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C 2005) Sex Roles, Vol. 53, Nos. 11/12, December 2005 ( DOI: 10.1007/s11199-005-8297-z

Immigration, Gender, and Psychosocial Adjustment: A Study of 150 Immigrant Couples in Israel Larissa Remennick1

Research on gender differences in the process of psychosocial adjustment of recent immigrants is scant. This study was designed to assess occupational, social, and personal/psychological aspects of adjustment to life in Israel among 150 heterosexual couples that immigrated together from the former Soviet Union after 1990. The mean age of participants was 46, over 60% had postsecondary education, and have lived in Israel for the average of 9 years. The study included a structured survey and in-depth interviews with 15 couples. The results suggest that overall levels of adjustment and well-being reported by men and women are rather similar, although they take somewhat different paths toward social integration. Men were doing better in the economic/occupational domain, whereas women were more active in the social domain (e.g., building their personal networks, exploring new lifestyles). Both men and women had experienced occupational downgrading in Israel, but more women worked in physically-demanding jobs such as geriatric nursing and cleaning. Women suffered a more dramatic occupational downgrading than men, as well as lower job security and under/unemployment. Yet, they showed more flexibility and tolerance of their new work roles. No tangible gender differences have been found in the general indicators of psychosocial well-being and overall satisfaction with life in Israel. Processes of social adjustment among immigrants from the former Soviet Union may be less gendered than in other immigrant communities, reflecting more egalitarian gender relations in the Russian/Soviet culture. KEY WORDS: immigration; gender; psychosocial adjustment.

Immigration is undoubtedly a stressful life event for most migrants and refugees, who face both multiple losses in the homeland and various challenges and barriers in the receiving country (Buijs, 1993; Kelson & DeLaet, 1999; Simon, 2001). Many migrants with low social capital, especially women, suffer from the lack of linguistic and cultural skills, unemployment, poverty, ethnic prejudice, social isolation in immigrant enclaves, and low access to social mobility tracks in the hosting society. Many former homemakers have to join the lower tiers of the labor market taking dead-end manual or service

jobs, where they meet mainly other migrants and seldom advance in their social and linguistic skills (Andrews, Ybarra, & Miramontes, 2002; Foner, 2001; Yu Zhou, 2000). An emerging theme in the feminist discourse on gender is transnational migration of women as domestic workers, caregivers, entertainers, and sex industry workers, with the emphasis on global inequalities, empowerment, and relations between Western middle class women and their Third World employees (Erhenreich & Hochschild, 2002; Espiritu, 2003; Pessar & Mahler, 2003). Many feminist scholars have described immigrant women’s experiences as double jeopardy (Pessar, 1995; Simon, 2001). Working full-time, most immigrant women continue to shoulder full responsibility for home chores and children. It is no wonder

1 To

whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 RamatGan, Israel; e-mail: [email protected].

847

C 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 0360-0025/05/1200-0847/0

848 that few female migrants, even those who were educated in their homeland (e.g., Chinese women in New York interviewed by Yu Zhou, 2000 or Filipina women in Espiritu’s, 2003 study), manage to climb the occupational ladder in Western economies. Men usually have greater chances to learn host language and new trades, open small businesses, and explore other economic opportunities. Meantime, their wives work the second shift at home, take care of the children and elders, and tend to all mundane matters of daily living (Remennick, 1999a, 1999b). At the same time, immigrant women’s support networks, embedded in extended family and friends, dwindle upon resettlement, which leaves them to struggle alone with their multiple roles (Erhenreich & Hochschild, 2002; Simon, 2001). Immigration from non-Western countries to the West usually entails drastic change in gender environment for the newcomers: their exposure to feminist ideas and sexual liberty, on the one hand, and sexual harassment, on the other (Pessar & Mahler, 2003). Although immigrant men also experience ethnic prejudice and blocked social mobility, they are at least spared negative gender stereotyping and/or sexual exploitation, as well as the constant need to juggle the conflicting moral values of the old and new cultures in the realm of femininity, sexuality, and fertility (Remennick, 1999a). Burdened with demanding physical tasks and emotional burnout both at work and in the home, immigrant women often suffer from a host of somatic and mental illnesses. Exposure to many risk factors is combined with self-neglect as these women see themselves primarily as caregivers to men and children, not to themselves. Several studies of female immigrants have shown higher rates of depression, chronic illness, and underutilization of the host country’s health services, especially preventive care, than among non-immigrant women (Anderson, Dyck, & Lynam, 1997; Remennick, 1999b; Gross, BrammliGreenberg, & Remennick, 2001; Hyman & Guruge, 2000). Several scholars included gender comparisons in their studies of psychosocial adjustment and mental health among Asian and Latina immigrants in the US and Canada (see a critical review of this literature by Salant & Lauderdale, 2003), as well as in general health indices among immigrant populations (e.g., Gross et al., 2001; Newbold, 2003). Despite broad variance in these studies’ target populations and methods, many of them have shown that the least integrated immigrant women manifest the poorest outcomes in terms of both physical and mental health.

Remennick In Israel and the US, the research on Soviet immigrants’ well-being has been dominated by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists (Aroian, Norris, & Chiang, 2003; Horenczyk, 2000; Mirsky, Barash, & Goldberg, 1992; Ritsner, Ponizovsky, Kurs, & Modai, 2000; Ritsner, Ponizovsky, Nechamkin, & Modai, 2001; Zilber & Lerner, 1996), who used various standardized inventories to assess demographic differences in distress, demoralization, somatization, and other mental health outcomes, which often showed women’s disadvantage. However, beyond some specific indicators of health and distress, there is paucity of less technical and broadly-framed social research on gender differentials in psychosocial adaptation process and its costs among recent immigrants.

Russian/Soviet Gender Culture and Immigration Although the educational level of Russian/ Soviet women is somewhat higher than that of men, their careers typically end in the lower or middle tiers of the professional pyramid. Despite their universal full-time employment (over 85% in the late 1990s), women’s domestic roles were preserved as a core of their feminine identity, whereas men’s place in the home was secondary and marginal. Although Russian women often lament men’s estrangement from domestic roles, most of them endorsed the traditional role division as “natural” and did little to change it (Ashwin, 2002; Maddock, Hoggan, Antonov, & Matskovsky, 1994). As a result of their harsh “training,” women generally performed better within unstable micro-economy (e.g., in “hunting” for food and other supplies), and they usually managed the family budget. In addition, women were often better at navigating the Soviet bureaucracy and managed their families’ contacts with welfare, medical, and other institutions. Their know-how put many women in a position of actual family head and decision-maker, whereas their male partners, unable to play their prescribed gender role, were rendered passive and dependent (Ashwin, 2002; Buckley, 1997). It is hardly surprising that about 70% of divorces in the former Soviet Union (FSU) were initiated by women, who could provide for themselves and their children, often with the help of their parents (Maddock et al., 1994). These processes have been augmented by the advent of market forces and economic instability during the 1990s. Many men, whose breadwinning roles were further challenged by unemployment, job

