臺灣婚姻移民經濟困境之研究 - 政大學術集成

全文

(1)國立政治大學台灣研究英語碩士學程 International Master’s Program in Asia-Pacific Studies College of Social Science National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master Thesis. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. 臺灣婚姻移民經濟困境之研究 The Study of Economic Predicaments of Marriage Migrants in Taiwan. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 學生：陳美芳 Student: Chen, Mei-Fang 指導教授:黃仁德 Advisor: Dr. Hwang, Jen-Te. 中華民國九十九年一月 January, 2010.

(2) Acknowledgement As playing multiple roles of a career woman, mother of three kids, and a housewife as I am, it is not only physical but also mental challenges for me to fulfill the master degree. Through the process of studying, I used to suspend schooling temporarily for one and a half years due to imbalanced physical condition and ever considered that I probably could not make it. However, my advisor, Dr. Hwang, Jen-Te, continued instructing me and recommended me moving on; furthermore, my classmates—Claire. 治政 Mei-Hui, and Hui-Ying encouraged and assisted 大 me frequently. Moreover, the 立 suggestions that the committee members of my thesis review, Dr. Huang, Chintan and and Cindy, and my colleagues—Pheobe, Qun-Hua, Shu-Hui, Shu-Chuan, Yu-Fang,. ‧ 國. 學. Dr. Chen, Jennjou provide me do help me a lot. Most of all, my family such as my. ‧. parents, my elder brother, Guanzhu, and sister, Mei-Long encouraged me all the time. Especially, my dearest husband, Major, and lovely kids, Edward, Anita, and Alex are. y. Nat. sit. my biggest support and everlasting energy source. Here I sincerely appreciate all the. al. n. degree attainment.. er. io. various kinds of contributions that you have offered for my thesis completion and. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Nowadays, to obtain a master degree is no longer a goal hard to reach as it used to be. Nonetheless, it is still like a tug of war of endurance and willpower to some degree. Just as an old saying says “nothing is impossible to a willing heart.” Only if you try hard then you will make it. Fortunately, I finally realize one of my objectives in the present stage of my life.. i.

(3) Abstract Migration has been a globally prevailing phenomenon through human history, which urges multilateral activities and prompts diverse concerns among sourcing and receiving nations in different arena simultaneously. Marriage migration is one of the common migratory patterns; wherein women constitute the main part of marriage migrants as dependents proportionately. The female marriage migrants and their economic plights are the target of this study. Three aims of this study are to examine the status of marriage migrants; to. 政治大. discover marriage migrants’ influence; and to analyze marriage migrants’ economic. 立. predicaments and propose suggestions for the government and further study.. ‧ 國. 學. Aside from secondary data analysis and the vertical and parallel comparison, two additional analytic tools are used to elicit effects of migrants’ employment and. ‧. estimate causes and strategies of migrants’ economic predicaments.. y. Nat. sit. The conclusions are that the source of marriage migrants are women from less-. n. al. er. io. developed nations; the transnational marriage is generally poverty combination in. i Un. v. Taiwan; the possibility to ease economic plight depends on the job supply and access;. Ch. engchi. marriage migrants entering employment benefits on mixed families; the variables of marriage migrants’ labor participation are multiple; and the opportunity to have a new and better life attracts women to migrate via marriage. In addition, several suggestions are proposed for further researchers: to refine the variables analysis method for marriage migrants’ labor participation; to study marriage migrants’ post- employment situation; and to emphasize migration forced by global warming and climate change. For the government, the suggestions are: to list migrant employment promotion programs on policy agenda and to make professional training channels and job supply more accessible and affordable for migrants.. ii.

(4) CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………....1. 1.1. The Motive and Purpose of the Study……………………………………………......4. 1.2. The Major Issue and Background……………………………………………...….......5. 1.3. Research Framework………………………………………………………………...12. 1.4. Research Methods and Procedures..………………………………………………....13. Chapter 2. Theoretical Foundation…............................................................................................16 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3. International and Domestic Research on Migration…………………..…………......19 International Migration in the Globe………………………………………......20. 2.2.2. Women Migration in the Globe……………………………….…………….…23. ‧. 2.2.1. y. Nat. sit. International and Domestic Research on Marriage Migration..……………………..27 Marriage Migration in the Globe………………………………………………28. 2.3.2. iv n C Marriage Migration h in Taiwan……………………………………………..…..35 engchi U. 2.3.4. al. n. 2.3.3. io. 2.3.1. er. 2.3. 治政 Migration Theory from Political Aspect.............................................................17 大立 Marriage Theory……………………………………………………………….18 學. 2.2. Migration Theory from Economic Aspect……………………………………..16. ‧ 國. 2.1. Literature Review………………………………………………………...15. The Impacts of International Migration …………………………………….....30. The Second Generation of International Marriage Families..……………..…...42. 2.3.5. The Impacts of Marriage Migrants………………………………………….....43. 2.3.6. The Development and Amendment of Migration Policies and Service Measures ………..……………………………………………………….…….45. 2.3.7. Wives or Workers?..............................................................................................49. 2.3.8. The Motives and the Incentives for Marriage Migration…………………..…..51. 2.4 Summary……..…………………………………………………………………..…..54. Chapter 3. The Economic Predicaments of Marriage Migrants in Advanced Countries…………………………………………………..…57. 3.1 Status Quo of Marriage Migrants................................................................................57 iii.

(5) 3.1.1. Patterns and Structure………………………………………………….……….58. 3.1.2. The Marriage Migrants in Japan, USA and Britain…………………….……....59. 3.1.3. Treatment and Attitude toward Marriage Migrants………………..……….…..64. 3.2. Cause and Effect from Marriage Migrants………………………….……………......67. 3.3. Strategies and Policies for Marriage Migrants Employment ………………………..68. 3.4 Summary……………………………………………………………………………..70. Chapter 4. The Economic Predicaments of Marriage Migrants in Taiwan……..………………………………………………………………..73. 4.1. Status Quo of Marriage Migrants ...............................................................................73 4.1.1. Patterns and Structure………………………………………………….……....76. 治政 4.1.3 Treatment and Attitude toward Marriage大 Migrants……………………………80 立 4.2 Cause and Effect from Marriage Migrants…………………………………………..84 學. 4.3. The Marriage Migrants in Taiwan……………..…………………….………...77. ‧ 國. 4.1.2. Strategies and Policies for Marriage Migrants Employment ………………………..91. 4.4 Summary…………….……………………………………………………..….……. 95. ‧. Chapter 5. Conclusions and Suggestions…………………………………………. 97. Nat. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………...…….. 97. 5.2. Suggestions…………………………………………………………………………. 99. er. io. sit. y. 5.1. n. al References………………………………………………………………………………….103 iv Ch. n engchi U. iv.

