old, and all were well-educated (many with multiple university degrees), employed, and thus categorized as ‘middle-class’. They all shared a common identity as migrants, yet came from various ethnicities, nationalities, and religious orientations (i.e. Muslim, Buddhism, Hindu), and with different experiences of migration. Table 1 provides detailed information about participants’ ethnicities, ages, and occupations. We have used pseudonyms, with some professions modified, to avoid the risk of identification within a relatively small and well-connected migrant community. The research team includes two migrant women who have shared similar experiences and emotional challenges as our participants. Our interactions and relationships with participants were shaped by these shared (and different) experiences.

Table 1. Migrant women research participants: demographic information.

NO.	Pseudonym	Age	Ethnicity	Occupation (self-identified)	Marital status
1	Ekta	27	South-East Asian	Project Administrator	Single (living alone)
2	Elmira	33	South-East Asian	Medical professional	Engaged (living alone)
3	Nurul	24	South-East Asian	Master student	Single (living with parents)
4	Sarita	30	South-East Asian	Nurse	Married (living with husband)
5	Aalia	27	Middle-Eastern/Arab	Lawyer	Single (living alone)
6	Sheilah	43	South American	Manager for a non-profit organization	Married (living with husband and children)
7	Silvana	41	South American	Manager	Married (living with husband and children)
8	Maryam	28	Middle-Eastern	Software Engineer	Single (living with parents)
9	Pri	37	South-East Asian	Manager for a Government Organization	Married (living with husband and children)
10	Jasmin	25	Middle eastern-Arab	Educator organizer	Single (living with brother)
11	Kim	28	Asian	Postgraduate student	In a relationship (living with her partner)
12	Keeja	33	North American-Middle Eastern	Postgraduate student	Married (living with husband)

Interviews were conducted between November 2020 and February 2021 using digital technologies (primarily Zoom or Skype). Interviews lasted between 45 and 90 minutes and were digitally recorded and professionally transcribed. For this paper, we focus on the following interview questions that explored the women’s practices of care: What were some of the activities you did to help you get through these challenging times? Who were the people in your life that helped get you through the pandemic? In what ways did these people help you? What role did you play for others during lockdowns? What were some of the activities you did to help others get through these challenging times?

We made use of Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis as a guideline for analysing the data. We familiarized ourselves with data, making notes about initial themes. Following this, the research team organized meetings to reflect on and review the findings and the themes. This method of collective analysis (led by the first author) helped us to recognize the relationships between public issues and policies shaping various personal challenges and privileges based on social positions such as gender, migrant status, ethnicity, cultural background, and social networks (Joseph et al., 2022). We focused on and highlighted key recurring themes about migrant women’s caring activities and emotions during the pandemic for themselves, their families and beyond.

Findings and discussion

Focusing attention on the interconnections between caringscapes, carescapes, and emotion, three main themes emerged through our analyses; (1) border closure and emotional challenges of ‘not being there’ for families; (2) shortages and inadequacy of care services and the additional burden of the unpaid care-providing responsibilities for migrant women; and (3) impacts of gendered and racialized identifications on migrant women’s access to care services.

Disrupted transnational caringscape: the emotional toll of border closures on migrant women

All interviewed women indicated that as migrants, their caring activities have always been performed across (at least) two different geographical zones: their countries of origin (homeland) and Aotearoa (Leurs, 2019; Merla et al., 2020). Prior to the pandemic, most of the respondents, as middle-class migrants, returned regularly to their homelands or hosted their families in Aotearoa (Joseph et al., 2022). These visits were crucial for these transnational families in terms of providing and arranging care for their kin (e.g. taking parents to doctors, bringing medicine for family members that cannot be found in the countries of origin) and sustaining familial ties and emotional bonds (Baldassar, 2007).