Immigration, Gender, and Psychosocial Adjustment

849

insecurity, and plummeting wages during the postcommunist era, found themselves in the limbo, with no clear identity or anchor in life. Women suffered similar or greater damage to their work lives, but still felt responsible for breadwinning, household managing, and hands-on care for the young, old, and sick. In the early 1990s, many women became de-facto sole breadwinners (Kiblitskaya, 2000). To make ends meet, they doubled their economic efforts, often by taking several part-time jobs unrelated to their qualifications; men were still passive at home, even when unemployed or working part-time. Many Russian men felt displaced and disgraced, and succumbed to depression and heavy drinking, which took a toll on their health and longevity (Ashwin & Lytkina, 2004). There are many interesting parallels between gender relations and the work/home divide in postcommunist Russia and among Russian immigrants who found themselves in the capitalist marketplace in the US, Canada, Germany, Israel, and other host countries. During the 1990s, Israel alone hosted about 900,000 former Soviet immigrants from the deteriorating post-communist states (CBS—Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel, 2002). Russian Jews had very high rates of postsecondary education (over 60%), and most of them had worked in professions or civil service before emigration. Due to skill incompatibility, poor command of the host language, and market saturation in many professions, a large share of educated immigrants had to downgrade into manual or semi-skilled occupations (Raijman & Semyonov, 1997; Remennick, 2003b). In Western economies, trade/sales and service-oriented work (the so called pink-collar sector) is both soaring and increasingly feminized, and immigrant women often turned out to have more marketable skills than their male counterparts. In all host countries, the demand for personal services (mainly geriatric/disabled nursing and cleaning) is vast and growing due to population aging and high employment rates of local middle-class women, who hire other (lower status) women for household services (Espiritu, 2003; Erhenreich & Hochschild, 2002). Due to their rigid gender stereotypes, men from the FSU find it very hard to convert to traditionally feminine service occupations, and show less flexibility in their job search. At the same time, the market for masculine unskilled or semi-skilled jobs in industry and construction is shrinking in all developed countries, which has left many men (both native and immigrant) unemployed (Friedberg, 2001). Like

their counterparts who have remained in Russia and Ukraine, many immigrant women in Israel had to shoulder responsibility for their family income while their husbands were looking for qualified work or at least for jobs defined as “masculine” (e.g., security guards). Women’s own efforts in the professional domain had to be put aside, and rather often the loss of these initial years meant that they never regained their careers (Remennick, 1999a, 1999b). The Present Study Drawing on this background, the present study tried to shed more light on the gendered process of social and economic accommodation and perceived psychosocial well-being among recent immigrants from the FSU in Israel. The chief hypothesis guiding this research was that although women experience greater losses in immigration (in terms of occupational downgrading, dwindling social support, role ` overload, and health problems) vis-a-vis their male counterparts, their psychosocial adjustment to the new life is often more expedient and comprehensive. Earlier research among former Soviet immigrants in Israel (see Horenczyk, 2000; Mirsky et al., 1992; Raijman & Semyonov, 1997; Remennick, 1999a, 1999b, 2003a, 2003b, 2003c, 2003d; Remennick & Shakhar, 2003) suggested that men and women might have different priorities in the process of adjustment and take different paths to social incorporation in the new country. Yet, given paucity of published research directly comparing men and women as immigrants, and the mixed qualitative–quantitative design of this study, no formal hypotheses have been set forward for testing. Rather, the study explored several related research questions, juxtaposing the facts, attitudes, and perceptions of immigration experiences reported by men and women in the realms of work, family life, social networks, involvement with the new society, psychosocial well-being, and general assessment of the gains and losses as a result of immigration.

METHOD Participants Studying gender differentials in the process of immigrant adjustment by comparing two

850 independent samples of men and women from the same origin country is problematic due to the broad variance in their sociodemographic and personal characteristics. Heterogeneity of social backgrounds in the gender-specific samples compared in the earlier studies often complicated interpretation of the findings (Ritsner et al., 2001; Aroian et al., 2003). Married or cohabiting couples were selected as a target group for this study on the assumption that intimate partners typically have similar backgrounds (ethnicity, city of origin, education) and share many experiences and lifestyle features, both before and after migration. It was assumed that the effects of gender on adjustment in the new society would be less confounded by multiple unknown or immeasurable factors, if we compared husbands and wives. To glean multiple perspectives on the issue of immigration and gender (if not full triangulation), both structured and in-depth approaches have been used in the study design. The first phase was a survey of a sample of immigrant couples, with subsequent nested in-depth interviews among couples who agreed to be re-contacted. One hundred and fifty heterosexual couples were sampled using a combined approach that drew on institutional frames (workplaces, labor/welfare offices, cultural venues) and personal networks of the researcher and her assistants—female Russian-speaking students of sociology. Participants were recruited in six towns across Israel that have a dense immigrant presence. They had to meet four criteria: (1) Both partners were of working age, between 30 and 60 years (younger respondents were not included as they had been in their early 20s at migration and their social incorporation was presumably easier); (2) they must have immigrated together from the FSU after 1990; (3) they have lived in Israel for at least 3 years (a typical period of initial adjustment—Remennick, 2003a); and (4) both partners must have been of European (Ashkenazi) origin. Immigrants from the Caucasus and other non-Ashkenazi Soviet Jews, who made about 18% among the arrivals of the 1990s, were not included as their social profile and family lifestyles are very different and merit a separate study. The resulting sample of 300 respondents was non-random, but its composition reflected rather well the sociodemographic profile of former Soviet immigrants of working age in Israel (CBS, 2002).

Remennick Procedure The research assistants administered the survey face-to-face in participants’ homes; men and women answered it separately without consulting each other. The structured questionnaire in Russian has been specially designed for the study, but it included some items used in the author’s earlier research among this population (Remennick, 2003a, 2003c). Thirty-three questions referred to the following domains: (1) Personal and family background; (2) education and work experience before and after immigration; (3) job satisfaction and security; (4) self-rated material wealth (income, living conditions); (5) self-rated command and use of Hebrew; (6) informal social networks and leisure; (7) basic indicators of wellbeing (physical and mental health, satisfaction with family life; perceived social adjustment in Israel; satisfaction with children’s life); (8) reactions to Israeli realities (on-going military conflict and security problems); interest in Israeli politics, media, and cultural life; (9) overall perception of the gains and losses in several domains as a result of immigration, and (10) the intentions to stay in Israel. Most items were framed as questions with 10-point scales for the answers, for example: “To what extent are you concerned about losing your current job?” (1—not concerned at all; 10—very much concerned). The questionnaire was pre-tested in interviews with seven immigrant couples, and has been found coherent and valid (Cronbach’s alpha .87). Data were processed using standard SPSS procedures (frequencies, mean scores of the 10-point scales, t-tests of difference, cross-tabulations), as well as calculation of odds (deltas) between men’s and women’s responses for individual variables and combined indexes to estimate the gender gap in perceptions and practices. The qualitative phase included 15 couples who expressed greater interest in the study and volunteered for longer semi-structured interviews.Partners/spouses were interviewed (by the author) separately using a list of topics related to several questionnaire items that implied complex subjective interpretations, mainly in the realms of job satisfaction, informal social networks, psychological well-being, and cultural interests. An average interview lasted for about 2 h and informants were compensated for their time. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim for subsequent thematic analysis by means of a codebook technique described by Crabtree and Miller (1992).

