Shu-Man Pan
Graduate Institute of Social Work, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Jung-Tsung Yang
Department of Sociology, National Taipei University, Taiwan
Abstract
Drawing interview with 42 immigrants from Southeast Asia, this study explores gendered family care and housework within immigrant households in Taiwan. Research findings of this study demonstrate that family support can transform gender roles within immigrant households. Immigrants in extended families gain support from family relatives, but lose opportunities to change the traditional husband and wife roles associated with childcare and housework. Different from the predominant stereotype, most
immigrants are full-time employees or have multiple part-time jobs to support their family. Transnational marriage gives third-world women opportunities to move away from disadvantaged living conditions, and gives their husbands an opportunity to change their gender roles in everyday life.
Keywords: Empower; transnational marriage; gender role, family support, childcare and housework
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Introduction
Migration has become a global phenomenon since the end of 20th century. Increasing migration is one of the prominent demographic features of Taiwan over the last fifteen years. Currently there are 427,779 immigrants constituting about 2% of the total population of Taiwan. More than 90% of these immigrants are female, mainly from South-east Asia and China via transnational marriages (National Immigration Agency 2010). Researches of Taiwan immigration (Wang 2000, 2001; Kung 2004; Mo and Lai 2004; Pan 2004, 2007; Pan Yang and Lin 2010) have reported that immigrants’
spouses are largely from working class and low-income backgrounds, and some with disabilities. These families still maintain traditional gender role expectations for immigrants, and thus family care and childbearing become primary responsibilities for immigrants. However, family economic needs would turn immigrant women into family providers. How does the breadwinning role shift impact labor division in the immigrant family? Could the breadwinning role shift increase immigrant women’s power in their marriages?
Theories on gender roles have considered women’s employment as a key to increase their power in marriages (Heckert, Nowak and Snyder 1998; South 2001;
Eschle 2004; Crompton 2006). Statistics have also documented more and more women in industrial society pursuing high education and employment to alter the power dynamics in their marriages (Jones 2007; Wierda-Boer, Gerris and Vermnlst 2008; Meisenbach 2010). However, the findings of studies of the impacts of women’s employment on gender division of household labor are inconsistent. Some recognize women’s employment as a key element to improve their disadvantages in marriages (Wierda-Boer, Gerris and Vermnlst 2008). Others suggest that earning an income does not guarantee the increase of women’s power in their marriages (Coltrane 2000;
Tichenor 2005; Meisenbach 2010).
Despite the increasing importance of women’s employment, the gender division of domestic labor persists (Sainsbury 1996; Pham 1999; Inglehart and Baker 2000;
Marks, Lam and McHale 2009). Cultural norm that reinforces men’s dominance over women is often used to explain the unaltered power dynamics in marriages. But, researchers have noted that the impacts of economic changes on gendered roles need to be analyzed within the cultural contexts (Parrado and Flippen 2005; Tichenor 2005; Gangl and Ziefle 2009).
Taiwanese culture is significantly influenced by the Confucian family ideology.
According to the Confucian tradition, women’s roles are domestically oriented and women are supposed to depend on men through their life course (Pan 2005). Even today, this traditional gender norm continues to shape the power dynamic of gender role in everyday life. How do global economic transformations from labor-intensive
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to high-technical impact these immigrant families? Can immigrant women benefit from their employments or their employments reinforce gender inequalities in their marriages? How do these families re-arrange daily care and housework when immigrant women are employed? How does Taiwanese patriarchal gender norm shape the dynamics of gender roles in everyday life? Drawing data from in-depth interviews with 42 migrant women from Southeast Asia, this study explores the gendered family care and housework within these immigrant households.
Literature Review
Transnational Marriage in Taiwan
Taiwan has undergone tremendous transformation in political, economic and social structure over the past fifteen years. Since 1996, citizens can elect president via vote directly. The economic structure has shifted from labor-intensive industries to high-technologies. This economic restructuring leads to the expansion of service industries which provide opportunities for women to participate in the labor market.