(6) List of Tables Table 2-1: International Migrants as a Percentage of the Population─2005…………….….22 Table 2-2: Female migrants as Percentage of all International Migrants……………………25 Table 2-3: Female Migrants as Percentage of all International Migrants……….……….......26 Table 2-4: The Proportion of Female Migrants among the Total Migrants……...………......27 Table 2-5: Number of Foreign Spouses by Nation—Sep. 30, 2009……………………..…..33 Table 2-6: Number of Foreign Spouses by Gender—Sep. 30, 2009……...............................36 Table 2-7: Number of Foreign Spouses Attaining Citizenship……………............................37 Table 2-8: Number of Foreign Spouses in Taiwan…………………………………………..39. Table 4-1:. 學. ‧ 國. Table 3-1:. 治政 Number of International Marriage by Nationality 大 in Japan………………….......61 立 Marriage Migrants Acquiring R.O.C Nationality by Home Country………….....78. Table 4-2: Number of Foreign Brides in Taiwan—2001~2008……..………..…………..….79. ‧. Table 4-3: SWOT Analytic Results of Marriage Migrants’ Employment...............................92. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. v. i Un. v.

(7) List of Figures Figure 2-1: Number of Foreign Spouses—2001~ 2008………..…………………………….40 Figure 2-2: Number of Newborns by Mothers’ Nation—1998~2008………..………………41 Figure 4-1: Causes Affecting Employment of Marriage Migrants…………………………..86. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vi. i Un. v.

(8) Chapter. 1. Introduction. In the past few decades, Taiwan has experienced dramatic changes including demographic transition, economic liberalization, political democratization and social diversification. The national transformation has been particularly remarkable since the mid-1980s when the 40-year-old martial law was lifted in 1987. As a result of the changes, Taiwan, an island state, has become more and more involved in the process of globalization. One major aspect of the involvements is human interactions with the rest of the world through migration, especially the inflows of foreign workers and the. 政治大. immigration of spouses married to Taiwanese (Tsay, 2004). Since the mid-90s in the so-called age of migration, Taiwan becomes one of the. 立. destination countries of migrants. As we may know that the process of marriage. ‧ 國. 學. migrants is not simply a physical move of one individual but also a social process. ‧. which has its effect on both sending and receiving societies of marriage socially,. sit. y. Nat. culturally, politically and demographically as well as economically (LeeAn, 2008).. io. er. Furthermore, foreign brides came to be a phenomenon in the ‘80s when the number of migrant women from poor countries marrying foreign men from more. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. advanced countries rose unprecedentedly. This was the time when cross-border. engchi. marriages became not just a hype but also an alternative to poverty and starvation (APMM, 2007). The implementation of the policies of neoliberal globalization that led to the worst global recession has pushed women from underdeveloped and developing countries into transnational marriages that often put them in worse destitution, distress and death, even though a lifelong honeymoon all the more remains an illusion for women who grasp the only opportunity to improve their condition by means of marriage migration. No doubt, the proliferation of marriage agents, internet matchmaking, aggressive advertisements for brides on the media, and other modus 1.

(9) operandi has eradicated the honor and dignity of marriage (AMMORE, 2009). That is a negative impact what the mediated marriage puts on the traditional marriage. Besides, the gap between the ideal and reality is still existing and even growing. Not surprisingly, the phenomenon often spurs heated discussions about the commoditization of women which started from Hsia, Hsiou-Chuan in 1997 and the need to either regulate or forbid intermediary agencies. In both the sending and receiving countries of marriage migrants, media accounts also frequently question the morality and motives of women who engage in these marriages (Belanger and Tran, 2009).. 政治大. According to the latest statistics form Ministry of the Interior (henceforth MOI),. 立. the number of foreign spouses including those from Mainland China is close to 430. ‧ 國. 學. thousand in November of the year 2009. 1 Along with increasing transnational marriage and comparative higher birth rate of foreign spouses than that of native. ‧. women in the first to two years after marriage, children from inter-racial families is. y. Nat. io. sit. gradually occupied more proportion of future population. In addition, the statistic. n. al. er. report of MOI showed that one of more that six babies are from international marriage.. Ch. i Un. v. From ethnicity perspective, aside from the major four ethnicities like Holo, Hakka, the. engchi. second generation of Mainlander and Aborigines, foreign spouses seem to be the fifth major ethnic group in Taiwan. Furthermore, due to increasing researches on migration in Taiwan and the establishment of National Immigration Agency (henceforth NIA) in charge of increasingly complex migration affairs; apparently, migration has turned from a topic to a hot issue and even to a focus in Taiwan. Beginning in the 1990s, large numbers of foreign born women, most from Mainland China and Southeast Asia, married Taiwanese men in Taiwan. Sandel and Liang (2009) claimed that foreign brides now number nearly 400,000 (according to 1. See National Immigration Agency, The Statistics of the Number of Foreign Spouses. http://www.immigration.gov.tw/aspcode/9811.asp. 2.

(10) the newest statistics of MOI, the number is close to 430,000) warranting some to call them “Taiwan’s Fifth Ethnic Group.” Members of this group of immigrants are commonly referred to as Waiji Xinniang —– Foreign Brides. Taiwan has long been understood to have four major ethnic groups, aborigines and three kinds of Han immigrants, the Holo, Hakka, and post-1949 mainlanders. But in a speech on November 2004, President Chen Shui-bian added a fifth group to the list--foreigners. Their inclusion was an acknowledgement of both the size and the impact in recent years of marriages between Taiwanese and overseas nationals. The currently released statistics of NIA shows that there are about 143,894 foreign spouses. 政治大. from Southeast Asia applying for entry in Taiwan, along with another 284,741 from. 立. the People's Republic of China in November of 2009. 2 More than 90 percent of these. ‧ 國. 學. cases involve a Taiwanese man marrying a woman from abroad. Currently, in one in four newly registered marriages in Taiwan, one of the partners is either Southeast. ‧. Asian or a PRC national, while one in seven newborns is the product of a mixed. y. Nat. io. sit. marriage. The result is that Taiwan is turning from ethnic homogeneity to diversity,. n. al. er. and its insular society suddenly has to cope with an influx of large numbers of outsiders. 3. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Migrants including marriage migrants, to different degree, undergo the move of social locality, dislocation of the self, and are also situated in discriminative environments based on gender, race and stratum in their host country. Confronted with discrimination and various forms of exclusion, they start to struggle and negotiate to belonging to the host society, but for marriage migrants are in particular ways.. 2. The data is calculated from 1987 to 2009. Wherein, the number of male and female spouses is respectively 11,608 and 132,286 among those from foreign countries; that of those from Mainland China is 17,222 and 267,519, i.e. female spouses occupy more than 90 percent of total foreign spouses either form foreign countries or Mainland China in Taiwan. http://www.immigration. gov.tw/aspcode/9811 3 See “The Biggest Leap,” Taiwan Review, http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xitem=23746&ctnod e=1362&mp=1 3.

