Chapter 3 The Economic Predicaments of Marriage Migrants in
3.3 Strategies and Policies for Marriage Migrants Employment
4.1.2 The Marriage Migrants in Taiwan
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
culture, position, profession on average.
Moreover, the typical transnational marriage pattern in Taiwan is brokered marriage mediated by marriage agencies no matter legal or illegal; therefore, the information which the new couples known about each other is extremely deficient ahead of their marriage so as to result in mutual misunderstanding and potential problems frequently in their future life. The beguilement hidden behind marriage is revealed after arriving in the receiving countries so the foreign brides confront diversified shocks to different degree while facing their husbands, their family-in-laws, or the environment they live in.
4.1.2 The Marriage Migrants in Taiwan
From the marriage migrant respect, migration implies not only the uncertainty of future but also the expectation for life improvement. Migration should be a choice rather than a necessity for them. Migrants are conscious of their decision no matter what drive them to determine to move. Obviously, they choose to cross national borders to pursue better livelihood and opportunities through various channels like obtaining higher education degree, stable job, and even unpredictable marriage of the highest risk to face uncontrolled destiny and uncertain future.
The rapid rise in the number of foreign brides in Taiwan is related to the dual imbalance between supply and demand in the marriage market and the gender distribution in Taiwan’s demographic population.27 The Ministry of the Interior used to declared that as of the end of year 2000, there were something over 1.93 million unmarried men in the Taiwan in the “marriageable” age group of 20-34, but only 1.42 million women, that is an excess of men over women of half a million. In other words,
27 According to the statistics released by the Department of Statistics of Ministry of Interior in 2009, the sum of total foreign spouses is very close to 43 thousand in the end of 2009, which rose almost to 10 tousand in 5 years, compared with that of the year 2003, which was more than 33 thousand. See http://sowf.moi.gov.tw/stat/week/list.htm.
‧
there would be over 500,000 men in Taiwan unable to find wives unless the men who are more than 200,000 have outreached and extended their horizons abroad and married mainland or foreign partners.28
Therefore, aside from the economic cause, the effect of demographic development (status) is influencing the development of transnational marriage as well.
At present, the largest numbers of foreign brides are coming from Vietnam, the number of foreign brides from Mainland China are not calculated in this statistics. In the past nearly two decades, Vietnamese brides occupied the biggest proportion of the whole foreign brides in Taiwan based on the statistics of MOI, followed by foreign spouses from Indonesia and Cambodia listed on the top three highest simultaneously (Table 4-1).
The number of foreign spouses displayed a growing tendency before the year of Table 4-1: Marriage Migrants Acquiring R.O.C Nationality by Home
Country—1990~2008
Note: The number of applicants from Mainland China is not included in this statistics.
Source: Ministry of the Interior (2009), The Statistics of Foreign Spouses Acquiring ROC Nationality.
28 According to the statistics released by the Department of Statistics of Ministry of Interior in 2009, the ratio of foreign grooms to native ones is more than 3% and the ratio of foreign brides to native ones is near to 40% in 2003 when there were the highest amount of foreign spouses in Taiwan. It indicates that there are thirteen times of foreign brides than foreign grooms in Taiwan in a single year which infers Taiwan’s men are tentative to play import roles in marriage market so as to bring more and more foreign brides to Taiwan. See http://sowf.moi.gov.tw/stat/gender/ps03-04.xls.
‧
2003; since then, it showed minor decrease which probably resulted from the following potential causes: mainland bride interview mechanism execution at the end of the year 2003, foreign bride outer-state interview enforcement in 2005,29 and the improving economy of the source countries of the foreign brides so that they preferred staying in their homeland.30
Moreover, another potential reason is that the downgrading economy of Taiwan in recent years forces the men loath to spend much money on a transnational marriage (Table 4-2).31 The money spending on transnational marriage mostly by means of agents and brokers become the investment of no repayment.
Table 4-2: Number of Foreign Brides in Taiwan—2001~2008
Year Persons
Source: Ministry of the Interior (2009), The Yearly Statistics of Foreign Brides in Taiwan.
29 Both are executed for blocking human trafficking, prostitution, illegal labors or other criminal covered by pseudo transnational marriage, which are respectively under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
30 Vietnam is a good example, which signed the Tariff-free Agreement with ASEAN in 2003 becoming a world factory and locating in an important geographic position in South Asia. It owns a promising economic vision. In 2005, it is also named by Goodman Sachs as the NEXT-11displaying the abundant natural resources and strong labor force. Plus, it is an incentives to foreign investment and sees increasing domestic economic activities.
31 The prevalence of domestic factory relocation and business transfer to Mainland China and other countries in Southeast Asia affects the unemployment rate increase and consumption price rising in Taiwan. Under such a circumstance, an increase of family member like a foreign bride will lead to heavier burden of the family economically, even more burden if they have children in the future.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
4.1.3 Treatment and Attitude toward Marriage Migrants
Xenophobia, as an anthropologist or sociologist might call it a fear of the other, of the unknown, and those who are different. In this sense, xenophobia could be considered as a basic human instinct. An economist or a demographer might argue that international migration places a strain on resources. Xenophobia could be a basic human instinct. The term immigration phobia encompasses threat perception or fear.
