Doing business against gendered stigma: skilled female migrants in Hong Kong’s cross-border insurance business

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine whether skilled female migrants can overcome gender constraints and social stigma attached to women’s service work in host societies. Design/methodology/approach Based on interviews with 40 women who moved from mainland China and entered Hong Kong’s cross-border insurance business, the study examines how highly educated young women negotiate gender expectations and mobilize social networks in doing business. Findings This study finds different strategies women used in mobilizing social networks and constructing gender identities: some relied heavily on the warm market – networks of their family, relatives and friends – in doing business and developed careers by performing dutiful daughters, considerate “nieces” and caring “sisters”; some women also relied on the warm market but their jobs were regarded as nonconventional, and they had to deal with suspicions of inappropriate and instrumental womanhood and tried to prove themselves and gain support in the warm market; some women relied mainly on the cold market – connections with strangers – and performed feminine affinity to expand client networks away from judgments of families and friends; and some other women chose to expand the cold market by cultivating a professional image among strangers. Originality/value The findings speak to previous research about women’s subordinate roles in migrant networks and their devalued femininity in service work by illustrating women’s diverse forms of agency in negotiating gender identities in the stratified service sectors.