(11) As Chang (2007) expressed that the attitude of the natives toward international migrants are not totally friendly, especially toward marriage migrants. Most of all, the sourcing countries of marriage migrants are mainly the less-developed nations than their receiving countries; comparatively speaking, the natives are tentative to feel superior than the migrants and look down on them. It is obvious what the marriage migrants need to face are multi-aspects manifested by the relative researches categorized by Chang (2005) as the following: adaptation, satisfactions, Mandarin proficiency, education of their second generation, labor participation, empowerment, citizenship, and welfare claims.. 政治大. Although the government and the private sectors such as some NGOs and NPOs. 立. endeavor to revise relative migration regulation as well as offer support and assistance. ‧ 國. 學. programs for the new immigrants, the new immigrants and some social welfare organizations continue calling for what they deserve. The marriage immigrants try. ‧. hard to overcome the obstacles of naturalization, work, life adaptation and etc.. y. Nat. n. a. l C of the Study 1.1 The Motive and Purpose. hengchi. er. io. sit. Indeed, the concerns and debates over migration still exist and grow complicated. i Un. v. This research is to study the economic situation which marriage migrants through transnational marriages are in, whether they contribute to or worsen their household finance in their natal families and their husbands’ families and what option they may take to maintain or improve the economic condition they may sustain in Taiwan’s society. Moreover, further comparisons with other countries’ migration phenomena is aimed to propose several practical suggestions for governmental and private institutes and elicit some unresolved questions for further researchers. Here the author urges to study three questions, firstly, whether marriage migrants are content with their economic status quo in destination countries —– Taiwan. 4.

(12) Secondly, what marriage migrants contribute to or deteriorate household finance in their destination families, owing to their original inferior and unfavorable educational and socio-economical backgrounds plus contemporary insufficient aids and policies associated with migrants. Thirdly, Taiwan, in some ways, is not completely immigrant-friendly and there are lots of to do for building foreigner-friendly environment in public and private sectors. Under such an unfavorable circumstance marriage migrants existing, i.e. generation dissonance, culture shock, experiences of discrimination such as somehow anti-immigrant sentiment both in labor and marriage markets, how marriage migrants find a way out and fulfill their original dream and. 政治大. what steps the government may take to improve or build an immigrant-friendly. 立. economic-independent to support and secure their families.. 學. ‧ 國. society and allow marriage migrants possess the sense of belonging and be more. ‧. 1.2 The Major Issue and Background. y. Nat. io. sit. Migration has a long history of development and has accumulated to tremendous. n. al. er. amounts of migrant population in the past century. Siddiqui (2008) stated that over the. Ch. i Un. v. last 25 years, the number of international migrants has almost doubled. In the 1980,. engchi. 99 million people were living outside their country of origin. In 2005, it became 190 million (United Nations, 2006). Compared to the 1960s, growth rate of migrant populations is rather high. Therefore the migration has been a trend of no end. The statistics of International Migration Report 2006 of United Nations indicated that there were more than 175 million people who migrated to another country in 2000. Furthermore, since more than 175 million people live outside their country of birth, destination country impacts are, indeed, important (Pfeiffer and Taylor, 2008). Between 1960 and 2005 the number of international migrants in the world doubled, and in 2005 about 190 million people —– roughly 3 percent of the world’s 5.

(13) population —– lived outside their country of birth (United Nations, 2006; Morrison et al., 2008). 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. Moreover, the gender aspect of migration is also an important element in relative researches on migration. As Piper (2005) claimed that global estimates by sex confirm. 政治大. that for more than 40 years since 1960, female migrants reached almost the same. 立. numbers as male migrants. Since then, the share of female emigrants among all. ‧ 國. 學. international migrants has been rising steadily. By 2000, female migrants constituted nearly 51 percent of all migrants in the developed world and about 46 percent of all. ‧. migrants in the developing countries. The fact which Taiwan’s marriage migrants. y. Nat. io. sit. mainly consist of women from Southeast Asia and Mainland China just complies with. n. al. er. the global trend. Especially, according to the statistics from MOI, the number of. Ch. i Un. v. foreign spouses is over 420 thousand in 2009 and represents almost 90 percent of total migrant population.. engchi. International migration has received increasing attention in recent decades. However, migration issue in Taiwan was not always a hot topic as it is today; on the contrary, migration has been a heated issue around the world, especially in those developed countries. However, along with surge of globalization, unceasingly migration waves flow worldwide. Inevitably, Taiwan, a developing country in the international community, is also confronting the migration wave and facing the effects and problems caused by it. And migration issue has attracted researchers’ interest and has been the main 6.

(14) concern of the government. From historic point of view, Taiwan has long been a migration destination through its development process. Moreover, transnational marriage as a pattern of cross-border migration is not a novelty in Taiwan. As Cheng (2008) indicated that a few researchers mentioned that the formation of transnational marriages had experience a long process. At the very early period of transnational marriage were mainly from studying abroad, emigration or jobs; from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, some overseas Chinese arranged partners for the veterans. At the midst of 1980s, along with Taiwanese Businessmen invested in South-east Asia, more and. 政治大. more single males on the edge of marriage market married foreign spouses on the. 立. basis of breed, especially those from Thailand and Philippines.. Foreign spouse and. ‧ 國. 學. new female migrant influx started from the 1990’s, females from Southeast Asian countries married Taiwan’s males so that arouse a heated wave of transnational. ‧. marriages (Ye, 2006). That is what Cheng (2008) declared the three waves of marriage. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. development in Taiwan.. sit. immigrants occurred and occurring through different periods of economic and social. Ch. i Un. v. Taiwan, an island state selected by the women migrants from South-east Asian. engchi. countries as the destination country, accepts migrants via transnational marriages to great proportion. In consequence, the female spouses constitute the major part of the body of the total marriage migrants in Taiwan. Therefore, the female marriage migrants may lay much influence on our society, culture, ethnicity and politics and etc. Throughout the 1990s and the early period of 2000s, approximately twenty percent of all marriages registered in Taiwan involved a Taiwanese man and foreign born woman (Wang, 2007) and the total number of such women has reached nearly. 7.