Immigration, Gender, and Psychosocial Adjustment RESULTS

851 Table I. Participants’ Characteristics (Rounded Percentages and Means)

Socio-Demographic Profile of Participants Like former Soviet immigrants in general, most respondents came from the large cities of Russia and Ukraine, including 15% from Moscow and St. Petersburg. About 45% had arrived between 1990 and 1992 and 90% before 1999; by the time of the study they had lived in Israel for an average of 9 years. Most couples (83%) had at least one child living with them (the average was 1.6 children, most of whom were in their late teens or early 20s). The educational and occupational profile of this group is typical of Soviet Jews: over 60% hold academic degrees, and the majority had worked in technology/ industry/R&D, education, and medicine. The main characteristics of respondents are summarized in Table I.

Occupational Adjustment and Income Many Soviet Jews, generally and in this sample, had been professionals in science, health care, education, law, culture, and the media; only about 7% had had blue-collar occupations before emigration (see Table I). In Israel, most participants could not practice their former occupations due to the relatively high mean age in the sample (46 years for both genders), as well as other predicaments common to educated migrants from non-Western countries (e.g., skill incompatibility and the need for licensure; see Remennick, 2003b). Upon migration, more women than men found it impossible to regain their former professions and retrained into female-dominated market niches such as banking, sales, insurance, tourism, and “human services” occupations (mainly social work and eldercare). Men in similar circumstances typically downgraded to technical and blue-collar occupations in the industry. The gendered process of occupational adjustment is reflected in Table I. To measure the extent of downward occupational mobility, a three-step scale was designed on the basis of comparison between respondents’ last pre-emigration job title in the FSU and their current or last job in Israel. The categories were: (1) no change in the occupational status: e.g., an engineer works in his old field or converts to another branch of engineering; (2) one step down, i.e., from professional to clerical/technical/semi-skilled (e.g., from physician to paramedic; from teacher to bank

Men Women (N = 150) (N = 150) Age groups 30–40 41–50 51–60 Mean age at the time of study (years) Mean age at migration (years) Mean no. of years spent in Israel No. of children living with the couple Education Elementary (>8 years) Secondary or technical (10–12 years) Undergraduate or MA (15 years) Ph.D. Former occupation in the FSU Engineers Other technical & industrial occupations (with/without academic degree) Education workers Physicians, dentists, and pharmacists Nurses and paramedics Scientists and academics Economists, lawyers, and civil servants w/academic degree Culture, arts and media workers Blue-collar and the military Others Current occupation in Israel Engineers Technicians and skilled workers Education (formal and informal) Physicians, dentists, pharmacists Nurses and paramedics Banking, insurance and sales clerks Office workers of different kinds Blue-collar (unskilled or semi-skilled) Personal services (practical nursing, cleaning, etc.) Unemployed

20 39 41 49 41 9 1.6

26 44 30 44 36 9 1.6

4 31

3 30

62

66

3

1

42 28

27 17

5 4 2 2 3

21 3 7 3 6

2 9 4

7 2 7

14 26 2 4 4 5 2 16 15

7 8 7 3 7 11 8 4 30

12

15

clerk); and (3) two steps down, i.e., from professional/skilled white-collar to blue-collar or manual (e.g., from R&D, scientist, lecturer, or journalist to manufacture/cleaning/elder nursing). Table II shows that women have experienced more drastic downward mobility than men, as they less often retained their old occupation and more often downgraded two steps down the ladder. They also had poorer terms of employment, lower wages, and higher job insecurity than men. Despite that, women reported similar or even higher satisfaction with some aspects of their

852 Table II.

Remennick Some Characteristics of Employment and Job Satisfaction among Men and Women Men Women (N = 150) (N = 150)

Mean number of jobs that respondents have had in Israel Percentage of currently unemployed Measures of occupational downgrading No downgrading (%) One step down (%) Two steps down (%) No. of years at current/last job Job stability (perceived chances for keeping this job in the near future—1 lowest, 10 highest) Job satisfaction in the following respects (1 lowest, 10 highest) Contents (interest, self-actualization) Chances for promotion Wages Human relations, atmosphere

2.8

3.5

12

15

25 53 22 4.7

17 42 41 3.6

7.2

5.3

6.5 4.8 (NS) 6.9 6.1

5.7 4.7 (NS) 5.5 8.3

Note. All differences, except those marked as NS, are significant at p < .005.

work (especially human relations and atmosphere), which implies greater flexibility and adaptation to a new occupational and social environment, or, alternatively, lower expectations and ambitions at the outset (see Table II). To assess their perceived living standards, respondents were asked to rate their family income and material well-being on a 10-point scale: first relative to other Russian immigrants, and then versus native Israelis (i.e., persons born and/or raised in Israel and native speakers of Hebrew) of comparable social status such as co-workers or neighbors. Men and women gave similar estimates of their financial well-being, with the means that were significantly (p < .005) higher in comparison to other immigrants (6.6 for men, 6.3 for women; SD 2.3 and 2.5) than to native Israelis (4.7 and 4.9, respectively; SD 3.3 and 3.7). About 66% of the couples lived in an apartment or house that they owned, and the rest lived in rented dwellings. This rate of home ownership is rather high for recent migrants, but still lower than among native Israelis (75%—CBS, 2002). About 27% of the respondents (women more often than men) expressed concerns as to their future ability to meet mortgage payments due to low income, retirement, or unemployment, and feared losing their home. A private car was owned by 70% of the couples, roughly similar to the Israeli average, but only 38% of the wives had a driver’s license (vs. 67%

of Israeli Jewish women in general—CBS, 2002), so most cars were used by men. In sum, despite occupational downgrading and financial concerns, most couples described their living standards as average and fair, albeit lower than they observed among their Israeli social peers. This is in line with the objective data, which shows that in the late 1990s the average income in the Russian immigrant households was about 40% lower than in native Israeli ones (CBS, 2002).

