Research
2021
Overview
My research agenda focuses on the lived experiences of the working population in Canada, with a particular interest in social inclusion and economic equality for women, immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized populations; immigrant settlement policies and programs; Employment Insurance; and theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these topics, including combined qualitative and quantitative methods. My studies are situated in a framework of globalization and neoliberal policies, which have had a drastic impact on daily lived experience. Equity, diversity, and inclusivity are my guiding themes.
My goal is to provide key data on public policies and recommendations for policy changes and new policies to create greater well-being and equality across a broad spectrum of life areas, such as work, education, health, employment, and financial security.
I am pursuing an active research and publishing agenda funded by government, institutional, and private sources. As of 2019 I have been awarded $155,000 in research grants from internal sources and Tri-council funding agencies, and $51,000 in private-sector awards for postgraduate research
Research Methods
My research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to capture and analyze human experiences and grapple with significant political debates surrounding marginalized populations and public policy. My qualitative methods include interviews, surveys, focus groups, case-study analysis, and literature reviews. My quantitative methods include surveys, Likert scales, and statistical analysis of demographics. I use thematic coding, derived from grounded theory, to bring more reliable analysis to qualitative methods such as interviews and time-use diaries.
Past Research
(1) Positive Practices Serving Newcomers in Employment Ontario Employment Services Project
2019–2020. I was the faculty lead on Georgian College’s three-year research project on best practices for employment services to support newcomers in Canada. This study examines the practices and efficacy of current employment service programs for newcomers by collecting feedback from frontline workers. The data was collected through surveys to all Employment Ontario Employment Services counselors. The methods for this study also included ethnographic research with key stakeholders providing support for Ontario newcomer job seekers.
(2) Support for Highly Educated Unemployed Immigrant Workers
2017–2020. Canadian Institutes of Health Research catalyst grant on Work Stress and Well-Being. Co-investigator with Rupa Banerjee (Ryerson University). Canada’s immigration policies aim to recruit highly educated workers to support economic growth, but local employment services for immigrants are limited as service organizations have been overwhelmed by the influx of political refugees in recent years. In this project we analyzed the needs of highly educated unemployed or underemployed newcomers to Canada and designed a web-based app to support them with applying for jobs, retraining, and finding social support. The methods for this study include a literature review and focus groups with newcomers regarding their needs and how well the application works for them. The app was released on COSTI’s Website.
(3) Special Benefits for Self-Employed (SBSE) Workers
2017–2019. Under neoliberal economic policies secure jobs have given way to precarious employment, including self-employment, which is growing in Canada. Since 2010 self-employed Canadians have had the option of paying the Employment Insurance premium to qualify for special benefits covering times of need such as maternity, sick, or compassionate leave. The SBSE program is greatly underutilized, with enrolment falling far short of predictions. This study sought to understand how self-employed people cope with life events that disrupt their income and why the majority do not join the SBSE program. The methodology included (1) qualitative interviews with self-employed workers to explore their experience of navigating life interruptions and their familiarity with the SBSE program and (2) a cost-benefit analysis of the program to examine whether it is affordable and beneficial for self-employed workers. I found that the majority of self-employed people are unaware of the existence of the SBSE program and that those who are aware of it believe that the premiums are too expensive and the benefits too low. In fact, my analysis of the premiums and benefits found the opposite. However, reflection on the underlying concept of the SBSE program revealed that it unfairly places self-employed workers in a separate category from standard wage earners, denying them unemployment benefits and requiring them to pay double for the Canada Pension Plan. I recommended terminating SBSE and incorporating self-employed workers into the Employment Insurance program, abolishing the requirement that they pay the employer’s share of the CPP, and instituting support and training programs to help self-employed workers expand their businesses or find standard employment.
(4) Newcomer Women’s Precarious Employment in Toronto
2016–2017. Published in Women’s Health and Urban Life, Dec. 2018. This study investigated the impact of limiting factors such as Canadian male-focused immigration policies, availability of social services, exploitation by employers, and cultural and gender norms on employment patterns and income of women immigrants. It used qualitative interviews with 30 newcomer women residing in the Greater Toronto Area. The data was analyzed through a feminist political economy approach. Recommendations for settlement, immigration, and employment standard policies were provided.
