Diverging Paths: Work and Associational Lives of Filipina Marriage Migrants in South Korea

抄録

More than two decades of cross-border marriage migration in Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea have yielded the increasing presence of female marriage migrants in those countries. Despite these women’s active labor market participation, little is known about their working lives beyond the reproductive labor in the family. Based on a qualitative study of Filipina marriage migrants in urban and rural South Korea, this article examines women’s labor market integration and its impact on their voluntary associational activities in local communities. Integrating into the differential gendered labor market, urban and rural women show diverging trajectories of voluntary associational lives. Women’s gender and ethnicity/nationality intersect with community gender norms to position them in the labor market, as well as in the family and communities. This study contributes to both marriage migration and immigrant political incorporation scholarship by highlighting the working and political lives of female marriage migrants.