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International Journal of
Population Studies A Burmese woman’s migration and exclusion

they provided us with a lot,” but continued to feel This legacy supports Ullah and Chattoraj’s (2023) notion
socially peripheral. Her daily struggles, buying drinks, of the “feminization of survival,” whereby women adapt
navigating stores, and joining workplace events became and persist through socially sanctioned responsibilities,
reminders of linguistic and cultural dissonance. “I feel often invisible, yet creatively transform hardship into
like shame,” she admitted. “I want that color, but I do opportunity. Aye’s use of marriage as a strategy for legal
not know the name.” protection, her shift from submissive housewife to a
working single mother, and her re-negotiation of marriage
Although Aye experienced a lack of belongingness, she
remains hopeful about the future. This hope stems from terms upon her husband’s return reflect resistance
embedded within necessity.
the access she has gained to self-actualization, through
education, she envisions professional advancement; 4.3. Gendered constraints and conditional
through employment, she achieves economic empowerment
independence. These forms of access empower her to look
forward with optimism. While the experience of being an A central finding of this study is the cyclical and relational
nature of constraint and empowerment. Aye repeatedly
outsider remains part of her everyday life, the hope brought gained access through education, jobs, and networks, only
by access allows her to continue living with resilience and to face new gendered expectations, especially within the
purpose.
household. Her initial empowerment through factory
4. Discussion work in the United States was reversed when her husband
required her to return to unpaid domestic labor. Similarly,
4.1. Reframing integration through access and her children’s needs led her to allow her estranged husband
agency back into the home, not out of personal dependence, but as
Aye’s life story highlights that integration for refugee a strategic decision.
women is not primarily about emotional belonging or This highlights a critical insight: access and autonomy
cultural assimilation, but about meaningful and equitable for refugee women are often conditional, shaped by familial
access to education, employment, healthcare, safety, and roles, health, and social stigma. Empowerment, therefore,
autonomy. Her identification as a “guest” despite formal is non-linear and often negotiated within constrained
citizenship captures the enduring disconnect between legal environments rather than emerging from absolute freedom
status and lived inclusion. This echoes broader migration or policy support.
literature (Bosniak, 2006; Ullah et al., 2021), which shows
how structural exclusion persists even when surface-level 4.4. Reclaiming integration through action, not
indicators of integration are achieved. identity
Rather than seeking symbolic belonging, Aye’s narrative The study also shows that while Aye’s sense of social
reveals an ongoing pursuit of functionality, stability, and belonging remained tenuous, her narrative conveys a
self-determination. Access becomes the means through strong sense of purpose and transformation. Rather than
which dignity, survival, and future-building are negotiated. internalizing marginalization, she actively constructed
Her story shows that refugee integration cannot be fully a life of meaning through work at a refugee-serving
understood without considering material realities, job NGO, parenting, and continued learning. This affirms
access, child care, safety, language barriers, and how these the importance of shifting from belonging-based to
are navigated daily. access- and action-based models of integration.
Her transformation from dependency to self-definition,
4.2. Intergenerational resilience and feminized “I am free now,” did not stem from external validation but
survival from functional access to resources and the ability to make
A significant finding from this research is the decisions. Her hope for the future stems not from acceptance
intergenerational transmission of female agency. From her by others but from control over her own trajectory.
grandmother’s urban migration to her mother’s informal
education and income generation, and Aye’s own trajectory 4.5. Limitations
across countries and jobs, women in her family consistently This study is based on a single narrative, which naturally
resisted structural and cultural constraints by strategically limits its generalizability. While Aye’s story provides
pursuing access. These actions were not framed as acts of in-depth, context-rich insight into the lived experience
empowerment in abstract terms but as urgent and practical of a Burmese refugee woman, it should not be viewed
responses to exclusion. as representative of all refugee women’s trajectories.

Volume 11 Issue 6 (2025) 88 https://doi.org/10.36922/IJPS025160060