(15) 400,000 (out of a population of 23 million), 4 namely constructing so-called Taiwan’s fifth ethnic group called the “new immigrants”. 5 The presence of such women is more acutely seen in rural communities, where, as will be discussed later, a kind of “chain-marriage-migration” is found as one married woman may encourage a sister or cousin to marry another man later in the community. Sandel and Liang (2009), conducting interviews across Taiwan, found it not uncommon for two Taiwanese brothers in one family to be married to two Vietnamese sisters or cousins. The term Waiji Xinniang, however, has become associated with negative undertones and is contentious, marked by the public television program that. 政治大. was aired in Taiwan from 2007-2008 entitled, Bie Jiao Wo Waiji Xinniang —– Don’t. 立. call me a foreign bride. The show dramatically portrayed the struggles of Vietnamese. ‧ 國. 學. women who met and married Taiwanese men in Vietnam, and then followed them as they moved to Taiwan and learned to adjust. Part of their resistance to being called. ‧. Waiji Xinniang is that the term implies the sense that no matter how well they adjust. y. Nat. io. sit. to life in Taiwan, they are forever foreign and unable to be accepted as competent. n. al. er. “women.” And no matter how long they have been married, they cannot get rid of the. Ch. i Un. v. term Xinniang which is used for a newly-wedded woman. As a result, foreign bride. engchi. has long been the stereotype name of the marriage migrant no matter how old they are and how long they have stayed in Taiwan. 6 As Hsia (2005) pointed out that middle-aged women complained that even though they are pretty old, they are still called “new”. 7 Therefore, the term generally used to call marriage migrants has changed 4. The newly released statistic data showed the number is above 428 thousand in November of 2009. The women immigrated to Taiwan via transnational Migration are called from foreign brides, foreign spouses, daughter-in-laws of Taiwan, new immigrants to new residents through the development process of marriage migration in Taiwan. No matter whether the name implies discriminative denotation, the marriage migrants urged for the name they are comfortably to be called and the government implemented responsive measures. 6 The term “bride” spoken in Chinese denotes “new” wife. 7 See http://www.allacademic.com/one/www/research/index.php?click_key=1&PHPSESSID=de0cc 023fd18138e1ea5d835b0240f6c 5. 8.

(16) respectively from foreign brides, foreign spouses, new immigrants, and new residents through the development process by their resistance and claim as well as NGOs and NPOs’ assistance. In this paper, the terms-foreign brides and foreign spouses are regarded as neutral nouns in distinguishing the spouses or brides coming from foreign countries from those being born and residing in Taiwan. As Jones and Randas (2004) indicated that some significant marriage trends in East and Southeast Asia are delayed and non-marriage and cohabitation are probably increasing, even far less prevalent in the West. The globally transforming marriage trend and bi-sexual relations have laid influence on the marriage pattern and. 政治大. need-and-supply gender balance in the marriage market of Taiwan.. 立. In rural Taiwan, many men of marriage age without a high paying job, advanced. ‧ 國. 學. degree, or home in one of Taiwan’s cities, without a wife or child, requisite symbols of success and maturity in this Confucian-influenced society. With few opportunities. ‧. for marriage in sight, they intended to pursue a path toward marriage as thousands of. y. Nat. io. sit. other men taking in Taiwan: he contacted a professional marriage broker, who for a. n. al. er. fee arranged to have him fly to Southeast Asian Countries where he could meet. Ch. i Un. v. women interested in marriage. Only if he found some woman attractive who assented. engchi. to his request, and they were married in a brief ceremony. Then after a short “honeymoon” with their brides, the Taiwanese men flew home, while the women remained in homeland for several more months until the marriage company arranged their spousal visas, which allowed them later to fly to Taiwan and begin married life. This kind of story happened repeatedly in Taiwan’s society. Nowadays, due to prevailing globalization worldwide in economics, culture and politics in the recent few decades, countries in different regions interact much more frequently. Thus, international migration tends to occur simultaneously. The causes for migration are diversely ranged from economic, educational, cultural and political 9.

(17) dimensions such as for business, family reunion or refugee seeking for asylum, etc. However, Taiwan is a special case. The main migrants influx is from transnational marriage and the source countries are chiefly South-east Asian countries and Mainland China. Basically, Taiwan’s luxurious and lively images presented in the global stage are attractive to people of Southeast Asian countries of poverty and stagnation; therefore, women in the above-mentioned nations may embrace and pursue for the dream of better future via transnational marriage. On the basis of marriage slope theory which marriage tendency of women is to. 政治大. search partner of better condition; conversely, that of men is look for someone inferior. 立. to them. On the contrary, men of inferiorly socioeconomic and educational. ‧ 國. 學. background in Taiwan are facing the imbalanced relation of marriage supply and need and are frustrated to find a partner in homeland. Thus, they turn to Southeast Asian. ‧. women for establishing a family. Consequently, the transnational marriages in Taiwan. y. Nat. io. sit. are increasing in the past two decades and maintain in recent years in spite of decrease. n. al. er. for several years due to executing interview mechanism to block pseudo marriages.. Ch. i Un. v. Since soaring increase of transnational marriage between Taiwan’s grooms and. engchi. Southeast Asian countries’ brides, migrants draw more and more attention by the mass media and the general public, especially for once a racially homogeneous nation. Definitely the ethnicity, culture, society and economy in Taiwan are influenced gradually to different extent. Furthermore, not only the government but the private sectors offer assistance service for the new immigrants. Nonetheless, what a pity is that in spite of all the commitments made to satisfy and assist the marriage migrants or something around them, the marriage migrants still fight for their rights and welfare they deserved via various channels. As a result, migrants are no longer a chat topic or an issue but a concern to be concentrated in 10.

(18) Taiwan. This arouses the author’s individual interest in exploring and discovering what the government and the private sectors may offer marriage immigrants further assistance they actually need in improving their economic situation and whether insufficient payoff the family, society and even nation returned for what they contributed. In the past, immigrants to Taiwan mainly from the mainland China, of same language and ethnicity, may easily adapt to Taiwan’s society. With regards to different cultural, ethnic and economical background, marriage immigrants through interracial marriage may struggle over adjustment to Taiwan’s society and face more obstacles. 政治大. for survival from discrimination from their family and the general public. They. 立. migrated here for better opportunities, life or promising future. Now if their dreams. ‧ 國. 學. come true? Whether they live really better than they were in their original countries? In recent years, the main sources of immigrants are from transnational marriage,. ‧. especially the brokered marriage. The statistics from MOI show that the number of. y. Nat. io. sit. foreign spouses amounts to around 430 thousand at the end of the year 2009.. n. al. er. Moreover, comparatively speaking, the birth rate of female marriage immigrants is. Ch. i Un. v. not definitely higher than that of Taiwan’s married women, but it is prevailing that. engchi. female marriage migrants are less reluctant to be pregnant right after their marriage. Ye (2006) stated that foreign spouses, especially Vietnamese Spouses, are pregnant for the first time at the first year of their marriage; as a result, the second generation of transnational family has gradually occupied ten percent of the total newborns. At the early stage of this new century, low birth rate of native couples is increasingly serious and the second generation of transnational couples is accumulating. Foreign spouses become the major fertility force, one eighths of newborns are of mother from foreign countries or mainland and estimated increase to one fourths of newborns are from transnational marriage family (Huang, 2008). 11.