Language Proficiency, Socializing, and Leisure To develop personal ties with members of the host society and achieve social mobility, immigrants need to master the host language, in our case Hebrew. Respondents were asked to self-rate their Hebrew proficiency on a 10-point scale (where 10 is excellent), separately for oral skills and literacy. Women reported better language skills on both dimensions: the mean for speaking and comprehension of Hebrew was 7.2 and for reading and writing was 5.8; respective values for men were 5.9 and 5.1 (differences significant at p < .05). Earlier sociolinguistic studies of Hebrew acquisition have shown high correspondence between self-reported and objectively-tested language skills, as well as higher oral proficiency among women than men (Olshtain & Kotic, 2000; Remennick, 2003a). Women’s advantage in the pace of linguistic adjustment may reflect immigrant women’s role as social agents for their families: they frequently come in touch with various social institutions in the new country—schools, clinics, welfare agencies, etc. Women also tend to engage in occupations that include human contact (e.g., in personal services), whereas men often work in “silent” technical jobs that do not facilitate the improvement of their Hebrew. Women in this sample also manifested a higher propensity for informal socializing and denser per` sonal networks vis-a-vis their male partners. Although a similar share of men and women reported having mainly co-ethnic immigrant friends (72 and 68%), women’s informal circle more often included both “Russians” and native Israelis (29% of women vs. 19% of men, p < .05). Respondents were asked to estimate a number of new friends they had acquired after moving to Israel; women’s average was about 10, and men’s about 6 new friends (p < .05). As a result of their greater number of informal contacts, women spend more time talking on the phone


853

and meeting with their friends (an average of 8 h per week, vs. 5 h for men, p < .05). Men more often spent their free time on weekends and holidays at home (63%, vs. 57% of women), whereas women more often went out with their friends for shopping, movies, exhibitions, etc. (42% vs. 28% of men, p < .05 in both cases). About 40% of the couples reported often going out together, taking joint trips around Israel, and hiking, with or without the children. Thus, women in this study manifested greater sociability and denser informal networks, with both fellow immigrants and native Israelis. This may have been both the reason and the outcome of their higher fluency in Hebrew. It might also point to the women’s greater general sociability and readiness for exploring new social milieu, despite their imperfect Hebrew. Men in similar situations of social trial and error might be less outgoing due to the fear of social failure and embarrassment. These findings reinforce gender differences in the patterns of language use and socializing that have been shown in earlier sociolinguistic and ethnographic research (Coates, 1993; Saville-Troike, 1989).

Table III. Selected Indicators of Psychosocial Well-Being, Expressed as Means on 10-point Scale (1 lowest, 10 highest)

Family Cohesion and Psychological Well-Being Immigration is a harsh experience that often puts marital relations under strain; couples who used to have some “cracks in the relationship” before emigration often drift further apart (Slutzki, 1979). Marital conflict is especially common when both husband and wive are educated and hope to regain their careers; their differential success may become a cause of marital stress and eventually dissolution. Other common sources of conflict among Russian immigrants include co-residence with the parents, disagreement about the children’s education (e.g., in a religious or secular framework), and financial disputes. As a result, divorce rates among immigrant couples are higher than in the host majority (BenDavid & Lavee, 1994; Remennick, 1999a). Men and women in the present study were generally content with their family life, but men reported somewhat higher satisfaction levels than women. The reported levels of satisfaction were: for relationship with the spouse—8.6 and 8.0 among men and women, respectively; for relationship with children—8.7 and 7.9; for the general atmosphere at home—8.4 and 7.8 (none of these differences were statistically significant). The overall positive picture of family life in this sam-

Self-rated state of general health Usual mood and disposition Usual stamina and energy Sociability, interest in others Optimism General adaptation in Israel ∗ Significant

Men (N = 150)

Women (N = 150)

7.3 7.1 7.4 6.4∗ 7.2∗ 6.9

6.4 6.7 7.0 8.3∗ 6.1∗ 7.2

difference at p < .05.

ple may partly reflect a selection process, whereby more conflict-prone couples had already split and are no longer together after several years of life in Israel. A number of questionnaire items addressed general psychosocial well-being of immigrant men and women in a more holistic and less technical manner than was previously done by means of standard psychological inventories. The results are shown in Table III. In agreement with the earlier psychosocial research in this community (e.g., Mirsky et al., 1992; Ritsner et al., 2001; Zilber & Lerner, 1996), women were doing somewhat worse than men in most respects, especially in optimism. At the same time, they scored higher than men on sociability and interest in other people, which may be a source of positive feelings and experiences. This issue will be further discussed in the qualitative section. Several items dealt with respondents’ reactions to Israeli realities and their interest in the life of the mainstream Israeli society as signs of social integration. Respondents were asked to what extent they were worried/anxious about current security problems in Israel since the second Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000. On a 10-point scale (where 10 is most worried), the mean for men’s answers was 8.1 and for women’s 8.6 (not a significant difference). Adding to this high level of anxiety is the fact that 31% of the couples had at least one child in the military, either in the regular service or reserve duty. About 20% of respondents had someone in their social network whose child or other relative was killed or seriously wounded in combat or in a terrorist attack. It is interesting to note that high levels of anxiety about personal security went hand in hand with relatively high levels of optimism in both men and women (see Table III). Respondents were asked next to what extent they were following current political events in and around Israel. Men expressed greater interest in politics: 45% vs. 23% of women who answered that they

854

Remennick

Table IV. Answers to the Question: “How Has Your Life Changed as a Result of Migration to Israel in the Following Respects?” (Percentages) Men

Material and financial status Housing Employment Leisure Social life, friendships Sense of belonging, feeling at home

Women

Improved

Worsened

No change

Improved

Worsened

No change

54 44 19 27 19 39

27 27 25 26 43 28

19 29 56 47 38 33

49 40 17 28 17 38

28 30 43 27 38 27

23 30 40 45 45 35

closely followed media coverage of political news and current events. Another 46% of the men and 62% of women preferred general updates but no details; among them 35 and 49%, respectively, said that they deliberately disconnected from the news flow as it was too depressing. Women were more ardent cultural consumers in general, and were also more interested in the mainstream Israeli cultural events (theater, shows, and exhibitions). The means for expressed interest in the Hebrew-based Israeli culture and its coverage in the media were 4.1 for men and 5.5 for women (significant at p < .05). Men more often limited their cultural consumption to the rich selection of co-ethnic media and literature in Russian, either imported from the FSU or produced in Israel. The last section of the questionnaire asked respondents to reflect on their life since they moved to Israel and estimate the balance of gains and losses. The first item asked to what extent the respondents were satisfied with the life and achievements of their children in Israel—a salient issue, given that the wish to secure better life for the children is typically cited by Russian Jews as the key reason for emigration (Remennick, 2003a). Husbands and wives answered in a very similar way, with the mean of 6.9, which indicates moderately high levels of satisfaction. Other aspects of perceived gains and losses as a result of immigration are shown in Table IV. This item was first introduced in the author’s earlier research among immigrant elders (Remennick, 2003c) and proved to be meaningful as a summary measure of immigrants’ well-being and adaptation. Table IV reveals a rather similar distribution of men’s and women’s answers. Perceived quality of life in most important respects improved or remained roughly similar to the pre-migration level; the only domains where more respondents reported considerable losses were employment (especially among women) and social life and friendships (more losses

for men). It is interesting to note that around one third of men and women alike responded that they felt as much at home in Israel as they had in the FSU, and about 40% felt more at home in Israel. The last questionnaire item asked respondents to estimate the probability that they would stay in Israel for the rest of their lives. Men’s and women’s means were similar and rather high (7.52 and 7.71, respectively, where 10 is “fully sure to stay”), which reflects both appreciation of the positive aspects of their life in Israel and a reluctance to embark on another migration and re-adjustment.

