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Introduction: Situating Gender, Care, and Migration in East Asia

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Gender, Care and Migration in East Asia

Part of the book series: Series in Asian Labor and Welfare Policies ((Series in Asian Labor and Welfare Policies))

Abstract

This chapter contextualizes the issues discussed in this volume by first outlining the similar ways in which care has been transformed across East Asia. These include the unprecedented degree of demographic change relating to low fertility rates and population aging, increasing numbers of women entering the labor market, changing forms of families, and the expansion of paid care. It then elaborates divergent strategies through which provisions of care have become commodified, including the introduction of migrant care workers, who have emerged at the forefront of the uneven process of globalization. Finally, it presents the summary of the remaining chapters.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These are widely known traditional proverbs expressing concepts of womanhood in East Asia.

  2. 2.

    The Maintenance of Parents Act in Singapore states that the responsibility for childcare lies with parents. Taiwan also has a similar provision on the obligation to demonstrate filial piety.

  3. 3.

    According to ILO (2016, 34), intraregional migration accounted for 62 million people or 60% of the entire number of international migrants in 2015. Numbers of Asian migrants to Europe and the United States were 20 million and 17 million, respectively.

  4. 4.

    For example, foreign entertainers in Japan have been equated with sex workers, and these stereotypes continue, leading to the stigmatization of certain nationals. The same racial branding applies to domestic workers. See Guevarra (2014), “Supermaids.”

  5. 5.

    Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) proposed a change in Article 24 of the constitution to strengthen and uphold the moral value of family members helping each other.

  6. 6.

    In Vietnam , the word Oshin became synonymous with domestic worker.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Social Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

    Reiko Ogawa & Akiko S. Oishi

  2. Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Raymond K. H. Chan

  3. Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Lih-Rong Wang

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  1. Reiko Ogawa
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  2. Akiko S. Oishi
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  3. Raymond K. H. Chan
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  4. Lih-Rong Wang
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

    Reiko Ogawa

  2. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Raymond K.H. Chan

  3. Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

    Akiko S. Oishi

  4. National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Lih-Rong Wang

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Ogawa, R., Oishi, A.S., Chan, R.K.H., Wang, LR. (2018). Introduction: Situating Gender, Care, and Migration in East Asia. In: Ogawa, R., Chan, R., Oishi, A., Wang, LR. (eds) Gender, Care and Migration in East Asia. Series in Asian Labor and Welfare Policies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7025-9_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7025-9_1

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