On chronic illness: immigrant women in Canada's work force--a feminist perspective

Data from a comparative ethnographic study were examined to define factors that influence the management of illness among Euro-Canadian and first-generation Chinese women in the Canadian labour force. Compared with Euro-Canadians, Chinese women had a lower level of education, and more of them held blue collar jobs. Many of them had reservations about disclosing their chronic health problem (diabetes) to coworkers and employers, some fearing job loss if this information was revealed. Life circumstances prevented some of these individuals from properly managing their illness. In many cases they had difficulty gaining access to health facilities, learned little from health professionals, and had few resources to help them understand their condition. These complex issues that add to the burden of living with a chronic illness are not always recognized by health professionals, whose interactions with immigrant women are not structured to reveal the social context of the patient's illness.