Women's Migration for Domestic Work and Cross‐Border Marriage in East and Southeast Asia: Reproducing Domesticity, Contesting Citizenship

Abstract

This article offers an integrative review of the literature on women's migration for domestic work and cross‐border marriages in East and Southeast Asia. By bringing these two bodies of literature into dialogue, we illuminate the interconnected processes that shape two key forms of women's migration that are embedded in the reproduction of women's domesticity. We highlight structural analyses of the demographic and socio‐economic shifts that propel women's migration while also attending to the affective dimension of migrant women's desires and duties and to the brokerages that mediate the migrant flow. We finally examine how migrant wives and domestic workers contest the boundary of citizenship as they claim their full personhood against divergent modes of control over their rights, bodies, and mobility. We conclude by pointing out concrete areas where the two sets of literature can enrich each other for future research on gender, labor, and migration.

The Other Side of the Mirror: An Analytic Journalistic Approach to the Subjective Well-Being of Filipino Women Migrant Workers in Japan

“…It is not uncommon for these women to experience language barriers, problematic relationships with partners, illegal residency, emotional distress, physical distress, adjustment difficulties, lack of utilization of services, social isolation, lack of support, lack of information, low economic status, unsatisfactory health care, and discrimination (Kita et al, 2015). These results are supported by other studies describing the difficulties these women face trying to integrate into Japanese society either as wives or as workers (Cheng & Choo, 2015;Parreñas, 2010).…”

Families in Southeast and South Asia

“…This has led to increasing cross-border marriages, with brides from Vietnam traveling to China and Korea in search of marriage partners (Lu & Yang 2010), while brides from Nepal and other parts of India are being imported into regions of India characterized by bride shortage, such as the state of Haryana (Kaur 2016). The social and economic consequences of this type of marriage migration are only just beginning to receive attention (Bélanger & Linh 2011, Cheng & Choo 2015, Lauser 2008, Lee & Ng 2012.…”

Entry and Stability of Cross-National Marriages in the United States

“…The conflict of expectations of U.S.-born grooms and FB brides about their future marriage has been well documented recently by a number of authors (Cheng & Choo, 2015; Herrera, 2013; Wang, 2007; Wang & Chang, 2002). Research demonstrates that many women from less developed countries used the CNM “vehicle” not to migrate to a more developed country but to escape patriarchal domination at home and to increase autonomy and control over their lives (Bélanger et al, 2010; Wang, 2007; Wang & Chang, 2002).…”