Theses two dimensions of the phobia definition —– fear and hostility (Brettell and Hollifield, 2000).
This part in this research is aimed to find out how local nationals view the negative and positive effects of marriage migrant brides having in our society.
Whether they acknowledge the contributions of marriage migrants bringing into our society and how all the effects reflect on the overall development of the society where we are.
Have the attitudes of local peoples changed over the years? If so, what are these changes? Do the local people have the positive images of foreign brides now and ever?
If so, what are these? Do local peoples see their contributions? Do they think that foreign brides should have equal rights as they do? How are these rights manifested and expressed in legal and practical terms?
It will also try to look on how locals (both men and women) interact with marriage migrants and whether they see them as one of the positive forces that can in general shape their society as well as guide and discipline the future generations of being mothers and women. It is also good to look on how local women perceive the existence of foreign mothers and how they view foreign brides as immigrants and as part of the local women’s movement.
In general, migrants including foreign brides should be considered as part of local society. Especially, certain requirements in order to maintain and sustain their
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
lives in host countries are indispensable so long as they stay with the husbands and children and learn the language.
There are some stinging remarks in accordance with the foreign brides by the local or host peoples. What more stinging and traumatic is when separation or divorce comes in and they find out that they have “no rights” whatsoever over their children.
Furthermore, they also lose their “right to stay”, “right of abode” or “citizenship” and the “right to work”, when the divorce or separation is finalized.
Moreover, if the natives hold a positive attitude toward migrants including marriage migrants and expect them integrate into the receiving society will be helpful for migrants to establish self-confidence and to quickly adapt to the environment of the destination countries. Especially, if migrants deserve the equal rights and privileges that the locals possess, they may easily to gain the sense and belonging and fairness to avoid unpredictable conflict and controversy. If the consensus between the locals and migrants founds, then the government or NGO’s policy promotion related to marriage migrants may not face big obstacles.
Piper and Roces (2003) stated that primarily constructed as ‘emigrant spouses’ or
‘foreign wives’ inscribed in a patriarchal order whereby women are transferred from their natal family to their husband’s family, these women migrants’ status as transnational citizens, part of two families, has been neglected. In addition, the general public, to various extent, also put value on the contributions of foreign brides to the family and host society in general —– a pool of human resource in order to solve the “marital need” of their “single population” and thereby raise new generations of children. One factor they recognize is the decreasing and ageing population as more and more local women prefer to marry late or stay single. Here are some of their views:
• They give family life to middle-aged men who have low level of education
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
• The existence of foreign brides can solve the marital need of single population in local society. The brides can also human resource to the society.
• In current Taiwan’s society, these women’s contribution to mitigating problems of low birth rate and aging population is critical.
• They help raise new generations of Taiwanese children.
• Taiwan needs women from other countries because younger Taiwanese women seem more interested in earning money than raising a family. We need to nurture young Taiwanese children to become responsible citizens. Many foreign brides are now guardians of Taiwanese children.
• The population of Taiwan is decreasing, and many people cannot find someone to marry. It will prevent Taiwan from losing its population.
• Many males in Taiwan can’t find their marriage mate easily, some are due to the economic, health or age factors, and some can’t find a stepmother who is willing to take care of his child. They can only go abroad to find their mate.
So whether (they) bring up the birth rate in Taiwan, or take the most part of these domestic works, they do lots of contribution to Taiwan.
• Women in Taiwan are more independent now, most of us may get married late or even stay single. Foreign brides help Taiwan to make a balance of marriage proportion. Moreover, foreign brides are not so reluctant to have babies, which contribute a lot to the birth rate-a declining problem in Taiwan. Others view foreign brides’ contribution in enriching and flourishing mono-culture or eradicate the “myth” of ethnic homogeneity.
Although the marriage migrants are commonly regarded as the products of globalization, they are more the products of compensation for urgent need of Taiwan’s men to find a bride, stepmother, housemaid or caregiver in Taiwan’s case.
There has been a “myth” of ethnic homogeneity in Taiwanese traditional society,
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
which limits many people’s thoughts. The increase of international marriage challenges the myth, and will generate positive influences if dealt with well. The general public view that foreign brides should be treated equally as locals, and even are expressed as the “potential crisis” to the host society if women migrants are not given equal treatment. If migrants can not take care of their children properly, there would be a potential crisis for society in Taiwan, because the new generation will be the main support and producer of our country.
Just as foreign workers (migrants and immigrants) who are often seen by local workers as “competitors to local jobs available”, foreign brides have their share of the stigma. Negative attitudes are reflected as they are seen as “pariah”, “mere servants to service all the families’ needs”, “a servant who can give birth and raise child(ren) for them (husbands)”, “wives (who were) bought” (underscoring supplied). Others refer to them as “dependents” or “passive participants” to migration (APMM, 2007).
Due to legal restrictions on residency and employment, however, foreign spouses who marry to Taiwanese men have long found life in Taiwan extremely difficult.