Differences Between Husbands and Wives The final statistical procedure was calculation of the odds (deltas) between women’s and men’s answers in each couple for a number of variables and combined indexes, usually measured on 10-point scales or in simple numbers/frequencies (e.g., the number of new friends acquired in Israel). A positive delta means that women’s answer to this item was higher than men’s, a negative delta points to men’s higher scores, and zero means no difference between men’s and women’s scores. The distributions of delta values in the 150 participating couples for most variables approximated the normal distribution with a higher or flatter top, i.e., a significant share of couples had a delta of zero and the rest clustered between ±3, so that higher odds (±4–8) between the answers given by the spouses were found in a relatively few cases. Put more simply, this means that most couples (between 60 and 85% for different variables) reported identical or similar attitudes and practices. Delta distributions for some important variables are shown in Table V. The only variable where women tended to score higher is the index of informal social ties; all the other distributions were close to normal, with most


855

Table V. The Distribution of the Odds between Women’s and Men’s Answers (Deltas) for Selected Variables

easily identifiable as, for example, 12M and 12F. Informant’s age is stated in parenthesis or commas next to their code. Below we describe some typical findings from the interviews in relation to four salient domains: work and job satisfaction, informal social networks, distress and coping, and interest in and involvement with Israeli society.

Odds/ Variables −8 −7 −6 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 0.5 0.5 1 2 3 6 9 12 18 9 5 4 3 2 1 0.5 0.5

2

3 5 8 9 10 19 14 12 8 7 5

3 1 2 3 5 6 9 11 21 13 11 8 6 3 1

4

5

6

0.5 0.5 1 2 4 7 10 11 14 12 9 10 7 5 3 1 1

3 7 8 11 15 26 13 9 4 3 1

2 4 7 11 14 22 15 10 8 5 2

7

7 10 14 16 33 15 4 1

Note. Rounded percentage of all couples where both partners have answered this item; if the sum is under 100%, the rest are missing values. The variables are: (1) Composite index of job satisfaction (including content, promotion, and wages); (2) Composite index of social ties (number of new friends acquired in Israel and number of weekly hours spent with them); (3) General socioeconomic adjustment in Israel; (4) Composite index of well-being (including self-rated physical health, stamina/energy, sociability, and optimism); (5) Satisfaction with children’s life and achievements in Israel; (6) Composite index of satisfaction with family life (including relations with the spouse and children, and home atmosphere); and (7) Number of domains in Table IV where respondent chose ‘improvement’ upon migration to Israel.

deltas concentrating within ±1 range. High concordance between men’s and women’s answers is quite remarkable; in the Discussion we will offer some possible explanations of this finding. Highlights from the In-depth Interviews Fifteen couples from the main sample of 150 (10%) were selected for in-depth interviews, in order to glean a richer insight on gender differentials in immigrant experience. Five couples from each age bracket (30–40, 41–50, 51–60 years) were sampled, in an attempt to represent various family circumstances (e.g., couples where at least one partner was unemployed; having/not having children in the household). Each partner was interviewed separately when the other was not at home to ensure greater openness and privacy. To ensure anonymity, all participating couples were ascribed codes from 1 to 15; the husband in each couple was coded as M and the wife as F, so the quotes made by spouses/partners are

Work and Job Satisfaction As in the main sample, most of the women fared worse on the job market than the men, despite their similar level of education and pre-migration work experience. Fewer women were able to regain their former occupation in Israel: only 4 out of 15 worked in the same occupation, compared to 9 out of 15 men. Most younger women retrained to work in banking/sales/insurance, clerking, tourism, and other semi-skilled white-collar jobs. Most women in their 50s worked as practical nurses in geriatric care, childminders or cleaners. Five women were unemployed at the time of the study. Most men were in engineering or technical jobs in private companies or industry; two worked as security guards, and two were unemployed. Roughly one half of the women had physically-demanding jobs, compared to one-quarter among men; more women were employed via placement agencies, with poorer terms and low job security. In general, the men in most couples had higher occupational status and/or income than women, but were more critical of their jobs than the women. Men often criticized the management style in Israeli organizations, work ethics, and the competence of their Israeli supervisors and coworkers. For example, 4M (48), electronic engineer in high-tech industry, commented, Israelis don’t get into the details, they want quick fixes for everything. It doesn’t matter that a product or a program won’t work tomorrow, he just wants to pass it on to the customer and get rid of it today. They are impatient like children and always try to avoid solid, in-depth study of a task at hand if they can help it. This is where Russian engineers come handy—we do all the basic staff, they only polish, finish, and report to the boss.

Many men were also dissatisfied with their own job status, wages, and poor promotion prospects. The remark made by 12M (35), a maintenance clerk in a large industrial warehouse, was typical: “We are there to do all the dirty work and our Israeli bosses are there to get all the credit and bonuses. This is

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the way it is—take it or look for another job.” When male informants were asked which aspects of their work they liked best, many found it difficult to answer; typical answers were: “it’s good to be employed these days,” “the pay is not bad, compared to other jobs.” Some men named various instrumental aspects of their work as positive, e.g., high quality of equipment used, up-to-date standards of R&D procedures, success of their company on Israeli and/or international market. Few men mentioned the content of the work and human relations in the workplace as important components of their satisfaction with the job. Women, on the contrary, based their opinions mainly on the content of work (interesting, learning new skills) and the quality of human relations with their bosses and co-workers. Younger women who converted from professions to various commercial services (bankers, travel or insurance agents) stressed that they liked the novelty of their new trade and enjoyed working with the clients, even the difficult ones. One can think that insurance agents have the most boring job in the world, but from inside it looks different. We meet dozens of different people every day and help them solve their problems, design a right policy that is best for their specific case; we also stand by them in the time of crisis . . . I’d say my current work is more lively and responsible than was my engineering post in Russia, with standing day after day by the drawing board and gossiping about our old nasty boss. I definitely feel renewed and do not regret this change (6F, 43, former construction engineer).

Even women who were engaged in physically demanding and emotionally difficult tasks such as eldercare, often described their work as meaningful and humane. I know that I am the last ray of light in the gloomy lives of these old folks. I make their final years more comfortable and secure, I am someone they can talk with when no one else would listen . . . .” (13F, 56, former teacher).

