Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.3 International and Domestic Research on Marriage Migration
2.3.2 The Impacts of International Migration
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women is marriage migration. In the 1970s, international marriage mainly took place between western men and Asian women. Since the rise of international migration, international marriages are taking place between persons of various Asian countries.
Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have witnessed record number of international marriages over the last decade. In South Korea, 9.9 percent of the total marriages involve a foreign wife.
Moreover, Asian contains both destination and source countries of migrants.
South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are some of the major destination countries of South East and East Asia. Thus, it can be argued that women migration is more common in the case of South East Asian countries in comparison with South Asian sending countries. It also shows that destination countries are not static.
Asia has been in the forefront of migration of people all alone. People of Asia moved across territory for better life and livelihood. Asia contains both destination and source countries of migrants.
Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have witnessed record number of international marriages over the last decades. Ninety-nine percent of the total marriages of South Korea involve a foreign wife. Another important trend in migration within Asia is the emergence of women as principal migrants. In case of migration of women four broad streams are discernable:（1）typical migration of women as dependent spouses of male migrants both within and beyond Asia;（2）
independent migration of women for labor;（3）independent migration of women as students and professionals; and（4）international marriage migration (Siddiqui, 2008).
2.3.2 The Impacts of International Migration
Migration is controversial. Nationalists argue that states have the rights to recruit
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or restrict according to the interest of their citizen, and to select applicants for entry.
Globalists prescribe international migration management regimes to regulate population flows across borders, in pursuit of sustainable growth and the welfare of all. International organizations also recognize the need for humanitarian protection (Jordan and Duvell, 2003).
Piper (2005) indicated that international migration has become an established feature of contemporary social and economic life globally. It has both positive and negative features and opportunities for the countries and individuals involved. As a result, cross-border mobility has, in general, attracted a great deal of international policy attention in recent years. However, along with surge of globalization, unceasingly migration waves flow worldwide.
As Parademetriou (2003) claimed because of low rates of native population growth across the advanced industrial world, migration is already a large demographic force, a function of increased immigration and relentlessly low fertility. Moreover, countries with significant migration inflows in the last decades will also notice the evolving racial and ethnic composition of their workforces as much larger proportions of those joining the labor market will be immigrants and their offspring.
Theoretically, moves over boundaries would seem to have more impact by changing the population characteristics of the old and new political units of the migrant’s residence. When there is large-scale mobility in a population in general or in some specific time period, then social, economic, and political impacts can be great indeed (Keely, 2000). Therefore, the impact of migration is diversified on the receiving countries; and whether the degree of influence expanding or reducing depends on the management and maneuver of the government.
National population must respond to new conditions, set by international organization and global market forces. Substantial rights to resources, provided by
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states, become less reliable, and ‘supply-side’ adaptations essential. Earlier waves of migrants find themselves disadvantaged in competition that demands employability, enterprise and mobility.
Often they were among the first to be redundant as industrial employment contracted, and their offspring have least access to advantageous education and training for the expanding financial, professional and service sectors. They are forced to rely on informal improvisations and survival strategies.
Like large groups of indigenous losers, they become isolated from mainstream social systems and resources; but they are then blamed, and perceived as rivals by native outsiders. Even their rights to be part of the society are questioned (Jordan and Duvell, 2003). However, migrant development renews and becomes complex as time goes by; even the mature and sophisticated governments still regard it seriously in case of carelessness leading to growing negative impacts, i.e. affecting society and culture.
Three sets of factors lie at the root of the difficulty governments and, more generally, societies, have in managing the effects of large-scale immigration well.
The first is found in immigration’s relationship to sudden and deep social and cultural change; the second concerns immigration’s complexity; and the third stems from its deeply uneven distributional effects. All three sets factors require governments to engage in delicate balancing acts in which the cost of failure is often measured not only in severe social and economic consequences but also in political ruin (Parademetriou, 2003).
Another clear impact of migration is on global ethnic structure. Along with international labor migration, the scale of international marriage migration, especially intra-regional migration in Asia, has increased drastically in the last decades, transforming global ethnoscape in many countries. This movement is becoming a
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critical topic in the field of international migration that has primarily focused on labor migration, whether it is individual or family migration (Kim, 2007).
In terms of women who migrated due to their marriage with foreign Asian nationals, Global commission on International Migration, Migration in the Asia-Pacific region Asia indicates that “foreign brides are increasing in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong ( APMM, 2007).
With regards to international marriage migration, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are some of the major destination countries of South East and East Asia. Vietnamese, Philippine, Indonesian, Thai and Cambodia brides rank among the top five sources of marriage migrants to Taiwan.
Over the past two decades, Vietnam has continued to stand at the first position of key source countries of international marriage migrants in Taiwan (Table 2-5).
Obviously, feminization is an essential attribute to migration in most regions of the world, since an obviously increasing number of women are crossing borders for international marriages. Such a phenomenon is commonly seen in Taiwan, since the marriage migrants in Taiwan are mainly consisted of women. Men are scarce components of marriage migrants here.
Table 2-5: Number of Foreign Spouses by Nations — Sep. 30, 2009
Nationality of Foreign Spouses
Vietnam Indonesia Thailand Philippine Cambodia Japan Korea Others
Note: The number of the foreign spouses from Mainland China is not included in this table.
Source: National Immigration Agency (2009), The Monthly Statistic of the Number of Foreign Spouses.
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Female migration has become prominent in terms of both absolute numbers and proportions of the migrant population (Table 2-2). Marriage migration presents a women-centered trend in the global migration.
In addition, regarding to the decision making process of migration, there are differences in gender perspective somewhat apparently. According to the statement by Vu, Kieu-Dung,12 the reasons for men and women, in terms of the human capital, social capital and financial capital, are different respectively. They are synthesized and categorized as follows:
• Men are more economic-affected and while women are more family-affected than the opposite sex.
• The marital status are ineffective on men’s choice to migrate (both single and married are economic-oriented); however, on the contrary, which are quite effective on women’s (married women are family-oriented but single women are economic-oriented).
• Reasons for migration were affected by demographic attributes and human and social capital, but not financial capital. Human and social capitals are good predictors of reasons for migration but financial capital is not a good one.
This might be explained by the migrants’ relatively high income levels.
From this point of view, it doesn’t comply with the realistic international female migrants to a certain extent (either for marriage migrants or labor migrants) which financial capital is the prior concerns for international women migrants than the other three.
• Men are self-determined movers while women are directed to migrate by family members.
• Single women and men are directed to migrate by family members while
12 See Gender Pattern of Migration in Decision-making Process, http://www.arenaonline.org/docu/20 07%20Regional%20School/Gender_pattern_of_migration_in_decision-making_process.ppt#256,1
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married men are self-determined movers and married women join with their husbands in making the decision to migrate.
• Both women and men with higher educational levels are self-determined movers while those with lower educational levels are directed to move by family members.
• Decision-makers of migration were affected by almost all capital (human, social, and financial) and demographic attributes, but especially social capital.
• social capital and human capital including gender and marital status are good predictors for the participation in decision making.
• Men move alone while women move with others.
• Men and single women move solitarily while married women move with others.
• Both men and women with social connections move alone.
• Men, regardless of type of relations at destination, move alone while women with kin relations move alone and those with non-kin relations move with others.
From the aforementioned description, making decision to migrate is interrelated with the marital status, gender, and kinship.