(5) Maximizing Opportunity, Mitigating Risk: Aligning Law, Policy and Practice to Strengthen Work-Integrated Learning in Ontario
2015–2016. Co-investigator with Lisa Phillipps (Osgoode Hall Law School) and Joseph Turcotte (graduate student RA). 2016. Based on interviews with WIL experts and review of provincial and federal laws and regulations and legal cases against universities. The findings of this report were analyzed through a political economy approach. Report summary. Social policy recommendations to support students in WIL programs were provided in the conclusion.
(6) Combining Diaries and Interviews in Time-Use Studies: A Case Study of Pakistani Immigrant Women in Toronto
2014–2015. This study explored time use of Pakistani immigrant women in Toronto for their paid and unpaid labour using interviews and time-use dairies. The study found that participants dealt with time poverty related to cultural values (household chores such as complex cooking) and their immigrant status. Co-investigator with Vappu Tyyskä (Ryerson University) and Taraneh Etemadi (graduate student RA). Published in >South Asian Diaspora as Time Poverty of Pakistani Immigrant Women in Toronto (2018, vol. 10, no. 1) by Leslie Nichols, Taraneh Etemadi, and Vappu Tyyskä and as sole author in the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy as Combining Diaries and Interviews in Time-Use Studies (2018, vol. 38, no. 9).
(7) Dissertation: Unemployed Women in Neo-Liberal Canada: An Intersectional Analysis of Social Well-Being
Ryerson University, 2014. Explored the lived experiences of unemployed women in Toronto and Halifax regarding their access to Employment Insurance, financial security, job search, health, retraining, and return to work following childbirth and parenting. This qualitative study used interviews to document how neoliberal changes to the structure of the labour market and workplaces over the last 30 years have disadvantaged women, particularly Employment Insurance policies constructed around restrictive norms of the male breadwinner that have impacted the daily lived well-being of Canadian women. Published in Canadian Review of Social Policy (2016), Alternate Routes (2016), and Reading Sociology (2018).
Current Projects (As of 2021)
(1) Negotiation of Household Labour between Parents of Children Learning Remotely during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020–present).
This study analyzes how the amount of time that Ontario mothers and fathers spend on household tasks has changed due to the added task of supporting children who are learning at home. Prior to the pandemic, Canadian women, including those who worked, did a greater proportion of household labour than men (Moyser, 2017). The closing of schools and the shift to online learning at home has created a significant additional task for parents: organizing, supervising, and participating in their children’s schooling. Parents are heavily involved in their children’s education during normal times; during the pandemic children’s need for educational support at home increased (CBC, 2020). Thus, support for children’s at-home learning needs to be included in any analysis of the gendered division of household labor during the pandemic. The goal of this project is to identify interim policy supports for parents during the pandemic as well as longer-term recommendations to support time use and policies connected to it as a way to improve mother’s lived realities.
(2) Older Women under Neoliberal Capitalism: Working Past Retirement Age for Survival
2019–present. Women over 65 may find themselves alone or in poverty for many reasons, such as the death or illness of a spouse, divorce, being childless, having no family connections or support network, or geographic isolation. Some women in this age group spent their lives performing unpaid household labour. Others were employed part-time or in precarious low-wage work. A likely outcome is no retirement pension or a pension that is inadequate for survival; thus some older women are forced to continue working beyond retirement age. Their situation is worsened by the reduction of social services under neoliberal economic policies. This population can be expected to increase due to the loss of long-term job security under neoliberalism.
This study will investigate who these women are, the life trajectory that brought them to their present situation, and how they live: What type of work do they do? How much do they earn? Is their income adequate to cover food, shelter, healthcare, and other basic needs? What happens to them when they can no longer work? It will form a picture of older women and their lives and attempt to answer the fundamental question: How can capitalism and social policy be transformed to provide for this population humanely? The methodology will involve (1) a literature review, and (2) oral history interviews women who are working or worked beyond retirement age. The findings of the study will be analyzed with a feminist political economy approach.
(3) Unemployment and Underemployment Experiences of Women with PhDs in Academia
2018–present. Women PhD holders make up the majority of sessional instructors in Canada, with working conditions marked by a lack of job security and benefits, including supports for physical and mental health. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study investigates the impact of these precarious working conditions on women’s careers and health by comparing career trajectories of male and female scholars as they progress from sessional instructor to tenure-track positions, focusing on the community of new PhDs. This study uses interviews of 30 PhD holders (15 women and 15 men) and quantitative analysis of the National Graduate Survey. The analysis will be grounded in feminist political economy. This study will provide federal and provincial policy recommendations to increase employment stability for emerging scholars pertaining to factors like retirement age, the percentage of full-time professors at institutions, and funding for postdoctoral fellows.