Most women felt positive about their colleagues and had friends at work. Thus, 9F (39), a cashier in a supermarket and a former accountant, said: The job itself is monotonous and dull, and some customers drive you crazy . . . but I am still glad to come to work every morning. The staff is nice and friendly; we always give a hand to each other when needed. I have two friends working next to me and exchange jokes about this and that, so the time flies by quickly.

I like working in the midst of people, it’s better than sitting locked in your cubicle and doing calculations all day—the way it was there [in the FSU].

Speaking about their work in Israel, women often recalled their old workplaces in Russia or Ukraine, and the comparison was usually in favor of the present, regardless of the relative job statuses. In sum, most women stressed positive aspects of their jobs in Israel (especially human relations and the atmosphere at work) and often considered their current jobs an improvement over their work lives before emigration, even if they had downgraded from professionals to clerks or service personnel. Most men expressed a strong commitment to their original profession and were determined to regain their careers in Israel. Often that meant long periods of unemployment and job search, when women had to take over as the only breadwinner for the family. For some men, it took several years to realize that they could not compete on the Israeli market and to look for alternative ways for making a living. Women were generally more flexible and realistic: they often perceived occupational downgrading as an inevitable result of immigration and were ready to try other options. When no white-collar jobs came by, women took any manual work they could find in order to make ends meet while their husbands were learning Hebrew, taking refresher courses, or waiting for a proper opening. I think women are more responsible for the family and cannot afford to be hopeless or depressed. Men, when they fail once or twice on the job market, they sink in despair. Women keep going in any case; otherwise everything will fall apart. When my husband lost his second job in 4 years, I just took more private students plus a cleaning job” (7F, 41, music teacher).

In sum, women’s approach to work was more pragmatic, less concerned with formal status change, and more centered on the job content and human relations at work. In the context of an unstable economy and high job insecurity, women revealed greater flexibility, initiative, and readiness to sacrifice their self-esteem as educated professionals for the sake of family survival and relative financial security. Even when their actual work conditions were worse than men’s, women were less critical and more tolerant of their new social environment, were able to befriend their coworkers, and enjoyed any small perks that came with the job. In many ways, former Soviet women’s better adaptive skills in the context of immigration resemble the way they


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shouldered responsibility for their families as breadwinners and caregivers in the post-communist Russia and Ukraine.

Men described their pastime with the friends as organized around doing something together, such as hiking trips or sports events. They often had few male friends of their own with whom they spent time independently of their family, and more often reported friendship with other immigrant couples, with whom they went out together or invited them to their homes. Women more often had personal female friends and told about a much broader range of joint activities, including shopping together, going to shows and movies, visiting hairdressers and beauticians, enjoying together cafes or Mediterranean beach, and talking on the phone. Some women also stressed that their new Israeli friends introduced them to some local pastimes and hobbies, new types of food and ways of cooking, and new styles in clothing and hairdo.

Informal Social Networks Many women stressed in their narratives that separation from old friends, who remained in the FSU or emigrated to the West, was their major loss as a result of immigration. In Israel, women were more prone to retention of the old social links with their co-ethnic friends, many of whom immigrated from the FSU at the same time, and also tried more often than their husbands to establish new contacts with both Russian immigrants and native Israelis. Men had few contacts among native Israelis outside the workplace. In the structured part of the study, the women reported having more new friends they had met in Israel (on the average 10 vs. 6 for men), and they also spent more time with their friends. In personal interviews, women often stressed the salient roles that friends, co-workers, and neighbors played in their life in Israel. I don’t know how I would have made it as an immigrant if not for all the support I got from friends. We had several remote acquaintances who had moved to Israel many years ago from our city, and I made an effort to find and befriend them. They in return were very helpful in our initial adjustment—finding the flat, sending children to a better school, etc. By now we have a firm footing and I don’t need these people for any practical help, but I still try to keep in touch. Through them we met several Israeli couples, who helped us learn Hebrew and understand local habits. (11F, 42)

This quote suggests that women are rather practical about their social contacts, keeping in touch with people who can be useful in some way. In men’s narratives pragmatic motives were much weaker, they usually sought friendships for sharing common interests and activities (although mutual aid sometimes ensued). In any case, the instrumental goals of networking did not exclude or diminish the pure psychological value of communication with peers (conveyed by the hard-to-translate Russian word obsheniye). After a long and tedious workday, the main pleasure for me is to go out with one of my friend at least for a walk in the local park, or to talk on the phone if it’s too hot outside. My husband is often mad at me for these long phone chats, he seldom talks with his pals himself. He prefers watching TV or solving cross-words for rest, but I need to hear a live human voice to feel better (9F, 39).

I came here 10 years a ago as a tacky provincial thing with little taste in clothes, and thanks to my friends I am a whole new woman now. I lost much weight, changed my hairstyle, and dress like an Israeli. Old pals from my town do not recognize me in the street . . . .” (4F, 40).

Most Russian women met Israeli women at work, and many stressed the good relationships they had with their local co-workers (although these seldom went beyond the workplace). Another channel for meeting Israelis was via children’s school activities and friends (for younger couples). As women were more involved with children’s schooling and social life, they were also more “exposed” to Israeli styles of parenting, as well as to youth fashions, music, and other interests. In contrast, men almost never mentioned the role of Israeli acquaintances in their acculturation, and they did not see their Hebrew speaking coworkers and bosses as close in any personal way. In sum, immigrant women manifested greater propensity and ability to informal communication than men did. Women’s circle of friends was wider and more diverse, as was the range of activities pursued with the friends. Women often used friendships with the locals as a source for social learning and more often than men drew on their informal networks for social support.

Psychological Well-being: Distress and Coping The interviews showed once again that it is more difficult to elicit frank and detailed accounts

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about personal and sensitive matters from men than women (Coates, 1993; Saville-Troike, 1989). This is especially true for former Soviet men whose notions of traditional masculinity often preclude discussion of feelings, which they perceive as revealing weakness and insecurity. Reflecting the absence of popular psychological discourse and psychotherapy in the Russian/Soviet culture, most former Soviets lack the language to discuss their personal/emotional problems (Ashwin & Lytkina, 2004), but after moving to Israel women seem to develop this facility much faster than men. Men lag behind in this respect, are less in touch with their own emotional worlds, and find it difficult to provide elaborate psychological narratives. As a result, the interviews elicited much richer data on women’s emotional responses to the immigration-related distress. Men’s accounts of negative feelings centered on their failed hopes to find relevant employment and social recognition in Israel, whereas women included a much broader range of issues in their narratives on emotional problems. Most informants (men and women alike) described the initial years of resettlement as fraught with shock and distress, which tended to subside over time when life became more routine and most immediate problems had been solved. Many women pointed out that their way to escape hard feelings was to immerse themselves in daily activities aimed at earning additional income and to help their close ones adjust to the new circumstances. I tried to distract myself from failures [she failed twice to pass medical licensure exams], to channel my energy to some positive activity. I tried to forget that I used to be a doctor and started looking for a new career. At the same time I had to help my children to survive their first years at school—lessons in Hebrew, and all the animosity of local kids . . . . Thank God, my husband was more lucky and started working in his specialty rather soon. This kept me going psychologically—at least we had some success as a family” (11 F, 42).

