Abstract: Exploring the lives of Portuguese immigrant women in Toronto, the article focuses on immigrants from the Estremadura region. Accustomed to performing various unpaid and paid work to ensure their family’s well-being in Portugal, the women did not require any significant readjustment of their value system when working outside of the home in Toronto. They often chose day cleaning as a job in order to manage more easily their responsibilities to their families. They also individually and collectively resisted exploitation. Despite the low status of their tasks, the women took pride in their contribution to their families’ success in Canada, and in some ways their experience with work was empowering. Rather than passive and powerless victims, these women proved to be active agents in meeting the challenges of their immigration experience.

© 2004 Portuguese Studies Review. All rights reserved.