(19) As Ye (2006) indicated that the population structure of Taiwan has transformed dramatically in this decade due to soaring immigrants; moreover, the increase of international marriages has led to more and more marriage-related female immigrants flow into Taiwan’s society. Will marriage immigrants be the burden or be productive to society? Are the descendents of transnational marriage family inferior to their peer group in academic performance? The debates over marriage immigrants’ positive and negative effects on the original and receiving countries never end. The marriage immigrants have become the main concern of policymakers that also arouse the author’s individual interest in studying the marriage immigrant economic situation. 政治大. and suggesting responsive policies which the government and the private sectors may. 立. implement.. ‧ 國. 學. 1.3 Research Framework. ‧. In this research, “native families” refer to families, where both spouses are the. y. Nat. io. sit. natives born and raised in Taiwan and “mixed families” refers to families, where one. n. al. er. spouse is an immigrant and the other a native. The definition of a “mixed marriage” to. Ch. i Un. v. a “native marriage” in this paper is a marriage between foreign born and native born. engchi. individuals in the destination country and a marriage between both native born individuals in the destination country. Although Taiwan has been a destination country of a long history accepting women marriage immigrants, nowadays, Taiwan are absorbing brand new elements to enrich the diversity of ethnicity and culture while women marriage immigrants from southeast Asia entering Taiwan unceasingly. Their backgrounds differ to great extent from the native females and their husband in terms of education level, language, socio-economic capability, culture, and etc. This paper is to analyze the status on the basis of the differences that marriage 12.

(20) immigrants from their spouses and the native females to find out the situation immigrants are in and further to explore the effects they bring to family, society and nation from economic perspective. In addition, another emphasis of this study is laid on the description of relative data of three other nations and discussion of executed and draft policies associated with marriage immigrants so as to elicit potential policies. Moreover, the women marriage migration trend is to explain by means of different migration theories and to which extent the women marriage immigrant increase in Taiwan is affected by the shifting international and domestic environments.. 政治大. Aside from analyzing the status quo of women marriage immigrants in Taiwan from. 立. economic perspective, the cases of other destination countries of women marriage. ‧ 國. 學. immigrants are taken as examples to compare and analyze. Through comparing among countries, some practical suggestion may be proposed for our government.. ‧ y. Nat. io. sit. 1.4 Research Methods and Procedures. n. al. er. In this research, secondary data analysis is utilized. In addition, the vertically and. Ch. i Un. v. parallel comparative analysis is also used as a tool to make conclusion and to discover suggestions.. engchi. Moreover, two kinds of analysis methods are also used to demonstrate the status of marriage migrants and to analyze the cause and effect of marriage migrants’ participating in labor market; which are Ikishikawa Diagram and SWOT analytic methods (i.e. strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat). While conducting this study, it is essential to search and select relative statistics, research papers and documents adhering to the topic of this research from diversified resources. Thus, the following data review, categorizing, and analysis may complete according to the theme of the specific chapter including in this paper. Finally, the 13.

(21) process approaches to the stages of comparison and conclusion from that the suggestions may derive.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 14. i Un. v.

(22) Chapter 2. Literature Review. Population movements are closely related to variety of socio-economic, demographic and political dimensions (United Nations, 2006). Migration, of a long history of development, is a concern to manage through different period of human history. Recorded human history is dotted with “ages of migration.” From the Greek colonies and Roman military conquests through the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, and from the European colorizations to the great migrations of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, migration has been consequential to civilizations as few. 政治大. other large social phenomena have. Yet considering that the process is as old as. 立. humankind, crucial to human progress, and integral to the rise and decline of. ‧ 國. 學. organized political entities, it is remarkable that virtually no society seems capable of managing it particularly effectively (Parademetriou, 2003).. ‧. McKay (2003) stated that women migrate for many reasons, including offers of. y. Nat. sit. permanent jobs or labor contrast, anticipated improvements in their conditions of. n. al. er. io. self-employment and trade, offers of marriage, and as participants in broader, household moves.. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Prior to stepping on the stage of research on the economic predicaments of women marriage immigrants in Taiwan, it is quite essential to collect and describe relative research papers, data, documents and statistics with immigrants, especially marriage migrants in economic domain in order to obtain sufficient background knowledge for constructing a integral and overall configuration of marriage migrants in Taiwan and further in the globe. As we know migration has been a common human behavior through historic development in various continents; especially, international migration is a prominent universal trend in recent decades; however, what the triggers and what the main direction are for unceasing human migration, especially for 15.

(23) marriage migration. Therefore, the detailed description and explanation of international migration trend and the motive and incentives for arousing migration based on respective migration theories are the backbone of this chapter.. 2.1. Theoretical Foundation In this section, a brief description about migration theories, marriage migration. theory and marriage models are providing to obtain sufficient background as a foundation to back-up the research theory basis. Moreover, regarding migration selection and decision, the key theories. 政治大. associated with migration and incentives to attract immigrants are discussed, either. 立. from a micro perspective of individual decision-making or a macro aspect of. ‧ 國. 學. structural determinants. For example, the first theory about migration, perhaps the most influential, was the theory of migration that emanates from neoclassical. ‧. economics. Secondly, probably the most migration-specific of all, the new economics. y. Nat. io. sit. of labor migration lends attention to income distribution, contrary to the neoclassical. n. al. er. explanation (Arango, 2004).. 2.1.1. Ch. engchi. Migration Theory from Economic Aspect. i Un. v. Arango (2004) ever stated that migration is too diverse and multifaceted to be explained by a single theory. Apparently, referring to migration theories, there is no single theory provide perfect and exact explanation for human’s internal and international movement both in sending and receiving countries compassing political, economic, racial aspects and etc. And each theory may generally explain the migration in a specific time period and a respective nation, region or continent. Keely (2000) indicated that theories about the initiation of international migration are categorized into four sorts of economic explanation and one political 16.

(24) economy approach known as world systems theory. The following are their brief definition and explanation for migration respectively. Moreover, neoclassical macroeconomic theory explains migration flows as the result of wage differentials and the probability of obtaining a job in the form of unemployment. rates.. Neoclassical. microeconomic. theory. focuses. on. the. corresponding individual choice facing potential migrants in places with different wages and probabilities of finding work. Neoclassical economics focuses on differentials in wages and employment conditions between countries, and on migration costs; it generally conceives of movement as an individual decision for income maximization.. 立. 政治大. In addition, dual labor market theory switches the focus from an individuals or. ‧ 國. 學. household decision-making level to the institutional context of economic structure and needs. Migration is the result of needs of industrial economies but not push factors in. ‧. sending countries. The need in industrial economies result from structural inflation,. y. Nat. io. sit. motivation problems stemming from the social meaning and mobility prospects. n. al. er. connected with various occupations, economic dualism related to capital and labor. Ch. i Un. v. costs in market economies, and the demography of labor supply (Keely, 2000).. engchi. Aside from the above mentioned theories, the typical push-pull theory, world system theory and system approach are taken as the foundation of analysis on the cause-and–effect relation and the trend of increasing marriage immigrants in Taiwan.. 2.1.2. Migration Theory from Political Aspect. As for world system theory, it is a variety of political economy theory that proposes bifurcation of the world economy related to capitalist penetration from richer, industrial, market (capitalist) economies to poorer nations or the periphery. The search for land, raw materials, new markets, and the labor upsets traditional economies and 17.