Other women tried to find new content and meaning in life through joining various learning activities that could narrow the cultural gap with the host society— advanced Hebrew class (Ulpan), courses on the Jewish history and tradition, and other activities offered free of charge by various local agencies. I believe that going to the Ulpan for almost 2 years was a good therapy for me—I felt that I was doing something to become more Israeli, to advance in this country, to find a better job, to meet Hebrew speakers socially . . . . My husband was just sulking

at home all this time: he would return from work, watch Russian TV, and drink beer till it was time to sleep. He said he had no power left by the end of the day, and anyway who needs to know Hebrew so well—he had no ambition to succeed, you know. But I went there not just for the language: I met people, I had a social life, we went for excursions together, celebrated birthdays . . . . We had no friends to speak of in Israel, and thanks to Ulpan I made some new friends” (7F, 41).

In all the women’s accounts, co-workers, neighbors, fellow students, and other people they had met in Israel emerged as key sources of social support and psychological relief, but men seldom mentioned their informal relationships in that context. Men described their psychological process in more instrumental terms, as a series of practical steps aimed at self-establishment in the new country and in this way regaining self-respect and mental balance. I was overwhelmed by the hardships like everybody else I guess. After several rejections, I realized painfully that my former skills and achievements are of no value here, and I had to look for a new occupation. I took one course in computing, then another one, all the time looking for a job. At one point I was rather desperate as nobody wanted to employ a novice without experience and poor Hebrew, while our ‘absorption basket’ [public aid paid to immigrants during the first year] was rapidly running out. Frankly, I was close to a desperate step, only family commitments stopped me from taking it . . . . But slowly things started to improve, and so did my mood. Since then I have always tried to control my feelings and summon some optimism during bad times.” (7M, 44).

In answering to the question about how he felt about being unemployed for more than a year, 9M (49) said, It feels like shit, but I am working on it—not to give in, not to succumb to depression. I am always on the lookout for any small job I can get every now and then, I never stop screening newspaper ads, talking with everyone I know . . . I am sure economy will go up soon and this will be over.

Women often responded to unemployment by switching their energy toward family matters and home economy by trying to maintain decent living standards with more modest means. How do I cope? I fill my days trying to be a better housewife, doing small repairs myself, shopping in cheaper places, trying new economy recipes in cooking—it’s a full-time job and keeps my mind busy. I also visit our elders more often, offer free babysitting to my daughter with her kids—so my

Immigration, Gender, and Psychosocial Adjustment plate is full. My family has surely gained a lot because I am not working. (14F, 55)

Women were better than men at mobilizing social support, both instrumental and emotional, during times of crisis. One woman shared her distress about her son’s military service in a combat unit When I lose sleep and nothing seems right, I have my best friend to talk to—she is more veteran in Israel and always can offer some advice or help. Generally, I am such a type that cannot hold feelings inside, I have to share with others, and it often helps just to talk and have a good listener” (8F, 50).

Another informant told about her actions to solve a family crisis When we had trouble with my father-in-law after his stroke—he became bed-ridden and lost speech so someone had to tend to him around the clock—it was me who found this social worker and collected all the papers needed to place him in a nursing home. My husband—his son—was so sad and helpless that he was no good in this process. I made all the inquiries via my Israeli co-workers—where to go, what to say, etc.” (13F,56)

These examples show that men’s accounts of emotional turmoil (at least the ones that they were willing to share) revolved around practical issues—employment, financial problems, etc.—and their main goal was to solve the practical problems and stay in control of their emotional response. They seldom involved others in their negative emotional states and tried to cope alone or at most share their feelings with their spouse; once the problems were solved the negative emotions disappeared. Women’s emotional reactions were more complex and reflected not only practical problems such as unemployment but also flaws in personal relationships, dislike of the new social milieu, feelings of estrangement from children who became Israelis all too quickly, fear for the children and other relatives’ security, health matters, body image, and many other personal issues. Yet, although they suffered more emotional setbacks, women were also more creative in finding multiple outlets and solutions via formal and informal support networks. Women’s personal networks are denser and based on keeping in touch and reciprocity in providing both emotional and hands-on support. In that respect, gender differences in coping with distress and using social support are in agreement with most research on this matter in other cultural and national contexts (Barbee, Cunningham,

859 Winstead, & Derlega, 1993; Liebler & Sandefur, 2002; Thoits, 1995). Involvement with the Host Society It is not hard to figure from the previous discussion that women were involved with the Israeli mainstream via informal social networks and their interest in Israeli lifestyle, fashions, home making, and other “feminine” activities and interests. Some women were also more interested in mainstream cultural events (theatre, music shows, art exhibits, etc.), although the bulk of cultural consumption for both men and women was cultural products and media in the Russian language. I was a theater-going type back in Russia and I keep this habit also in Israel. I never miss a new play at Habima [Israel’s oldest national theater company] or Gesher [Russian theater company that performs in both Russian and Hebrew]. My husband is indifferent to theater, so it would be a waste of money to drag him along with me. Instead I go with a woman friend of mine, or with my daughter.” (10F, 39) “I cannot read fiction in Hebrew, but I am curious about modern Israeli writers, especially women. I read translations whenever I can get them” (8F, 40).

Men, on the other hand, were much more interested in Israeli politics, followed current events in the media, and expressed clear political views within the existing spectrum. It is hard to remain out of politics in Israel, it reaches out to you from the TV screen, radio news, people’s conversations . . . . I am a kind of passive observer; I don’t go to rallies or join political parties. But I am rather well informed and have my opinions” (15M, 41).

Men and women, especially the middle-aged, expressed similar interest in Israeli and Jewish history; some were attending classes in advanced Hebrew and/or Jewish history and tradition. If our destiny brought us to Israel, it is shameful not to know anything about Judaism. I am only half Jewish, but this doesn’t matter. When you can connect to your roots and cultural heritage, living in this troubled country becomes easier—you understand that there is a reason for your presence here, on this soil.” (14M, 54)

Thus, both men and women expressed interest in mainstream Israeli life, but in slightly different ways. In most couples, though, both partners were interested (or uninterested) in the mainstream to the same degree. Of the 15 couples interviewed, only 6

860 stated that they were rather detached from the current events, culture, and politics of Israel, and tended to their own daily interests and problems. Perhaps not incidentally, in all those couples at least one partner was unemployed or under-employed, and one or both had poor or mediocre command of Hebrew.

