Navigating identity and migration: The lived experiences of Indian immigrant women in the Netherlands

Background: Highly skilled migrant women are often framed as beneficiaries of global talent mobility, yet their psychosocial realities remain poorly understood. Indian women navigate racialised institutional expectations, gendered cultural norms, and emotional labour that directly affect wellbeing. Existing integration models overlook how power, belonging and misrecognition shape women’s mental health in everyday life. Objectives: This study examines how highly skilled Indian immigrant women in the Netherlands negotiate cultural, emotional and professional identities; how they experience racialised institutional norms; and what strategies they use to sustain wellbeing within unequal social and workplace environments. Design: A qualitative study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Methods: Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 highly skilled Indian women aged 24 to 49 years (residing 2–8 years). Analysis followed idiographic, reflexive procedures, examining affective, cultural and identity-based meaning-making with attention to context and embodied experience. Results: We developed four themes: (1) Internalization of inherited moral economies of care and humility; (2) Encounters with Dutch Norms that impose assertiveness and emotional restraint as markers of competence; (3) Identity Negotiation through selective unlearning, cultural anchoring and strategic self-presentation; and (4) Ambiguous Selves, defined by ongoing emotional vigilance and partial belonging. These findings culminate in the concept of Emotional Simultaneity, the continuous coexistence of conflicting emotional and cultural demands. Conclusion: Highly skilled Indian women’s wellbeing is an ongoing, relational process shaped by structural power and emotional negotiation. Emotional Simultaneity offers a new lens for understanding migrant women’s mental health and highlights the need for inclusive, context-sensitive policies that recognise emotion as a determinant of health.