Each passing day, hundreds of newcomers enter Canada to begin their lives. They come in many forms, including refugees that flee their countries, those joining their relatives, and those seeking employment opportunities. The situation creates a serious settlement situation that should be addressed for the effective integration of newcomers. Theories that challenge marginalization, such as feminism, can play a key role in supporting settlement work with newcomers in Canada. Newcomers are among the marginalized groups that Bowell speaks about in the article, “Feminist Standpoint Theory.” According to the article, “feminist standpoint theories place relations between political and social power and knowledge center-stage” (Bowell). According to the author, addressing social and political issues should begin by challenging the power relations that emerge from socially constructed relationships, such as between the marginalized and the non-marginalized groups.
Effective efforts in settlement work with newcomers should begin by creating a new meaning to their situation and their place in the country. The article informs the need to help newcomers challenge the marginalization rhetoric and create a new meaning for their experience in the new country. Social workers should help struggling newcomers find a place for themselves and create a new meaning to their experience in the new environment. According to Bowell since marginalization is a socially constructed idea, it is possible to create new meanings and rhetoric in the social environment. Thus, newcomers can feel more at home in the new land instead of accepting the prevailing social constructs by constructing new understandings of their situations. The lived experiences of newcomers can also change if they change their standpoints and challenge the marginalization rhetoric.
The study is especially relevant to women who experience double discrimination in the receiving country. Women experience the integration challenge because of being marginalized as immigrants and also as women. Thus, social work should consider their plight and address the issue of migration in the care economy using the feminist standpoint model. They should strive to reconstruct the idea of immigration and gender equality to create a better place for female newcomers in Canada. Making Canada a better receiving country through more effective social work will improve newcomers’ well-being and general outcome. The change will also inform policy to make the country a care economy in which immigrants play a key role. The study calls for effective and coordinated policies that can enhance the ability of Canada to integrate newcomers as part of their society.
The research challenges Canadians to create a collective identity or consciousness that is more receptive to newcomers. For example, society can view them as an important part of the system from a functionalist perspective instead of a threat. The goal is achievable through the establishment of a standpoint as a social and political achievement. Creating new knowledge in social work and society, in general, will help the country to become more integrated. Newcomers will be more welcome in various spheres of life, including workplaces. They will be viewed as part of the collective effort to build a better Canada. The standpoint ideal will be used to create a caring environment that welcomes and cares for every individual to achieve the objective. At the same time, newcomers will feel more welcome and create new meanings to their migration experience. They will also be ready and willing to integrate and become part of Canadian society.
References
Bowell, T. Feminist Standpoint Theory, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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