Do gender systems in the origin and destination societies affect immigrant integration? Vietnamese marriage migrants in Taiwan and South Korea

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study engages with the literature on gender, migration, and integration through examining how gender systems in the origin and destination societies affect intra-Asia marriage migrants’ integration experiences. Primary data were from over 100 interviews with Vietnamese marriage migrants (VMMs) in Taiwan or South Korea, including 44 migrant-serving civic organisation staff or volunteers. Patterns of gender ideology from large-scale surveys were used to depict the gendered social and family contexts. For some VMMs in Taiwan, they perceived that married women have more autonomy and social rights than in Vietnam, which at some point facilitated their integration processes. For some VMMs in South Korea, they struggled with the rigid gendered expectations of family roles as migrant wives and daughters-in-law, which were considered less flexible than in Vietnam. Through contrasting three patriarchal societies in Asia that may seem similar in the Western literature, this study provides insights into how gender systems affect marriage migrants’ cultural integration in the private, the public, and the civic spheres. Despite that wealthier new migrant destination societies do not guarantee more equitable gender systems and may create additional integration challenges, civic engagement may facilitate female migrants’ cultural integration through improved awareness of gender-based and ethnicised discrimination.