In 2009, women’s labor force participation rate was 49.63% which has increased 3.59% since 1999. Education is another factor for explaining the increase of women’s labor force participation rate in Taiwan. The percentage of women with high
education (45.52%) in 2009 was higher than men (39.58%), and women with high education (45.52%) constitute the majority of female employees.
For feminists, women’s labor force participation is a source of women’s liberty and equality within marriages. As women are more economically independent via
employment, they have capacity to exercise their choice in their marriages (Hakim 2000). Even married, a large proportion of women choose not to have a child.
Non-marriage and low fertility are two of the most tremendous transition associated with women’s labor force participation (Jones 2007). This transition brings
tremendous impact on men. Men, particularly working class and living in rural areas, face difficulties of finding suitable partners in the marriage market. So, these
difficulties lead to the striking increase in transnational marriages.
Twenty-eight percent of men married in 2003 were married with non-Taiwanese mainly from Southeast Asia and China (Tsay 2004). Since these men are largely from working class backgrounds and live in rural areas, their families maintain traditional gender role expectations for immigrant women. Housework and childbearing therefore become primary responsibilities for immigrant women in everyday life.
Statistics show that a large proportion of Southeast Asian immigrants gave birth to the first child during the first coming year. However, family economic demands would push immigrant women into paid employment even breadwinners for the family.
As a national survey in 2003 shows, the labor force participation rate of immigrant
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women was lower than that of the general female population. The labor force participation rates were 39.5% and 28.2% for immigrants from Southeast Asia and China respectively (Wang and Lin 2009). This number has increased up to 55.95% in 2008, even higher than the general female population (National Immigration Agency 2009). Most immigrants are engaged in atypical economic activities such as service retail outlets (Pan, Lin and Yang 2010). Compared to the local population of women, immigrant women were more concentrated in some occupations due to their migrant status, education, and language ability as well as racial discrimination.
Gendered Division of Household
In the capitalist society, employment has been regarded as one of the most important indicators for gender equality in the home. The household division becomes important for evaluating whether gender egalitarian is achieved in the home. Theories explaining the gender division of housework could be divided into two categories. The first category is resource exchange theories emphasizing
exchange of resources between genders including functionalist, time availability, and relative resource theories. The second category is proposed by feminists
underscoring power asymmetries between genders under the patriarchal society.
According to functionalists, the division of household is basically allocated in terms of biological traits. Women are predominately responsible for expressive roles of childbearing and nursing, and men take instrumental roles (Miller and Garrison 1982). Such argument is based on a relatively static attribute by which women and men are viewed as different but complementary. Under this assumption, women are wives, mothers, and caregivers for parents and children. With this patriarchal gender norm, women indeed gain little chance to shift their power in the home.
Time availability theory emphasizes exchanges of resource and considers the household division as an end of husband and wife’s competing time commitment.
With this assumption, the spouse who is not employed or who works for least hours is expected to contribute more to domestic work. Under contemporary capitalist logic, wives often earn less than husbands and their earning is viewed as
complementary to the family income. Consequently, wives are often expected to do more housework and family care than their husbands. For several years, feminists have criticized this assumption. Because even wives become breadwinners they still take most responsibilities of domestic work and family care. As U.S. and Australian studies indicate, when a husband is economically dependent on his wife, he actually does less housework than before (Bittman et al. 2003).
Different from the above perspectives, relative resource theory emphasizes exchanges of resource between husbands and wives. The arrangement of household
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labor reflects power differences between husbands and wives. Usually ‘relative resource’ is measured in terms of individual education, economic earning, and occupational status (Teerawichitchainan et al. 2010). Studies have demonstrated a negative correlation between household division labor and socio-economic
achievement (Tsai 2004), that is, the spouse with the most resources does less
housework. In other words, a wife brings more economic resources into the marriage might make her husband to do more domestic work (Bittman et al. 2003). In sum, for resource exchange theories, taking instrumental of expressive roles is dependent on exchanges of resources in which each others could benefit from their respective labors, and these exchanges are expected to generate a mutual interdependence that produces and reinforces marital stability (South 2001).