(25) mobilizes labor for migration internally and internationally to meet the needs of core capitalist countries. Network theories postulate that the existence of family, friends, and acquaintances in a receiving country reduces the costs and risks of migration by related people in the sending country. ` Moreover, the relationship between international migration and economic development in the migrant origin country has been traditionally explained from two contrasting theoretical approaches: the convergence point of view and the divergence point of view. The convergence school, rooted in neo-liberal economic theory, states that sending areas obtain major benefits from out-migration for their development. 政治大. process. This approach primarily posits that emigration leads to an improvement in. 立. resource, availability, and income distribution in origin areas. On the other hand, the. ‧ 國. 學. divergence school argues that out-migration hinders development of the sending regions because it perpetuates a state of economic dependency that undermines. ‧. prospects for development. Apart from these two perspectives, there also exists a third. y. Nat. io. sit. approach referred to as the “time perspective”. According to this perspective, in the. n. al. er. short term, negative factors dominate the impact of migration, while in the long term. Ch. i Un. v. positive factors come to stimulate development. Different types of migration have. engchi. different impacts on the process of development in sending countries, and therefore should be examined in a disaggregated manner in order to understand the role that each specific type of migration actually plays in the process of development (Rahman, 2009).. 2.1.3. Marriage Theory. With regards to marriage theory, Çelikaksoy et al., (2003) sketch a theoretical framework describing the marriage decision of immigrants. In the context of immigrants in a host country, the marriage decision consists of two simultaneous 18.

(26) choices. As in standard marriage decisions, the individuals decide whom to marry in terms of observed characteristics/qualifications. In addition, they decide from which country the spouse should come, that is the source country or host country. The decision to marry and the decision to import a marriage migrant are assumed to be simultaneous decisions that depend upon the characteristics that are brought into a marriage by the spouses. The characteristics of the spouses are summarized in marital capital, which includes for instance physical capital, financial capital (such as bride price or dowry) and human capital (such as health or education).. 政治大. Çelikaksoy et al., (2003) indicated that the theoretical background for our. 立. empirical model for marriage migration is to be found in the Becker model. It builds. ‧ 國. 學. on the assumption that marriage markets in the source country and in the host country are competitive. The decision to marry is considered as a decision taken by the. ‧. household of the young individual. An immigrant household considering marriage has. y. Nat. io. sit. to choose between two alternative marriage markets. When a household chooses to. n. al. er. enter another marriage market than the local marriage market, this reflects that the. Ch. i Un. v. utility of a match in that marriage market is higher than the utility of a match with a. engchi. person from the local marriage market (or any other relevant alternative). For marriage migration actually to take place, this must be the case for both households.. 2.2. International and Domestic Research on Migration From historical point of view, migration continually occur in every period of. historical development due to various reasons in political, economic and cultural respects such as war or work etc, and by means of diverse channels like asylum, human-trafficking, education and marriage. Here is the description about the past and the present phenomena of migration. 19.

(27) 2.2.1 International Migration in the Globe Jordan and Duvell (2003) postulated that the twenty years after the Second World War saw huge movements of population, some for economic and some for political reasons. Other massive migratory flows have comprised both these elements. The exodus of population from Europe to North America and Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century was proportionately larger than any movement in the twentieth. These flows, for the sake of both economic opportunity and political freedom, were welcomed as congruent with the transnational political economy of the major powers in that period (movements of capital and the opening up of markets).. 政治大. Hatton and Williamson (2005) also claimed that world migration grew and its. 立. scope expanded in both eras (i.e. prior the First World War and post the Second World. ‧ 國. 學. War). The richer parts of the world were the magnets for long-distance migration from the poorer (but not too poor) parts in both eras. The shifts that destination nation. ‧. turned to source nation such as those in South and Central America and sending place. y. Nat. n. al. Ch. er. io. demographic fundamentals that drive mass migrations.. sit. become receiving place like Europe are consistent with the economic and. i Un. v. At the dawn of the twenty –first century, international migration touches the lives. engchi. of more people, and looms larger in the politics and economics of more states, than at any other time in the modern era. With more than 160 million people estimated to be living outside their country of birth, almost no country is untouched by international migration or is immune to its effects (Parademetriou, 2003). Tsai and Hsiao (2006) indicated that there were more than 175 million people who migrated to another country in 2000. 8 As Siddiqui (2008) stated over the past 25 years, the number of international. 8. See United Nations, International Migration Report 2006: A Global Assessment. The United Nations estimated that the total number of international migrants in the world stood at 175 million in 2000 and 191 million in 2005 which was 3 percent of the world population. 20.

(28) migrants has almost doubled. In 1980, 99 million of people were living outside their countries of origin. In 2005, it became 190 million. Between 1960 and 2005 the number of international migrants in the world doubled, and in 2005 about 190 million people-roughly 3 percent of the world’s population-lived outside their country of birth (United Nations, 2006; Morrison et al., 2008; Pfeiffer et al., 2008). In addition, with regard to the regional migrant density in terms of the development differential of states, almost one in every 10 persons living in more developed regions is a migrant (migrant as 9.6 percentage of population) compared to one of every 70 persons (migrant as 1.5 percentage of population) in less developed regions (Table 2-1). 9. 立. 政治大. In addition, sixty percent of the world’s migrants currently reside in more. ‧ 國. 學. developed regions. Also, most of the world’s migrants live in Europe (64 million), followed by Asia (53 million) and North America (45 million). Three-quarter of all. ‧. international migrants are concentrated in just 28 countries and one in every three. y. Nat. io. sit. international migrants lived in Europe and one in every four lived in the United States. n. al. er. of America in 2005 (United Nations, 2006). That reflects most migrants flow into. Ch. i Un. v. Europe followed by Asia and North America and the global migratory tendency is. engchi. region-oriented and selection-concentrated. Especially, the United States of America as a single country accepts global migrants to great extent. International migration has become an integral and inevitable feature of globalization. In Asia and the Pacific, it has become a structural and permanent element of societies and economies. The movement of people across borders in search of better economic opportunities or safety is a long-standing characteristic of societies. 9. According to the definition of major areas and regions of International Migration Stock of United Nations, the more developed regions refer to Australia, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and North America; and the less developed regions comprise Africa, Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America, the Caribbean, and etc. 21.

