Intersection of Canadian policy parameters affecting women with precarious immigration status: a baseline for understanding barriers to health.
Canadian federal policy provides a framework for the immigration and health experiences of immigrant women. The official immigration category under which a migrant is admitted determines to what degree her right to remain in the country (immigration status) is precarious. Women immigrants fall primarily into the more dependent categories and they experience barriers to access to health services arising from this precarious status. Federal immigration and health policies create direct barriers to health through regulation of immigrants' access to services as well as unintended secondary barriers. These direct and secondary policy barriers intersect with each other and with socio-cultural barriers arising from the migrant's socioeconomic and ethno-cultural background to undermine equitable access to health for immigrant women living in Canada.
Oxman-Martinez
Jacqueline
J
Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la violence familiale et la violence faite aux femmes, Université de Montréal, Case postale 0128, succursale Centre-ville Montréal, QC Canada, H3C 3J7. jacqueline.oxman-martinez@umontreal.ca
Hanley
Jill
J
Lach
Lucyna
L
Khanlou
Nazilla
N
Weerasinghe
Swarna
S
Agnew
Vijay
V
D002170:Canada; D003469:Culture; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D011287:Prejudice; D012935:Social Justice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016387:Women's Health