Nonetheless, this assumption has been critiqued by feminists for overemphasizing the importance of materials but ignoring the impacts of cultural norm on gender relations (Eschle 2004). Research has widely documented that even when women participate the labor market, there is a universal fact that women still spend more hours on domestic work than men (Gangl and Ziefle 2009). Apparently, even earning an income, there is no guarantee that women will exercise greater power in their marriages. Tsai’s study (2004), based on the national survey of social change of
Taiwan in 1996, have found that women’s employment is not a predictor to husbands’
increasing housework involvement. Rather, husbands’ perception of gender equality has significant influences on the increase of housework involvement.
Some researchers (Hakim 2000) consider women’s employment activities as individual choice; however, others (Sainsbury 1996; South 2001) contend that patriarchal culture prescribing husband and wife labor division in the home is critical in influencing the everyday gender relations. This cultural norm is even supported by the social system and is reinforced by legislation. Meisenbach (2010), applying a phenomenological method to explore the experiences and gendered identity
negotiations of 15 female breadwinners (FBWs), has found that FBWs did not get the partner contribute to domestic work. Based on in-depth interviews with 30 couples, Tichenor (2005) have noted that even a participation in full-time employment or with the higher status of breadwinner does not necessary bring wife more power.
What impacts could be brought into the transnational marriages, when immigrant women are employed? Can household division be re-arranged? And, to what extent the housework and family care can be shifted? Undoubtedly, transnational marriages have brought more complicated influence on the dynamics of genders than before (Meisenbach 2010). As Nicole Constable (2005) has pointed out, transnational marriages are not only shaped by economic forces but also cartographies of desire.
Many immigrant women may look for modern and open-minded husbands, while
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their husbands turn to Southeast Asia may expect traditional wives. This paradox could result in marital dissolution. Statistics (National Immigration Agency 2010) have reported a higher divorce rate among transnational marriages than
non-transnational marriages. For instance, in 2008, about one-third of
non-transnational couples filed divorce, whereas half of transnational marriage couples are divorced.
Even thought the transnational marriage has been paid much attention, there is little research looking into the dynamic of these transnational marriages. Therefore, we can only try to understand the household division within these transnational marriages via the analysis of immigration families. In Paraddo and Flippen’s study (2005), gender relations within immigrant families will be re-structured during the assimilation process. And those factors such as the structures of labor in host countries and emotional attachments with the family have impacts on household arrangements. However, even though culture may have impacts on the household arrangement, Kulik (2005) notes that family social status may have an influence on the arrangement of household division.
Strategies for Work-Family Balance
Despite with socio-economic transformation, there is no doubt that Confucian traditions still have extensive influences on everyday gender relations in Taiwan. For instance, in Taiwan the number of not participating in the labor market has increased slightly since 1999. Approximately half of this group of women withdrew from the labor market because of household chores and care responsibilities. The labor force participation rate of married women is much lower than single women. Several studies have pointed out that around half of all married women withdrew from the labor market due to marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering. Married women will return to the labor market when their responsibility of caring for children is alleviated.
In order to meet family demands, married women with pre-school-age children may reduce their working hours or transfer to non-competitive jobs. Studies have shown how cultural factor influences the arrangement of household labor and the strategies for work-family balance. For instance, Moon (2003) using in-depth interviews with Korean middle-class immigrant women from suburbs in New York, noted that gender ideology subscribed by Korean immigrant couples has a lasting effect on the division of household labor. With little support from their husbands and homeland families, Korean immigrant women are likely to withdraw from full-time employment and to retreat to full-time mothering. Gelfand and McCallum’s study (1994) have examined the pressure of caring parents on first-generation immigrant
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women in Australia. All participants take their spouses as good husbands but
providing limited assistance in caregiving process. Even so, participants still consider that it’s a shame for men to do housework.
One can image how the prevailing gender norm in Taiwan shapes the experience of immigrant women in reconciling work and family. With restrictions on language, education, residency status, and prejudice as well as with lacks of family support, immigrant women may face tremendous pressure on everyday balance of work and family. Pan et al’s study (2010) based on interviews with immigrants have noted that a large proportion of immigrant women has become the family breadwinners but cannot reduce their burdens of housework and family care.