The situation has improved recently, though, thanks to passage of the Entry, Exit and Immigration Law. Foreign spouses now have an opportunity to join the ranks of “the new Taiwanese.” Since the enactment of Entry, Exit and Immigration Law, foreign spouses meeting certain criteria may gain the right to obtain permanent residency.
In Taiwan the term “foreign brides” generally refers to the female partners in international marriages in which women from less developed countries move to live in more developed countries. Over the past decade, as Taiwanese businesses have advanced southward and westward, and the government has opened Taiwan's doors to foreign laborers, more and more Taiwanese men have crossed boundaries to marry women from the countries of Southeast Asia and Mainland China, and the foreign brides they have brought back with them have become a group large enough to draw
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
attention of the government and the general public.
Another prominent cause leading to discriminative attitude toward marriage migrants is their extremely limited language ability to communicate well so that the mutual communication will be curb between the locals and the migrants. The language barrier not only affects job opportunities, but also the parental education a foreign spouse can provide and the social and cultural integration.
Foreign mothers are usually the main caregivers at home, but communication with their own children can be handicapped by language problems. Usually they do not speak their own languages with their children. A recent survey by King Car Education Foundation indicates that only around 32 percent of children born to foreign mothers can communicate with them in their mothers' native language.
Yet the children, surrounded by Taiwanese relatives, can often become more fluent speakers of the local language than their mothers; therefore, the communication gap existing among marriage migrants, their relatives of husbands’ family and their own children may arouse children’s disrespect to their mothers speaking foreign languages. Moreover, surveys done by the MOI and by King Car Education Foundation have, however, shown to be false the popular canard, much disseminated in the media, that children of such mixed marriages lag in learning ability.
4.2 Cause and Effect from Marriage Migrants
New immigrants via brokered marriage women are generally regarded as a merchandised commodity under the international capital (Hsia, 2000) and discriminated by their new in-laws, community and the public. Form employee aspect, the foreign spouses may be regarded as foreign labors in some ways due to their similar background, no matter the channels or reasons which they come to Taiwan.
They receive different treatment from their co-workers in the working place, such as
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
working hours, wage, working environment, social support and etc.
However, due to the continuing cooperation of the public and the private sectors and new immigrants’ own efforts to rebuild a brand new image, the general publics change their attitude toward the new immigrants and their descendents. The most apparent is the change of the term which marriage immigrants are called from the most discriminated foreign bride, to foreign spouse and finally to a normal and more respectful one- new immigrants till the present one-new residents.
Therefore, this section focuses on discussion and analysis on the past situation and the status quo of the so-called new immigrants in Taiwan from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, comprising many domains such as marriage expectation between themselves and their family-in laws in new family, self-concept and the locals’
positive and negative attitudes toward them in labor market and society and regulation and welfare policies related to marriage immigrants from economic domain, basically the work right and the minimum financial requirement for naturalization.
Moreover, another analytic tool —– Ikishikawa Diagram is also operated to discover the status of marriage migrants and the causes preventing the marriage migrants participating in employment (Figure 4-1). As a result, if the hindrance of being employed can be eliminated, then the increase of employment of marriage migrants may occur.
As Keely (2000) indicated motivation relates to the issues of social prestige arising from specific jobs. When a job is at the bottom of the ladder with little status and few occupational mobility prospects, worker motivation becomes difficult.
Migrants may have few problems with status if the job pays a wage that allows a migrant to send money home at higher rates than could be made at home. Likewise, a migrant may see low-paying, low-status jobs as a foot in the door. The job may be the
“dead end,” but the migrants sees a brighter personal future in terms of
‧
Figure 4-1: Causes Affecting Employment of Marriage Migrants
jobchanging and upward mobility.
Hatton and Williamson (2005) noted that immigrants found employment more frequently in unskilled jobs, compared with natives. They flowed disproportionately into the slowest-growing part of the economy and crowded out native unskilled workers and thus widen the gap between the working poor and the rest. As a result, the job option and availability of immigrants are restricted owing to their limited language abilities, sustainable profession skills, and comparatively inferior original conditions than the natives.
From the figures 4-1 showed here, it manifests and displays the six major
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
domains affecting employment rate of marriage migrants may occur in Taiwan, they are respectively marriage migrants themselves, their husband’ family, labor market, relative regulations involved with residence, work, and citizenship, the host society and the bilateral culture differentials.
Therefore, if the economic predicaments of marriage migrants are expected to solve, the above mentioned difficulties and obstacles face by marriage migrants have to be eliminate so that marriage migrants may be employed and participate in labor market; accordingly, the household finance can be improved and maintained. Thus, the possibility of fulfillment of original dreams they embrace can increase and the mixed family life and the host society can stay harmonious as well.
Some people can’t get hired because they don’t have an education and they are not qualified to do the job. Most companies call a person’s references and if they don’t have a good work record they are unlikely to get hired. Employees will always hire the most qualified person based on their resume, or brief account of one’s education and professional experience. Therefore, marriage migrants with no or less
Some people can’t get hired because they don’t have an education and they are not qualified to do the job. Most companies call a person’s references and if they don’t have a good work record they are unlikely to get hired. Employees will always hire the most qualified person based on their resume, or brief account of one’s education and professional experience. Therefore, marriage migrants with no or less