Remote Qualitative Researcher: Migration & Women's Work

Position Summary

Why does migrant women’s employment vary so sharply by religion? In South Asia, female employment remains low across religious groups, yet international migration often coincides with substantial divergence. Hindu and Sikh women in the diaspora typically work at high rates, while many Muslim women remain outside the labor force. This project investigates how religious communities change after migration, and why some families come to regard female employment as respectable while others continue to idealize seclusion.

The successful candidate will conduct extended qualitative fieldwork, analyze findings, and contribute to scholarly and public-facing outputs.

This is a one year fixed term with possibility of renewal. This position is 100% remote in New Jersey.

Doing this work could be:

• Undertaking 8months qualitative research, then an additional four months for literature review and writing up fieldwork, including life history interviews, with the South Asian diaspora in New Jersey. This research will be explicitly comparative, exploring why some communities continue to idealize seclusion while others place higher value on female employment.
• Designing interview protocols, recruitment strategies, and fieldwork plans in consultation with the PI.
• Organizing project logistics, including scheduling and fieldwork documentation.
• Independently recruiting participants, conducting interviews, and maintaining detailed field notes.
• Exercising sound judgment, adapting research procedures as circumstances change, while maintaining ethical standards, confidentiality, and IRB compliance.
• Transcribing, organizing, synthesizing, and interpreting qualitative data; produce analytic memos comparing patterns across religious communities.
• Collaboratively analyzing fieldwork findings with the team.
• Contributing to academic manuscripts, research briefs, and public-facing writing.