The Political Integration of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women

Abstract

This article examines how immigrant and visible minority status, and the intersection of the two, affect women’s ability and willingness to participate in conventional and unconventional political activities. Using a telephone survey undertaken with English-speaking women in nine of Canada’s ten provinces, we find that women’s political integration varies by the type of political activity in question but that it is particularly weak for immigrant women from an ethnic minority. We also find that resource and socio-demographic profiles are limited in their ability to explain participation deficits, especially for unconventional political activity, and that mobilizing networks offer some possible insight into women’s propensity to participate politically.