(29) Table 2-1: International Migrants as a Percentage of the Population — 2005 Region. Persons. Latin America and the Caribbean. 1.2. Asia. 1.4. Africa. 1.9. Europe. 8.8. North America. 13.6. Oceania. 16.4. World. 3.0. 政治大. Source: United Nations (2009), International Migration Stock: The 2008 Revision.. 立. in the region. However, more countries are now significantly affected by international. ‧ 國. 學. migration than that at any time in history (United Nations, 2008).. ‧. International migration is being propelled in the region by various push and pull factors, including persistent inter-country disparities in development, increased. y. Nat. er. io. sit. integration of the regional economy and divergent demographic dynamics. Labor market transformations, technological progress and economic interlinkages are. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. creating new demands for both skilled and less skilled migrant labor (United Nations, 2008).. engchi. An increasing number of countries in this region are participating in the. migration process as either sending, transit, or receiving countries. With regard to the employment of the immigrants, Hatton and Williamson (2005) raised two different views: one is optimistic that immigrants entered rapidly growing high-wage employment, thereby easing short-run labor supply bottlenecks in leading industries and the other is pessimistic that immigrants crowded into slow-growing, low-wage employment in industries undergoing relative decline, thereby crowding out unskilled natives. It is confirmed that immigrants found employment more frequently in unskilled jobs, compared with natives. More to the point, immigrants are located in 22.

(30) slow-growth sectors, not fast-growth sectors. Moreover, it is evident that immigrants flowed disproportionately into the slowest-growing parts of the economy.. 2.2.2. Women Migration in the Globe Although there has been a long tradition of female cross-border migration in the. Asia Pacific region, women are increasingly dominating migration flows and they do so in a variety of forms. With these women migrating either as single, independent workers as a stage in their lives when marriages seen as appropriate, if not obligatory, or as wives (and mothers), the issue of marriage, or marital relationships, becomes. 政治大. closely intertwined with international migration (Piper and Roces, 2003).. 立. It is ever indicated that gender-sensitive or female perspectives of migration. ‧ 國. 學. recently have begun to contribute new insights by pointing to noneconomic incentives to migration. In these studies, the family, or households, emerges as important units of. ‧. analysis, but migration’s impact on marriage or marital relationships as such has not. y. Nat. io. sit. been explored in their multiple dimensions and forms (Piper and Roces, 2003).. n. al. er. The interaction of marriage and migration was related to sex imbalance, which. Ch. i Un. v. female migrants “follow” male pioneers. Researchers ever noted that in the specific. engchi. contexts of Asian women’s experiences, works on the so-called “picture brides” fall into this category. Furthermore, scholars concerned with women’s migratory patterns seem to be more comfortable discussing women as either migrants for marriage or as overseas contracted workers (OCWs) (the woman as worker), especially women as unskilled laborers, domestic helpers and careers in particular. Historically inclined studies on the phenomenon of “marriage migration” also include those discussing “war brides”. Other studies focus on how these brides are represented by the host countries. Yet in this discussion of marriage migration, little attention is paid to the women’s subsequent entrance into the labor market. Other studies discussing marriage 23.

(31) and migration are those typical by sociologists and geographers on “mail-order brides” (Piper and Roces, 2003). Piper（2003）manifested that scholars concerned with women’s migratory patterns typically discuss women as either migrants for marriage or as overseas contract workers (OCWs) (i.e. the woman as worker or as ‘bride’), especially in studies on women as domestic helpers and carers —– which, together with “entertainment” related work, are the main jobs that such migrant women are employed in. Such depictions, however, totally ignore the fact that these women’s roles can, and often do, shift, such as when the ‘migrant for marriage’ engages in paid. 政治大. employment or when the “labor migrant” marries a “local” citizen.. 立. Significant share of women in international migration has been noted since. ‧ 國. 學. 1960s.. According to estimated numbers categorized by regions, Asia stands as the. second largest in the world. In 2005, the total number of Asian migrants was 55. ‧. million followed by North America of 45 million, only surpassed by Europe which. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. close to half (49.2%) of all international migrants in 2005.. sit. had 64 million (United Nations, 2009). 10 It also displayed that women constituted. Ch. i Un. v. Moreover, Piper (2005) claimed that global estimates by sex confirm that for. engchi. more than 40 years since 1960, female migrants reached almost the same numbers as male migrants. Since then, the share of female emigrants among all international migrants of the world has been rising steadily. Based on the data of United Nations (2009), female migrants constitute roughly 50 percent (all the number showed on the table is over 49 percent since 1990) of the international migrants in the past two decades (Table 2-2). Moreover, by 2005, there was another astonishing fact that the female migrants constituted more than 51 percents of all the migrants in the more developed regions and about 46 percent of all 10. Except for the less number of total migrants than Asia in 1990, Europe has long been the leading region of having the hugest proportion of international migrants in the globe. 24.

(32) Table 2-2: Female Migrants as Percentage of All International Migrants Year. %. 1990. 49.1. 1995. 49.3. 2000. 49.4. 2005. 49.2. 2010. 49.0. Note: The number in the year 2010 is predicted based on the data and the global migration development trend in 2009. Source: United Nations (2009), Trends in the International Migrant Stock: The 2008 Revision.. 政治大. the migrants in the less developed countries were female migrants during the same. 立. period (United Nations, 2009). 11. ‧ 國. 學. Furthermore, nearly half of all international migrants are female and female migrants outnumber male migrants in developed regions like Europe and North. ‧. America. Moreover, according to the data of Population Division of Department of. sit. y. Nat. Economic and Social Affairs of United Nations, women migrant population maintain. n. al. er. io. steady development in most regions in the world, having close to and even over half. i Un. v. of the global migrant population; there is no significant regional differentials showing in various areas (Table 2-3).. Ch. engchi. Furthermore, the female migrants proportion compared to male migrants in terms of different regions nearly equal in most regions around the world, even surpassed that of male migrants except in Africa and Asia in last decade as showed on Table 2-4 (Siddiqui, 2008; United Nations, 2009). Nonetheless, over the last decades, growth rate of female migrants compared to male is higher in Asia. According to the International Migration Stock Report of the United Nations in. 11. According to the estimate data of international migration stock of UN in 2009, the female migrants as percentage of international migrants maintain over 51 percent in more developed regions and over 45 percent in less developed regions but both slightly decrease in 2010. 25.