More recently, scholars in western countries have advocated the state
intervention in the family life through various policies (Crompton 2006; Lewis 2006;
Crompton, Lewis and Lyonette 2007; Le Feuvre and Lemarchant 2007). Despite the Gender Equality Employment Act (GEEA) enacted in 2002, Taiwanese women compared to European countries still have a lower rate of returning to the labor market. This might imply that the structure of the labor market is still less friendly for women, particularly for those with pre-school-age children. If most families hold traditional role expectations for immigrant women, then immigrant women will turn to their mothering quickly. This could result in impacts on immigrant women’s everyday life on work-family balance.
Role stress theory is often used to interpret how women manage multiple roles between the demands of work and family care. However, this theory views women’s experience on the reconciliation between work and family care universally. Indeed, many studies have identified that strategies employed by women vary in class and ethnicity (Liamputtong 2001; Remennick, 2001). Working-class women or those from disadvantaged social groups such as immigrants or single mother may especially suffer from the demands of daily life. Unable to hire help and with little support from their male partners, these women tend to work longer, sleep less, and juggle their multiple roles, often with feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
How do employed immigrants handle their paid work and unpaid family care in the daily living experience? Immigrant women have fewer kin to rely on and lack the access to paid helps, and economic disadvantages further lead to immigrant
women’s labor force participation, which, in turn, reduces the time available to conduct household tasks and to fulfill caregiving duties (Spitzer et al. 2003).
Immigrant women’s ability to manage multiple roles is strongly related to their social affiliation and personal resources (Remennick 2001).
For instance, in their collaborative research across France, Portugal, Finland, and Italy, Wall and Jose (2004) explored the diverse strategies immigrant families adopt
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to deal with their childcare responsibilities. The authors argued that middle class and skilled professional migrant families usually can make the best use of the state services whereas those who worked as unskilled laborers usually found it hard to cope with the work and family care responsibilities. A study by Data et al. (2006) in London found that immigrant women might adopt several strategies: take shift with the husband, or bring parents overseas to London. The most prevalent practice is
“mother-centeredness”, putting the mother role first and adjusting the working time to fit childcare responsibility. However, this practice might not be easy for the
immigrant women. It produces effects of reducing working hours, rejecting better job opportunities and decreasing the remittances sending back home. In some cases, if there is a conflict between work and childcare and when migrant women have no choice but to work, it is very possible that they leave children unattended. This might raise the levels of stress.
Overall, there are different ways of coping with work and family care
responsibilities, and ethnicity and class really matter for immigrant family. Middle upper class families can utilize resources without much trouble; however, peasant and blue collar immigrant families face the most vulnerable situations to combine work and family care. The coping strategies of immigrant families are still developing and this research hopes to go beyond those descriptive data. This study attempts to know the caring needs of cross-border marriages in Taiwan, and to learn about immigrants’ strategies for work-family balance.
Research Methods Data collection
Between November 2008 and June 2011, with the assistance of four graduate students, we developed an interview guideline and conducted in-depth interview with 42 Southeast Asian immigrants. All study participants were referred by personnel working at the new immigrant family service center and non-profit organization. Each interview lasted roughly for 1.5－3 hours, and most were conducted at home of immigrants, though a few were conducted in public places (such as service centers for immigrant families, restaurants, or the researcher office).
These 42 immigrants were fully informed of the study objectives, and in-depth interviews were conducted after obtaining written informed consent or verbal consent, because some participants hesitated to sign written informed consents.
Each participant in the study was provided with a US$20 gift or US$20 cash.
The interviews asked questions related to issues such as length of their stay in Taiwan, how many children they had from their current marriages, and the number of members of their families. Additionally, participants were asked whether they
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need to care for any family member in daily live? What kind of care do they provide for their families? Is there any family member or paid care workers who can help them to care for their child/children or family members who are old, with illnesses or
need to care for any family member in daily live? What kind of care do they provide for their families? Is there any family member or paid care workers who can help them to care for their child/children or family members who are old, with illnesses or