Describe the significance of the term “small, foreign and female” and what it helps us understand regarding immigration flows and the relationship between labor market and immigration? Provide examples.

Describe the significance of the term “small, foreign and female”

 The term “small, foreign and female” in the gender module refers to the Asian and Dominican women immigrants in the United States of America working in the service sector as low-skilled or unskilled immigrants. This term is a stereotyped view of the gendered labor market of the United States. The term is very significant in the sense that if shows how do the service sector in the receiving country selects the immigrant workers.  It means that they are selected due to their smaller size to accommodate more of them in a smaller space. Foreign refers to the immigrants and female refers to the gender. The majority of the foreign females are inducted in the service sector due to the fact that they are from a socio-cultural background where they are discriminated based on gender and already have experienced vulnerable situations in their sending countries. Hence these small foreign females will always be considered as ready for working longer hours, with little wages, and occupying little space. It helps us understand that due to the high demand of the small foreign females in the service industry, more and more flow of the immigrant women continues and that the labor market is exploiting their cultural vulnerabilities which on one hand is promoting gendered labor market and on the other hand is promoting shortage of labor for men.