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted transnational families’ care dynamics by restricting their mobility across borders. For example, Jasmin, an educator, described how border closures disturbed the exchange of care with her family in the Middle East:

[Before the pandemic] I only saw my family once a year during Christmas, but now, because of Covid, I could only see them digitally. Every day we’re video calling each other, if not twice then at least once a day. Mum had always been telling me she missed me, but I was just so busy [to say it] … , but it kicked in this year in June, I felt ‘Oh my gosh, I miss my mum’, and I called her to tell her that. Like if something were to happen [crying], it would be quite hard – not hard; it would be impossible to get to her, so I told her, ‘You better stay healthy and postpone any illness until I can be with you’.

Jasmin’s experience also revealed the interconnections of caring practices, emotions and migration and mobility policies (Bowlby & McKie, 2019; Williams 2012). The pandemic resulted in a significant change in her caringscape, she was no longer able to visit her family in person. To cope with these challenges, Jasmin performed transnational care through longer video calls where she more openly expressed her feelings of love and concern for her mother. The forced immobility and inability to perform physical care for her mother during the time of sickness prompted feelings of anxiety, guilt, and depression in Jasmin, which has much to do with her cultural and religious upbringing. Jasmin is the eldest daughter of a Muslim Middle-Eastern family. In both Middle Eastern and Muslim cultures, daughters are presumed to carry the primary responsibility for providing personal care to parents, such as taking them to doctors, cooking, and providing for sick parents (Zarzycki et al., 2022).

All respondents spoke of the increased importance of digital communications for receiving and delivering care for immediate and extended family (i.e. parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles) (Cabalquinto, 2022). Some organized family events during important occasions and/or fun online get-togethers with music, dancing, and games, as ways to maintain their family ties and to emotionally support their loved ones. For example, Elmira’s transnational family made use of digital technology to exchange emotional support during the pandemic:

I feel that probably my relationship with my parents is a bit more now because before we didn’t talk that much. Usually, we were texting … but now we video call every day. And we confide a bit more … I guess it’s because, during lockdowns and social isolation, you change your priorities in life and decide what’s important. During the pandemic, we usually have a group phone call, like my brother had his PhD dissertation so everyone phoned in to show support … I had my nikah (Islamic marriage) a few weeks ago and then all the family called in as well so everyone’s stayed together still despite not seeing each other.

Elmira’s experience highlights the critical role of digital technologies- as an important resource of carescape- in enabling emotional support and family connections during the pandemic, and as integral to transnational families’ caringspaces in terms of performing care from a distance. Many respondents, like Elmira, spoke of these online conversations as spaces of comfort by which they can seek and offer support from/to other migrants and their loved ones overseas (Moran, 2022). However, these spaces can function as sources of stress, control, and obligation for our participants when COVID-19 was having full effects in their homeland and/or when their family members became sick or passed away. For example, Sarita is a nurse and she worked in the frontline and took care of patients with Covid-19. Sarita revealed how communication technologies were both spaces of care and stress for her:

The biggest challenge and change would be my loss of control. … About a year ago, the cases of Covid in my homeland were increasing so rapidly. my family were not very well and I was depending on social media, I was trying to reach out to them, just be with them and give them advice, like what did you eat … Also making sure they are fine, ringing them every day. so I used to be really scared to open social media because so many places would pop up, rest in peace, rest in peace… I was really scared at that time. I remember once my mum sneezed and I was so panicky, like asked her ‘Make sure you get tested, make sure you look after yourself’. That kind of insecurity, not being able to see your family when they really need you, not being able to be with them.

Interconnection between carescape, caring activities, and emotions becomes evident in this example as Sarita negotiated the ways she ‘cares for’ and ‘care about’ her loved ones in relation to the availability and accessibility of healthcare facilities in her home country (Bowlby, 2011). Sarita used social media and digital technologies (i.e. ZOOM, Instagram, Whatsapp), as spaces of care to provide health-related information and advice to her parents when they did not have access to such information in her home country in south-east Asia (Hu et al., 2022). Changes in the carescape, the reduced capacity of health facilities, the impossibility to provide actual care in person and the lack of access to vaccinations in her hometown, led to changes in Sarita’s emotions in Aotearoa, prompting feelings of distress and panic attacks (Baldassar, 2015).

