You would never pick up the thread from where you left off’

Older Irish women migrants' narratives of non‐return, post‐retirement

Bibliographic Data

ID9952889
AuthorsL Ryan (0000-0003-1386-7212, London Metropolitan University London UK, corresponding author), Neha Doshi (London Metropolitan University London UK)
Year2024
Volume63
Issue2
Publication date2024-08-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Migration (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7985 • E-ISSN: 1468-2435
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/imig.13321
OpenAlexW4401255483
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited30

There is growing interest in the extent of post‐retirement return among migrants. However, most research focuses on those approaching or soon after retirement, e.g. in their 60s. Less is known about how return, and indeed non‐return, decision‐making evolves in later years, with calls for more research on migrants in the old‐old age groups. Moreover, there are indications that women migrants may be less inclined to return than their male counterparts. Our article seeks to advance understanding in this area of research by drawing upon rich qualitative data from Irish women migrants, who worked as nurses in Britain and are now entering older age, e.g. 70s–80s. Many simply asserted that they could not leave their adult children and grandchildren. However, using the embedding framework, through a life course lens, we argue that non‐return may reflect complex processes of disembedding and non‐belonging in the origin country – which are less easy to articulate

Art · Demographic economics · Economics · Irish · Narrative · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Retirement, Disability, and Employment

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