Research at Wilfrid Laurier University explores migrant women’s challenges

Globalink intern focuses on Mexican women’s experiences

As luck would have it, Denisse got an email from her university’s international office, sharing the opportunity to come to Canada for a Globalink Research Internship. Denisse — curious about the country after taking a class in North American culture — applied to several projects with a gender studies component, and was matched with Dr. Jenna Hennebry, Director of Wilfrid Laurier University’s International Migration Research Centre in Waterloo, Ontario.

Denisse’s project explores the experiences of female migrants and their patterns of sending money earned abroad back to their country of origin, known as remittances. The research team is exploring the topic in Mexico, Moldova, and the Philippines, with Denisse focused specifically on data from her home country. It is the third and final part of a series of three reports written for UN Women, which explore migration processes faced by women.

She’s also working on another project under Dr. Hennebry’s supervision — this one explores migrant women’s sexual health, and Denisse will be travelling to St. Catharines, Ontario, to undertake fieldwork and interview migrant women working in agriculture in the region. She will have the opportunity to get to know the conditions of temporary women migrants working in Ontario’s fields.

In addition to her research projects, Denisse is also finding time to explore her surroundings: “I took swing dance lessons, which was especially fun because we don’t have a lot of that in Mexico,” she enthuses. “I went to Niagara Falls, and I hope to visit Toronto later in the summer.”

Denisse’s Canadian experience is making her excited for the future: “I want to apply do to a master’s degree at the Balsillie School of International Affairs or the University of Toronto, with support from the Globalink Graduate Fellowship. I can’t wait to come back, and I want to finish my bachelor’s degree as soon as I can.”

Mitacs thanks the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario for their support of the Globalink Research Internship program in this story. Across Canada, the Globalink program also receives support from Alberta Innovates, the Government of British Columbia, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Prince Edward Island, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan and Research Manitoba.

In addition, Mitacs is pleased to work with international partners to support Globalink, including Universities Australia, the China Scholarship Council, Campus France, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Tunisia’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Mission Universitaire de Tunisie en Amerique du Nord. 

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Mitacs Team

Mitacs’s website content is created by people throughout our organization, united in their passion for innovation and eager to share their perspectives with others in the innovation ecosystem. 

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