Overwhelmingly, migrant women expressed significant emotional distress and guilt due to being separated from their loved ones and being unable to fulfil their cultural obligations of caring for loved ones abroad when they were sick or lost someone (Baldassar, 2015; Wong, 2014). These feelings led to mental health issues, such as severe depression, anxiety, and panic attacks (Maehara, 2010). The findings underscore the need to assess the long-term effects of crisis policies and responses and their potential long-term negative impacts on particular individuals and groups.

The invisible burden: overwhelmed social services and high demands for middle-class migrant women’s unpaid community care

Beyond digital caring for their families, many respondents reported engaging in ‘quiet acts’ of community care (Askins, 2015). Highly skilled migrant women in high-income countries, like Aotearoa, carry a huge burden of emotional responsibility and moral obligations for multidirectional caring activities (Wong, 2014). These women often face multiple demands due to their social position and are called upon to provide unpaid support to various groups, including recent migrants and refugees (Baldassar & Wilding, 2014). Some participants also provided remote care when their home countries faced resource challenges in their healthcare systems. Consider, for example, Pri’s experience of performing volunteer triage in her home country in south-east Asia during the pandemic while living and working in Aotearoa, and simultaneously caring for her son and husband:

In my home country, there was a period where things got really bad where there were no hospital beds … they were cremating bodies on the sides of roads … ambulances weren’t available and people were dying at home. At that time, volunteers were triaging the cases but there were not enough people to do that, so they contacted me to become a volunteer to triage cases from here. Because I had worked in hospitals as a psychologist, I had lots of sleepless nights over that period. I was getting calls in the middle of the night… Well, I had to do it because, at 2 am when my phone rang, I would think if I don’t pick up that call, someone might die. Then in the morning, you have to go back to work here [New Zealand]. It felt like I was living two realities, two different lives; that the life here had no idea about my other life and my other life had no idea about the things that I had to do here. But none of those lives stopped for me, they kept going.

This quote reveals the interconnections of carescape (i.e. access to healthcare resources) and emotions in shaping unpaid care for those beyond the family network, not for a monetary reward, but as a perceived duty of care towards their homeland (Wong, 2014). Pri, a former health professional, exemplifies the strong sense of service and responsibility shared by most of our participants who felt morally obliged to assist both their home country and Aotearoa. It emphasizes the complex nature of transnational care, illustrated through Pri’s unpaid practices influenced by her professional background and cultural values (Zarzycki et al., 2022).

Along with cultural values, multiple belongings and emotional attachment to several places and communities have performative power that evoke feelings of responsibility and, sometimes, obligations to provide care and services (Ahlin & Sen, 2020). For example, Maryam, a former refugee from a Middle-Eastern country, was struggling with her mental health during the pandemic, but continued to engage in offering care for migrant and refugee communities as her religion and culture value volunteer services for others in need:

I work [voluntarily] with [a nationwide non-profit organization]. We noticed that families were struggling a lot, especially the new immigrants and the new refugee communities as many of them worked in the service sector before the pandemic and now lost their jobs. It’s the next level that they can’t even buy groceries to feed their families. I will email them or I will call them up to check on them … I’ll do the form [government fund relief] on their behalf, because their English is very limited, and send it. We arranged this food parcel mechanism that we had about 90 families in the system. We would deliver food, meat, rice, lentils, really essentials, oil and flour and stuff like that to the families every two weeks.

