The study of Indian immigration, particularly from Tamil Nadu to America, is fascinating because it inherently shows the gendered divide in migrants’ ambitions. The set of push and pull factors for male migrants from India are quiet career-focused, while for female migrants it is mainly marriage-focused. The success of Indian Americans present challenges to traditional American racial structures for people of color. Although Indian females who immigrate internationally are able to moderate traditional familial hierarchy and power in Indian households, gender structures under the liminality framework described by Turner are still reproduced: a woman’s reaggregation into society is dependent on a successful marriage alliance.
According to Chakravorty’s studies of Indian immigrants in the US, Asian Indians have the highest median income, highest occupation prestige scores, and highest levels of educational attainment (Chakravorty 2016). This perceived socioeconomic advantage leads Indians aspiring to migrate to America to focus on the positive aspects of migration.
Logistically, immigrating from India to America has become far easier after the Hart-Celler Act (the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965) (Chakravorty 2016). The Hart-Celler Act ended the national origin quota system and introduced an immigration policy that selected immigrants based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor. Immigration admission based upon qualifications of the applicant and the needs of the US works favorably for immigration candidates of Indian origin since they are generally highly educated and technically trained (Chakravorty 2016; Helweg 2002). Some Indians who come to America to study higher education obtain a J1 Student Visa; if they decide to immigrate to America, they face the challenge of having to return to India and reapply for their Visa to return to America (Helweg 2002). The three waves of Indian migration – early movers, family-based migrants, and the IT generation – have contributed to the skilled labor demand in America (Chakravorty 2016; Helweg 2002). Indian immigrants’ rapid economic assimilation and entrepreneurial success have produced a prosperous Indian community in America (Chakravorty 2016).
Although the Indian American community has become one of the most economically flourishing communities in the last 50 years, the Indian immigrants who have such career-focused ambitions are mainly men. Three main factors that Indian males consider while immigrating to America are socioeconomic mobility, maintenance of tradition, and psychosocial well-being. Since the views of a typical middle-class Indian family entail the sons being raised into breadwinners who will take care of their aging parents, a lot of pressure is placed on Indian men to achieve upward socioeconomic mobility (Karupiah 2018, 336). Thus, Indian men who immigrate to America not only acquire economic mobility through higher-paying jobs and more financial opportunities but also achieve social mobility through remittance – sending money to their family in India (Karupiah 2018, 326). More financial stability allows male immigrants to “improve the conditions of their family home[,] to help their parents with the cost of educating their siblings[,] and to help with the marriage of their of their female siblings” ( Karupiah 2018, 333). International migration is an appealing option to Indian males because Indian society closely associates it with upward mobility. Indian families often worry that their sons emigrating from India will find maintaining traditions difficult. However, research indicates that Indian immigrants express “intentions to maintain strong connections with both the origin and destination countries” (Karupiah 2018, 332). For example, Indian male immigrants often return to India “to attend functions and festivals…[and] marry someone of their parents’ choice” (Karupiah 2018, 332). Indian male immigrants are also usually in close contact with their families (Karupiah 2018, 332). Although a challenge male immigrants face is being unable to actively contribute in-person to their households in India, they strongly adhere to many other traditional expectations of Indian sons. Immigration is also treated by Indians as a dream that will fulfill psychosocial aspirations. For example, Tamil films often portray a comfortable life in America, fantasizing immigration to America as the “the epitome of success” (Karupiah 2018, 324). This sheds insight on how prestigious it is considered in India to have family members who have immigrated to America (Helweg 2002). There is also a strong belief among Indians that they will generally be happier in a new place with better pay (Karupiah 2018, 332). Youths are socialized to pursue migration as a goal in their lives since migration is seen as a route to not only more economic success but also happier futures (Karupiah 2018, 340). While international migration started as an economic opportunity for Indian immigrants, it has now become institutionalized in origin communities as a culturally accepted and encouraged ambition for young men.
Due to the Indian American community's socioeconomic success, Indian Americans are perceived quite differently from other colored racial minorities in America. The Indian American community challenges traditional notions of colored racial groups in America. Perhaps cultural attitudes and norms are more similar to those of whites than to those of blacks as shown by survey data that illustrates that “social attitudes of Asian-Americans on a number of issues are closer to those of whites than blacks” (Omi 2008, 1). Unlike many other racial minorities who have historically immigrated to America for unskilled labor – thus, allowing for negative stigmas against those racial minorities regarding their inherent inferiority– Indians largely immigrated to fulfill the demands of skilled labor in America. Having “achieved parity with whites with respect to income and levels of education”, they are able to “distance themselves from other groups of color” (Omi 2008, 2). Instead, the negative stigmas for Indian Americans are not ones that deem them “racially or culturally inferior”, but instead those that perceive them as “unfair competitors who do ‘too well’ and acquire social advantages and secure prized material resources as a result” (Omi 2008, 3). Indian-Americans have a remarkable presence in secondary educational institutions, which is what leads to their strong representation in skilled labor. “While Asian-Americans compose less than 5 percent of the US population, a sizable and increasingly visible percentage of students at elite private and public universities throughout the country are Asian-American” (Omi 2008, 2). Indian Americans challenge American notions of “whiteness” since “white” and “superior” were often synonymous with each other during many points of American history. We can either claim that the “category of ‘white’ is expanding to include Indian-Americans” or that the “notion of whiteness” remains to polarize poverty, violence, and other features associated with “non-whites” (Omi 4, 2008). Either way, the success of the Indian American community challenges a racially discriminatory history found in previous American legislature that was supported by scientific racism, social Darwinism, and white supremacy.
