International marriage in Korea, which has been increasing since early 1990s, has rapidly multiplied since 2003, showing a prominent phenomenon of 'feminization of international migration' largely based on international marriage of females from develo ...
International marriage in Korea, which has been increasing since early 1990s, has rapidly multiplied since 2003, showing a prominent phenomenon of 'feminization of international migration' largely based on international marriage of females from developing countries. Among international couples who got married during 2006, three out of four couples have foreign wives. Also, there are significant differences among foreign wives according to their nationality in features such as average age of marriage, educational background, and first marriage rate. This study tried to identify the characteristics of growth trend and settlement pattern based on the nationalities of female immigrants by marriage. Foreign wives' who have lived in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do were about one fourth of the total respectively. About 60% of Chinese wives reside in the Capital region. On the other hand, 17% of rapidly increasing Vietnamese wives live in Gyeonggi-do, and 12% of them in Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk respectively, showing their settlement areas are mostly in rural regions with poor accessibility. The spatial distribution and the settlement patterns are differentiated among foreign wives with different nationalities because they are significantly affected by the motive of international marriage and its process. This understanding towards different settlement patterns in marriage migration of women could provide a very important information for identifying multicultural features based on personal backgrounds of female immigrants, recognizing their process of social adaptation. Moreover, it could also help us grasp the changes in regional identity and social problems.
it discussed the transmigrant issues, especially marriage migrants from developing countries in Asia, in the theoretical framework of transnationalism. The role of marriage agencies(intermediaries) is played as an actor in creating spatial networking mechanism in the migration process. While marriage migration shows large scale collective tendencies, marriage agencies are exposed to small and unstable business environment after interviewing with selected 90 agencies. Regardless of a recent shift from rural toward urban customers, a few countries including Vietnam and China are major sending countries. The transnational-firm networks reveal the loose horizontal relationship over major large cities internationally. The legality is a key issue in the transmigration process so that long term and systematic management from the government would be needed in both sending and receiving countries.
Increased female marriage migrants from overseas towards the rural areas derived several social issues such as social exclusion, racial mixture, cultural hybridity and regional identity change. The social networks of female marriage migrants can explain their characteristics of transnational ethnic-culture networks in various spatial scales. The results arisen from this study show that female marriage migrants were fasting adapting into Korean society, but their social activities were quite limited. Most of their social networks were confined to the relationships formed by family and their friends, but their ethnic-cultural networks reflected on the characteristics of transnationalism.
Examing various factors that limit mobility and create differences among migrant women in Boeun and Yangpyeong, utilizing intensive interviews, survey and participant observations. The ability to move across material space influences the scope of geographical imaginations and vice versa. Diverse strategies that the women employ to overcome the limitation in mobility, thereby highlights these women as active agents rather than passive subjects.