Maryam’s story highlights the reciprocal relationship between caring- and carescapes in the unpaid care activities of middle-class migrant women. The pandemic brought about changes in the carescape, affecting the accessibility of resources and services for migrant and refugee communities. The pandemic-fuelled issues, including job losses, higher food prices, and new subsidies created new caring demands for disadvantaged immigrants and refugees. Such needs, exacerbated by limited computer literacy and English proficiency, posed these disadvantaged group multiple challenges in accessing information and completing subsidy applications without external support (Officer et al., 2022). Within this context, Maryam was contacted by a local organization to help and assist these families, a call she took on willingly. Previous research has established that migrants’ social positions, language proficiency, occupation, culture, and migration status influence their unpaid caregiving responsibilities during the pandemic (Fantu et al., 2022). Maryam’s middle-class social position and cultural background played a significant role in shaping the demand to provide volunteer work for migrant and refugee communities (Andersen et al., 2022). Her Islamic faith encouraged her to provide volunteer services for her Muslim brothers and sisters, while her familiarity with Aotearoa’s bureaucratic processes and her skills as a software engineer enabled her to navigate technology and access relevant information. The convergence of her culture, skills, and social position empowered her to fulfil her caregiving role effectively (Nussbaum, 2003).

It is important to highlight that providing unpaid care and service is not without emotional and physical impacts on middle-class migrant women’s health (Mak et al., 2022). During the lockdown, Maryam worked full-time from home, at the same time, she was responsible for providing practical care for her elderly parents, such as shopping, picking up and administering their medicines, and vaccine injections. Maryam explained she engaged in voluntary work during weekends and evenings. She juggled all these work and responsibilities, and coped with sleepless nights, by drawing on her religious and cultural values as sources of empowerment and calmness. However, after a while, she experienced burnout and severe depression for which she sought professional help from a psychiatrist. Loyal to her values in terms of providing services to others, Maryam engaged in self-care activities and paid for support for her mental health to be able to give free services to her family and community.

As illustrated, migrant women in our sample faced heightened demands to provide unpaid caring activities across borders for their families and for the communities beyond their families. Such invisible labour, however, took an emotional toll on the migrant women. These examples underscore how caring responsibilities can intersect and impact individuals’ personal and professional lives (Fresnoza-Flot & Merla, 2018). In the last section, we explore the ways migrant women experienced and felt access to care spaces during the pandemic focusing on the intersection of gender, anti-migrant sentiments, and heightened racism.

The intersections of lack of culturally appropriated resources, racism, and unequal access to spaces of care

Our findings reveal that migrant women faced unequal access to care, influenced by institutional and cultural changes in the carescape, such as school closures and remote working obligations, but also due to increased racism and nationalism. Like in other countries, migrant women in Aotearoa carried a disproportionate burden of unpaid caregiving, particularly in childcare and domestic responsibilities during the pandemic (Bedeschi-Lewando et al., 2021). The following comments from Pri reveal how migrant women’s unpaid care intensified during the pandemic and interfered with professional lives:

… even pre-Covid, the research has proved that the emotional labour and the physical labour that women carry were a lot more than men, [the] pandemic only made it worse. … the pressures on women and women of colour during a pandemic [are] triple fold. Yes, men also contribute but women inherently are expected to do a lot more. I don’t think that sort of emotional labour is ever considered when you’re working from home. I had to tell my organisation to be mindful of that … I said ‘We need to be mindful of the pressures that women are under at home. So, let’s go easy on targets and delivery timelines and stuff like that because they have cooking, children, cleaning and work to take care of and everything else.

As Pri highlights, the culture of the gendered division of domestic work is a critical factor in how the uneven distribution of family labour is felt and experienced by women, particularly women of colour (Etowa & Hyman, 2021). The pandemic specific regulations, such as remote work and school closures, compounded the unpaid domestic work burden for women. In a leadership role working directly with and for women of colour, Pri’s understanding of these challenges motivated her to advocate for greater consideration and inclusive care approaches within her organization, drawing from her south-east Asian culture and a ‘migrant ethics of care’ (Wong, 2014, p. 37). This example highlights how cultural diversity and women of colour contribute unique perspectives to caring structures and emphasize the need for inclusive approaches.

