In the latter half of the twentieth century, as immigrant-receiving countries such as Canada began competing to recruit the "most desirable" candidates, immigrants became commodified, their labor bought and sold for the benefit of national and global markets. By providing empirical as well as historical evidence, Habiba Zaman undertakes a rigorous analysis of immigrant women's commodification and the possibility of their decommodification in Canada. In order to present a comprehensive picture of commodification, this book uses empirical as well as historical evidence to explore the relationship between transnational migration and globalization, a relationship that sets the trajectory for immigrant women's commodification. Breaking the Iron Wall looks at the detailed lived experiences of immigrant women, expertly revealing the intersections of race, gender, and class and exposing the forces and processes of commodification in public and private spheres.

"Zaman's book adds to the feminist literature in this field...[she] effectively places her research within the scholarship on the welfare state...This book is very timely as the issue of immigration is once more at the forefront of political debates..." - Journal of Women, Politics and Society

"Zaman has written a passionate brief." - Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society