While Indian male immigration is career-based, Indian female immigration to the United States often occurs through marriage. Female immigrants experience mobility through marriage and more freedom to decide which aspects of traditions they want to maintain and break away from. For Indian women, socioeconomic mobility is largely dependent on who they marry. Arranged marriage is an important process in which the entire family participates in searching for a suitable husband for their daughter. “Middle-class Tamil Brahmans [show] a strong preference for arrang[ing] marriage alliances for their daughters with Indians residing in the US or Canada” (Karupiah 2018, 327). Many Indian women also express excitement about the idea of living in another country (Karupiah 2018, 331). Furthermore, the socioeconomic success of their husbands and households in America gives female immigrants the opportunity to “fulfill some [of their] social and material aspirations” (Karupiah 334). In a traditional Indian household, the newly-married wife of the son is expected to not only obey her husband but also serve his parents and extended family. Women are able to escape the gendered hierarchy and power structure built in traditional Indian families by moving to America, providing them a newfound sense of freedom. Maintenance of tradition is important to many female immigrants as seen by how they choose to remain “closely connected to [their] family through frequent phone calls and sharing of experiences on how [they maintain] family traditions in a foreign land” (Karupiah 2018, 332). The physical distance between India and America prevents the extended family from becoming involved in the nuclear family’s personal matters, so the husband and wife are able to interact with each other and make decisions without their extended family’s involvement. In interviews conducted by sociologist Premalatha Karupiah, “many female participants felt that being away from their family would strengthen the husband-wife relationship and help them learn from each other. They would value each other’s views in decision-making because they do not always need to seek approval from their family” (Karupiah 2018, 334). Although women may be detracted from immigrating to America because of the great distance from India and their financial dependence on their spouse (often a new groom), many choose this path to fulfill their families’ wishes and mobilize immigration for other family members.
Through immigration, females escape the traditional Indian extended family structure and can, therefore, negotiate new gender roles (Karupiah 2018, 334). Typically, newly-wed couples live with the groom's’ parents; the new bride is subordinated to her husband and parents-in-law; however, territorial dislocation through migration allows new brides to experience less hierarchical relationships. New roles for husband and wife can be negotiated by the wife so that there is “more sharing of decision-making and household chores and more egalitarian gender roles” (Karupiah 2018, 335). Therefore, marriage in Indian immigrant families is an “important site where gender hierarchies are produced and reproduced” (Karupiah 2018, 335). While society's primary expectation for a woman in life is to get married, the level of subordination to their husbands and his family can be negotiated through long-distance migration. Women can choose to make their marriage a personal interaction between husband and wife rather than engaging in traditional involvement of the extended family.
Although female immigration reflects more freedom exercised by women through lack of social constraints, the underlying gender structure under the liminality framework of Turner is reproduced. The liminal phase (removal from society) for most Indian – especially Tamilian – women begins when a woman starts menstruating. The liminal phase ends and the reaggregation period (reintegration into society with a new status) begins for women when they become sumangalis (married women). Whether they immigrate to the United States to live with their new spouse or marry someone in India, a woman is symbolically only assimilated into society with a structured role when she becomes a wife and eventual mother. This fundamental duty of women reveals that even international immigration and resultant exposure to various cultures do not alter the traditional expectation of Indian females: to get married. Furthermore, many women become homemakers after immigrating to the United States, so traditional responsibilities taught to daughters as they prepare to enter the reaggregation period are preserved: preparation for “motherhood and household management” (Karupiah 2018, 336). Female Indian immigration offers women the flexibility to transform relationships with the spouse and extended family but preserves the rigid gender structure in Indian society that includes the expectation that women should get married.
Indian immigration reveals gendered paths of how men and women immigrate to America: career-focused versus marriage-focused migration. Both men and women achieve upward mobility through socioeconomic opportunity and marriage respectively. The immigration of women through marriage highlights that societal expectations of women do not change even with geographical dislocation. Perhaps, the next generation of Indian-Americans will challenge traditional gender structures in India, alleviating the pressure on women to get married in order to seek upward mobility.