During the pandemic, Aotearoa witnessed a significant increase in domestic gender-based violence, with women facing limited access to support networks due to lockdowns (Huckle et al., 2021; Power & Herron, 2021). In our study, some migrant women raised concerns about the lack of facilities and social protections for other women during this time (Bedeschi-Lewando et al., 2021). Silvana is a mother of two young children and the manager of a non-profit organization for ethnic women. She is leading her organization to better support migrant and ethnic minority women in her community, including those experiencing family violence. Silvana witnessed these challenges first-hand:

Family violence is directly related to levels of stress … numbers have grown in that aspect. Our issue is that people are at home … we have had a couple of clients that have called us and say, ‘I need you to help me because I need to get out of my house for one or two days to breathe or things are going to turn bad’. we are lucky – philanthropic funders have given us funds to support in emergencies, in that way, Covid has brought a lot of resources from governments. But because of the lockdown periods … motels were closed. You couldn’t move people whom you need to move the whanau somewhere safe. Then, because of the lockdowns, the court processes are very slow. There’s a shortage of counsellors and therapists in general. Then when they need specific expertise for our communities [migrant and ethnic women], you know that the counsellors need to understand the culture and you may need to work with an interpreter or try to find a language match. There are all aspects that we need to consider before seeing who can help.

From a care ecology perspective, this quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of carescapes and caringscapes. Abrupt changes in the carescape, such as lockdowns and policies of immobility, disrupted the provision of care for domestic violence victims (Atkinson et al., 2011; Bowlby, 2012). Silvana’s experience highlights the emotional dimension of care ecology as domestic violence and associated stress were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Temporary refuge from home became necessary for many, but the lack of infrastructure, such as the shutdown of safe places and women’s refuges, hindered timely and culturally appropriate assistance for women from diverse ethnic backgrounds experiencing domestic violence. As Silvana notes, to provide help for this group of migrant women, the availability of four resources was crucial: i) financial resources; ii) cultural competency; iii) an interpreter; and iv) a trained social worker with expertise in family violence in different cultures. The shortage of care resources, including counsellors and therapists, as well as the need for specific expertise for certain communities, such as migrant and ethnic women, highlights the importance of considering cultural factors when developing policies, resources, and facilities to provide care in a culturally diverse society (Bedeschi-Lewando et al., 2021; Bradbury‐Jones & Isham, 2020).

Mirroring international literature (Esses & Hamilton, 2021; Hennebry & KC, 2020; Lin, 2020; Teixeira da Silva, 2020), some migrant women in our sample spoke of experiencing an increase in anti-immigrant sentiments and actions during the pandemic because of how the virus was framed (‘Chinese virus’) by the media and some leaders. This hostile context reduced and hindered some participants’ access to public services and leisure spaces, impacting their mental health (Teixeira da Silva, 2020; Wang et al., 2021). For example, Maryam experienced severe depression during lockdowns, and although she knew of the benefits of outdoor leisure and physical activity, she reduced her outdoor activities due to fear of racism-induced incidents (Clissold et al., 2020):

I’ve become extremely sensitive. I cry about small things. My doctor diagnosed me have severe anxiety and depression, prescribed me antidepressants and said ‘Go and get some fresh air, it’s good for you’ … I went outside for a walk, and someone shouted at me, screamed at me, I got terrified for my life. How do you expect me to have well-being when no one in the society accepts you?”. But one of my theories is that … they’re going through a lot as well. Like being isolated from family, and being in financial hardship. When they see someone who is weak, a small woman, who looks different to them, [I am] an easy target. So, they take their anger and frustration on you. If I was a stronger man, they wouldn’t dare to spit on my face, scream, or throw a beer bottle at me.

