Strangers in a Strange Land: Indian Jewish Women, Paid and Unpaid Work and Families in Canada

This chapter explores the obstacles that Indian Jewish women faced in the immigration and settlement process in Toronto between 1964 and 1980. I argue that the feminization of domestic labour created new and unforeseen challenges for Indian Jewish women in family life in the aftermath of arriving in Toronto. These challenges reflect not simply that they became solely responsible for the mundane performance of domestic labor and childcare, but also the importance of these tasks in maintaining Indian Jewish culture and identity within families in the aftermath of settlement and in the present (An earlier version of this chapter originally appeared as “Negotiating New Territory: Indian Jewish Women and the Family in Toronto,” Canadian Jewish Studies, 26 (2018), pp. 31–55. Reprinted by permission of the editor).