(33) Table 2-3: Female Migrants as Percentage of all International Migrants Unit: %. Year. 1990. 1995. 2000. 2005. 2010. 49.7. 49.9. 50.0. 50.1. 50.1. Asia. 45.4. 45.3. 45.7. 45.0. 44.6. Africa. 46.2. 47.1. 46.7. 46.7. 46.8. Europe. 52.7. 52.4. 52.8. 52.5. 52.3. North America. 51.1. 50.8. 50.5. 50.4. 50.1. Oceania. 49.1. 49.7. 50.2. 50.7. 51.2. World. 49.1. 49.3. 49.4. 49.2. 49.0. Region Latin America and the Caribbean. 政治大. Note: The number in the year 2010 is predicted based on the data and the global migration development trend in 2009. Source: United Nations (2009), Trends in the International Migrant Stock: The 2008 Revision.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 2008, the leading three regions owning great proportion of migrants in the world are Europe, Asia, and North America, which respectively have 64 million, 55 million, and. ‧. 45 million in 2005; moreover, they may grow to 69 million, 61 million, and 50 million. y. Nat. sit. in 2010. That is Asia standing as the second largest.. n. al. er. io. Asia has been in the forefront of migration of people all alone. People of Asia. i Un. v. moved across territory for better life and livelihood. Over the years Asia has been. Ch. engchi. experiencing increased movements within the region. Another important trend in migration within Asia is the emergence of women as principal migrants (Siddiqui, 2008; United Nations, 2009). Referring to the main stream of female migrants, we follow what Siddiqui (2008) indicated that the typical migrations of women are as dependent spouses of male migrants both within and outside Asia, independent women migrants for labor migration, independent migrants as students and professionals, and transnational marriage migrants. However, the global and regional inequalities are inherent to these marriages. For many women and their families, an international marriage can offer 26.

(34) social, economic, and geographic mobility through international migration (Belanger and Tran, 2009). Another conspicuous fact is that the women migration is no doubt maintain the steady development and even occupies almost a half of the total migration population in different regions whatever their respectively various economic, political and technological development degree around the world. It is a common phenomenon and attracts a lot of attention (Table 2-4). Therefore, women play equally important roles as men in human migration which obviously reflects that there is no genderpreference indication and tendency in migrant acceptance of many countries.. 政治大. Consequently, female migration, being dominant in world stage may also have. 立. influence in various regions socially, politically, culturally and economically to. ‧ 國. 學. different degree.. Oceania. Unit: %. y. a52.7 l C 49.1 h. 2000. 52.4. 52.8. v ni. U e n49.7 g c h i 50.2. 2005. 2010. 52.5. 52.3. 50.7. 51.2. sit. 1995. er. 1990. n. Europe. io. Region. Nat. Year. ‧. Table 2-4: The Proportion of Female Migrants among the Total Migrants. North America. 51.1. 50.8. 50.5. 50.4. 50.1. Latin America and Caribbean. 49.7. 49.9. 50.0. 50.1. 50.1. Africa. 46.2. 47.1. 46.7. 46.7. 46.8. 45.4. 45.3. 45.7. 45.0. 44.6. Asia. Note: The number in the year 2010 is predicted based on the data and the global migration development trend in 2009. Source: United Nations (2009), Trends in the International Migrant Stock: The 2008 Revision.. 2.3 International and Domestic Research on Marriage Migration As noted above, the women play a crucial role in migration around the world, 27.

(35) wherein, except for migrant worker and asylum seekers, marriage migrants occupy the tremendous proportion of the whole female migration in the contemporary world.. 2.3.1 Marriage Migration in the Globe Piper（2003）indicated with economic development and unprecedented ease of travel, the number of individuals working, studying and/or travelling abroad is rising globally, and hence it is not surprising that the number of international marriages has simultaneously been on the increase. For the women from South-east Asia, marriage with men in economically-. 政治大. advanced nations is simply the shortcut to search for better opportunities and. 立. livelihood. However, the reality of life in receiving countries doesn’t meet their. ‧ 國. 學. satisfactions and mostly disappoint them.. Accordingly, a dramatic rise in the number of marriage in the international, or. ‧. transnational, contexts has occurred in the final decades of the twentieth century,. y. Nat. io. sit. reflecting deepening globalization process including increasing numbers of. n. al. er. individuals working, studying, and/or traveling abroad. This trend can very well be. Ch. i Un. v. observed in East and Southeast Asia where intraregional labor migration flows have. engchi. grown in importance and diversity in recent years (Piper and Roces, 2003). With the intensification of transnational activities and the expansion of regional networks, there has been an increase in international marriage within Asia over the past few decades (Belanger and Tran, 2009). Among the various types of international marriage of citizens from Asian countries, unions involving women from developing countries (i.e. China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Tailand, and Indonesia) and men from wealthier nations (i.e. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) have attracted media and academic attention since the late 1990s (Norimitsu, 2007; Piper and Roces, 2003). These marriages generally involve the international migration of the woman to 28.

(36) her husband’s country of residence. In Asia, the phenomenon is referred to as “marriage migration” or “cross-border migration.” Women migrants are called “foreign brides” or “immigrant spouses” in receiving countries, and they constitute a separate statistical category in immigration data (Belanger and Tran, 2009). Piper and Roces (2003) stated that as migrants for marriage they could be asked to relinquish control of the purse strings to husbands or in-laws, or they could be victims of a husband’s slave mentality where wives are expected to be their personal maids. McKay (2003) also indicated that domestic workers has often been un- or underpaid, usually provided as a set of free services exchanged between spouses in. 政治大. marriage. Since a good wife is a good (domestic) worker. A hard working yet. 立. feminine women makes a good wife. A woman got her ticket to operate a bulldozer,. ‧ 國. 學. for instance, might make far more money than a maid, but the job itself would not portray her to potential suitors as “wife-and mother-like.”. ‧. Apparently, the phenomenon of “foreign brides” is one of the international. y. Nat. io. sit. migration flows in our globalization times by means of the convenient and. n. al. er. highly-developed transportation and communication technologies contributing to. Ch. i Un. v. more frequent and closer contact among people of different regions and spheres.. engchi. Research has documented rapid increases in cross-border marriages involving men from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong with women from the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and Thailand (Piper and Roces, 2003). This gendered migration flow has created new social categories with derogatory connotations like “ Waiji Xinniang ” (foreign bride) in Taiwan, or “ Japayuki ” (Japan-bound) in Japan. In Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, these cross-border female migrants are de facto economic migrants in the sense that their role is as unpaid reproductive workers (Wang, 2007). Siddiqui (2008) stated that a distinct feature of international migration of Asian 29.

(37) 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. 政治大. women migration is more common in the case of South East Asian countries in. 立. comparison with South Asian sending countries. It also shows that destination. ‧ 國. 學. 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. y. Nat. io. sit. and source countries of migrants.. n. al. er. Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have witnessed record number of. Ch. i Un. v. international marriages over the last decades. Ninety-nine percent of the total. engchi. 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 30.

(38) 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. 政治大. policy attention in recent years. However, along with surge of globalization,. 立. unceasingly migration waves flow worldwide.. ‧ 國. 學. 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,. y. Nat. io. sit. countries with significant migration inflows in the last decades will also notice the. n. al. er. evolving racial and ethnic composition of their workforces as much larger proportions. Ch. i Un. v. of those joining the labor market will be immigrants and their offspring.. engchi. 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 31.