The incident highlights the impact of spatial context and emotions on facilitating or hindering people’s abilities to perform self-care and access care spaces (Näre, 2020). Feeling unaccepted, vulnerable, and fearful, Maryam stopped doing physical activities in public green spaces (i.e. parks) as she experienced racially motivated verbal and physical abuse several times. Other studies similarly found that exclusionary attitudes negatively impacted migrants’ emotional health, but also access to many public resources, including spaces for healthcare, leisure, recreation, and physical activity (Askins, 2015; Coen et al., 2021). Maryam observed a gendered aspect to such xenophobic abuses, with men being the primary offenders and women of colour, like herself, being the most targeted. It is highly probable that Maryam’s veil, as a Muslim woman, made her more visible and vulnerable to xenophobic attitudes (Dwyer, 2000; Hopkins, 2019). Maryam noted that these experiences intensified during the pandemic and she speculated that the perpetrators may be acting out of their own hardships, such as job loss or financial struggles exacerbated by COVID-19 (Hennebry & KC, 2020; Lin, 2020).

The pandemic had a significant impact on transnational and local carescapes, along with increased unpaid care responsibilities and experiences of social isolation, leading many women in our study to face mental health challenges such as anxiety, sleep disturbances, and depression (Brown et al., 2021). A strong theme was that many migrant women experienced feelings of loneliness and longing for additional emotional support while living separately from their traditional support networks (i.e. family, friends, community, and religious groups). Their stories underscore the importance of social support and community connections for emotional well-being in facing challenges like social isolation, depression, racism, and uncertainty. These highlight the importance of creating caring and supportive environments that foster empathy, compassion, and respect for diversity, which is essential for building a healthier and more equitable society.

Conclusion and policy implications

Using the framework of ‘care ecologies’ and insights from 12 migrant women, this paper sketches the intricate network of people, spaces, and policies involved in middle-class migrant women’s informal and unpaid care activities. The findings demonstrate how care-related policies during lockdowns, remote work, and border closures intersected with healthcare service shortages, affecting the complexity and intensity of migrant women’s caregiving responsibilities. These results highlight that unpaid care, at both transnational and local levels, is not solely determined by individual capacity and responsibility but is shaped collectively through social, economic, and political factors.

Our study highlighted the important role of highly-skilled migrant women’s unpaid care in providing emotional support and care for their social networks when official resources are lacking or overwhelmed (Bowlby & McKie, 2019; Degavre & Merla, 2016; Power & Herron, 2021). Their ability to how and when to (not) perform care is informed by their gender, social class, and cultural values. Moreover, our findings emphasized the critical role of emotion (i.e. love, compassion, care, guilt, exhaustion) in shaping the capacity of participants in performing care (Baldassar, 2015; Maehara, 2010; Parreñas, 2005).

Many migrant women in our research experienced mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and panic attacks during the pandemic, yet, did not have access to culturally appropriate resources and support (Mak et al., 2022). Addressing mental health challenges of migrant women during the pandemic requires targeted policies that acknowledge their invisible emotional labour and cater to their specific needs. Additionally, alternative approaches to combat social isolation caused by lockdowns and border closures should be explored. Organizations, community groups, and policymakers should organize multilingual and culturally appropriate resources, such as helplines, regular virtual social events, tailored online support groups, and cultural workshops to provide platforms ensuring emotional support and resource sharing for different groups of migrant women.

In conclusion, unless care is reconceptualized with the concerns of intersectionality and relationality among caringscape and carescape, then there can be little progress towards a more inclusive and equitable society (Tronto, 2013). We end the paper by calling for the investment in policies and strategies to be developed with, and for migrant women, with a more explicit focus on supporting migrant communities through the emotional, physical, and financial effects of such global health emergencies and crises. Yet, such initiatives must consider the complex ways that such events have, and continue to, impact migrant women differently. Critical to the pandemic and post-pandemic care ecologies, further research is needed that prioritizes migrant women’s intersectional lived experiences and invisible care practices both at home and in the homelands.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by internal funding from the University of Waikato and a Royal Society of New Zealand James Cook Fellowship (JCF-UOW2101).