Conflicts and Adjustments of Foreign Wives Married to Korean Men: Filipina Wives in Rural Korea

Abstract

The number of the international marriage has been rapidly growing in Korea since 1990s. According to the Korea National Statistics Office, 11.4% of the total number of marriages reported in 2004 are those contracted between Koreans and foreign nationalities. It means that more than one out of 10 marriages in Korea turns out to be international marriage. What is noteworthy is that the number of marriages between Korean men and women of other nationalities more than double that between Korean women and foreign men.<BR> This study examines the conflicts and adjustments of foreign wives in rural Korea. It focuses on the experience of Filipina wives. For this study, I have conducted formal and informal interviews as well as participant observation between september 2003 and september 2004. I have met with more than 50 Filipina wives in South Cholla Province and conducted in-depth interviews with 20 of them.<BR> Previous studies and various reports on the foreign wives in Korea view them as the passive victims of the macro socioeconomic forces such as globalization, unequal economic development between countries, feminization of poverty, gendered international labor market and the patriarchal local family system. The “victim perspective” portrays the female marriage migrants from the poor country as passive pawns trapped between the dire poverty of their home country and the oppressive demand of the Korean patriarchal family system. Female marriage migrants tend to be represented as the unified and generalized category of people.<BR> In this study I deal with them as multiple social actors from various socio-cultural backgrounds with diverse motives opting for the international marriage. I think that they can see the possibilities open to them as well as dangers entailed in them. In adjusting to and positioning themselves in Korean society they make use of various socio-cultural resources and networks<BR> Their adjustment strategies and future life plans suggest that the international marriage between foreign women and Korean men should not be understood as the one-way absorption of foreign wives into the Korean society. Foreign wives carry the strong potential as the agents of socio-cultural changes in rural Korean society. Their family reproduction involves the transnational networks and strategies.