Gender, recognition, and transnational care: the everyday realities of skilled and highly educated Italian women in Ireland and Canada

This article explores the gendered dynamics of skilled Italian women’s migration through a multi-sited complementary case study analysis of two distinct contexts, intra-European mobility to Ireland and extra-European mobility to Canada. Drawing on feminist theoretical frameworks and life-history interviews, the study investigates how socio-cultural norms and structural inequalities shape the experiences of highly educated migrant women. Despite their qualifications and professional aspirations, participants recounted persistent gendered constraints, including deskilling, limited career progression, and enduring caregiving responsibilities. Transnational family dynamics emerged as a double-edged reality, providing emotional and practical support while also reinforcing gendered expectations and obligations across borders. In both Ireland and Canada, aspirations for autonomy are not abandoned but become fragile reference points negotiated against enduring relational obligations, producing cumulative disadvantage and institutionalised misrecognition. The article contributes to debates on skilled migration by foregrounding care as a structuring force in North–North mobility, challenging assumptions that formal mobility regimes translate into gender-neutral outcomes.