DISCUSSION This study explored gender differences in the experience of resettlement and social adjustment among former Soviet immigrants in the context of the growing body of research on this community in Israel and in the West. Research design drew on a synthesis of structured and open (qualitative) tools to glean more personalized and multi-faceted data in a fairly large sample of immigrant couples. The results shed some new light on the different ways men and women adjust to the challenge of making a fresh start in a new economic and social context. First of all, the immigrants brought with them the legacies of their socialization and former life experiences in the FSU, where most women were as educated and economically active as men (Ashwin, 2002). Both genders face severe occupational downgrading in the host marketplace as immigrants, but men and women respond to this adversity in different ways. Women proved to be more ready than men to trade their higher occupational status for pragmatic benefits of employment and some financial security. Driven by their responsibility for the family, women were ready at the outset to undergo occupational change in any direction that would bring a steady income. By converting to white-, pink-, or blue-collar occupations demanded on the Israeli marker, these women revealed flexibility, ability to learn rapidly, and successful social networking with their new milieu. Women’s greater adaptive potential in the new economic context of Israel resonates with the stories of women’s initiative, courage, and flexibility in the feverish transition economies of Russia, Ukraine, and other post-communist countries, where many men found themselves on the economic and social margins, while women had to assume full financial and logistic responsibility for family well-being (Ashwin, 2002; Kiblitskaya, 2000). The findings suggest that men’s response to economic novelty and uncertainty tends to be more protracted and conservative than women’s, whereby their main effort is directed at former status preservation and career continuity, rather than immedi-

Remennick ate adjustment and financial survival. In the context of resettlement and the cultural gap with the mainstream society, as well as a saturated marketplace, this strategy often proves to be a dead-end, especially for older people and more senior (before migration) professionals. It often takes men more time to find an alternative occupational track in the semiskilled sector and adjust their professional ambitions in the face of the new economic reality. When they finally find work, men are often focused on the statusrelated, instrumental, and technical aspects of their occupation (which are the key source of their job satisfaction), whereas women more often stressed interest in the very essence of the new trades they had joined, for example, serving or assisting others (in helping occupations), and developing new relationships with co-workers. Similar differences in the ways by which men and women make sense of their new occupations have been shown in a recent study among Russian immigrant physicians who converted to physiotherapy (Remennick & Shakhar, 2003). Although female immigrant professionals in Israel suffered greater downgrading in their status and content of work, and despite the fact that their contract terms were usually worse that those of men with similar credentials, women’s overall perceptions of their new work experiences were at least as positive as men’s, and in some aspects their satisfaction from work was even higher. These findings point to greater flexibility and resilience of women in the occupational realm, and to their ability to act upon the wisdom: “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” Additional social benefits women get from their greater economic activity during initial resettlement years include faster improvement of their Hebrew skills and broadening circles of informal communication with both co-ethnics and Hebrewspeakers. Women in the present study demonstrated greater social involvement with the native Israelis than their male partners had, as well as a growing “Israelization” of their social networks over time, compared with a similar group of women interviewed in the mid 1990s, when all but few women spoke of their exclusively co-ethnic circle of friends (Remennick, 1999b). This is one indication of the increasing social integration of former Soviet immigrants, and women show more change in this respect than men. This study resonates in many ways with the prior findings of psychosocial and psychiatric studies among Russian immigrants in Israel (Ritsner et al., 2000, 2001; Zilber & Lerner, 1996) and in the US (Aroian, Norris, Patsdaughter, & Tran, 1998; Aroian


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et al., 2003), which have typically found higher rates of mental disturbances (such as depression and somatization) among women than among men. Although this study did not measure specific mental health problems, but rather general well-being and everyday functioning, its results suggest that the actual picture is more complex. Immigrant women may indeed suffer more often from mood disturbances and score lower on optimism than men; they are also more sensitive to social isolation and the loss of old friends as a result of resettlement (here my findings support those of Aroian et al., 1998, 2003, among Russian immigrants in the U.S.). Yet, at the same time, women are more active than men in trying to improve their social milieu and rebuild their informal networks in the new country—this finding is endorsed by most research on gender and social support, which shows that women have denser personal networks than men and invest more energy in socializing and friendships (Bell, 1991; Liebler & Sandefur, 2002). Despite the heavier burdens carried by the women due to their multiple roles, general indicators of psychological well-being and satisfaction with various aspects of life were rather similar between husbands and wives. The present study offers some methodological lessons. Interviewing couples that immigrated together has certainly ensured greater homogeneity of respondents’ social backgrounds, and hence eliminated many confounders and captured actual gender differences in a more refined way. However, the lack of tangible variance between the reported experiences and attitudes of husbands and wives (with the exception of job satisfaction, informal social relations, and social support) may point to some “overmatching” in the study population. Immigration is a difficult trial for many couples that often leads to marital dissolution (Ben-David & Lavee, 1994). The couples who stayed together after 9 or more years of life in Israel might be more harmonious, supportive, and well-matched psychologically than those who had parted ways by the time of the study (and hence were not included in the sample). This similarity in outlooks and lifestyles may have manifested in the similarity of responses in the structured survey.2

The in-depth interviews helped to bypass this possible limitation. Personal narratives shed more light on the ways in which women negotiate their new statuses and roles and often turn troubles into new experiences and benefits. Whereas men were typically disheartened by their unfulfilled expectations and failed ambitions (especially in the professional domain), women had been realists from the very outset of their migration saga and had lowered their ambitions and demands for the sake of a more rapid adjustment and family well-being. Women were often more resilient and better at mobilizing social support and coping with various life adversities, as well as more energetic and inventive in exploring new opportunities. To conclude, the findings generally support my major hypothesis that, despite their greater personal losses and role overload, women often manifest higher ingenuity and adaptability than men in the process of social integration. They also assert that gender differences in the immigrant adjustment are real but subtle, context-bound, and may broadly vary between different countries of origin and ethnic groups. Due to their more egalitarian socialization in the FSU, former Soviet immigrants might experience resettlement and acculturation in a less gendered way than would immigrants from more traditional cultures such as Filipino immigrants in the US (Espiritu, 2003) or Ethiopian Jews in Israel (Weil, 2004). More comparative research on gender differences in immigration is called for to compile a comprehensive picture, but the existing evidence points to a superior ability of women for flexibility, mobilization of available resources, and self-sacrifice for the sake of family well-being.

2 Another,

more technical, reason for the relative homogeneity of men’s and women’s responses could have been the physical proximity of the spouses while answering the questionnaires. Although they had been asked to sit in different rooms or parts of the same room and not to consult each other, answers to some sensitive items (e.g., relations with the spouse and general home atmosphere) may have indirectly reflected the wish to please or not to offend the spouse who could accidentally see the question-

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to Lilia Chudnovsky, Rita Matskin, Elisheva Yospin, and other students at the Bar-Ilan Sociology Department for their contributions to the data collection and processing. My special thanks go to Dr. Michal Molcho for her help in statistical analysis of the survey.

naire at some point. This could have introduced some positive bias to the family-related part of the survey, but I do not believe that it has seriously compromised the overall data quality, especially after it was complemented by the in-depth narratives.

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