“I’m Not a Refugee Girl, Call Me Bella”: Professional Refugee Women, Agency, Recognition, and Emancipation

Groutsis, D; Collins, J; Reid, C

“I’m Not a Refugee Girl, Call Me Bella”: Professional Refugee Women, Agency, Recognition, and Emancipation

Groutsis, D Collins, J

Reid, C

Permalink

Publisher:: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Business and Society, 2024, 63, (1), pp. 213-241
Issue Date:: 2024-01-01

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

Download Published versionAdobe PDF (567.63 kB)

View on publisher's site

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Groutsis, D
dc.contributor.author	Collins, J https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-9245
dc.contributor.author	Reid, C
dc.date.accessioned	2025-02-06T02:17:29Z
dc.date.available	2025-02-06T02:17:29Z
dc.date.issued	2024-01-01
dc.identifier.citation	Business and Society, 2024, 63, (1), pp. 213-241
dc.identifier.issn	0007-6503
dc.identifier.issn	1552-4205
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/184990
dc.description.abstract	The notion of refugees as a viable source of labor to address skill shortages in the destination country’s labor market has rarely been the dominant discourse on refugee entrants. Bella’s1 lived experience as a professional woman who arrived as a Syrian conflict refugee to Australia in 2017 presents an outlier in refugee research and challenges conventional scholarly wisdom and public discourse. A combination of human capital, a purposeful use of networks, supported by her desire for recognition and a deep sense of self-worth allowed her to navigate the formalized and structured Australian business landscape. Accordingly, she was able to overcome the stigma of being a refugee: Less worthy of employment status in a position representative of her overseas skills and qualifications. In drawing on an outlier methodology and critical theory, we develop a more nuanced understanding of the agency of skilled and qualified refugee women drawing attention to lessons for business which typically takes a “one size fits all” approach to labor integration.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP160101735
dc.relation.ispartof	Business and Society
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/00076503231205205
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1503 Business and Management
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management
dc.subject.classification	3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
dc.title	“I’m Not a Refugee Girl, Call Me Bella”: Professional Refugee Women, Agency, Recognition, and Emancipation
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	63
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2025-02-06T02:17:28Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	63
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

The notion of refugees as a viable source of labor to address skill shortages in the destination country’s labor market has rarely been the dominant discourse on refugee entrants. Bella’s1 lived experience as a professional woman who arrived as a Syrian conflict refugee to Australia in 2017 presents an outlier in refugee research and challenges conventional scholarly wisdom and public discourse. A combination of human capital, a purposeful use of networks, supported by her desire for recognition and a deep sense of self-worth allowed her to navigate the formalized and structured Australian business landscape. Accordingly, she was able to overcome the stigma of being a refugee: Less worthy of employment status in a position representative of her overseas skills and qualifications. In drawing on an outlier methodology and critical theory, we develop a more nuanced understanding of the agency of skilled and qualified refugee women drawing attention to lessons for business which typically takes a “one size fits all” approach to labor integration.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/184990