Migration and the family: the female perspective

Next Stop: Europe? Aspirations for Secondary Migration Among Syrian Refugees in Jordan

Refugees who seek protection in neighboring countries (first safe countries of refuge) often have weak economic ties to their current place of residence. Refugees in these first safe countries also often have much to gain economically if they move on to Europe or other wealthier countries, as their refugee status opens doors that are closed to many other migrant groups. Still, far from all refugees in first safe countries aspire to move on to other locations. This article examines migration aspirations among Syrian refugees in Jordan and asks what characterizes refugees who aspire to move on to Europe. Building on theories of migration aspirations originally developed to study labor migration, it draws on a representative survey of 7,632 Syrian refugees in Jordan, conducted during the winter of 2017/2018. We show that religious and cultural preferences (preferences for living in a Muslim country and attitudes toward female labor market participation), as well as perceptions of when return to Syria will be possible, were more important in explaining variance in migration aspirations among Syrian refugees in Jordan than economic factors such as poverty or lack of jobs. These findings suggest that selection effects shape Syrian refugee migration to Europe and that refugees who go to Europe differ from those who remain in that they put less value on traditional gender roles and on living in Muslim societies. As such, the article contributes to the literature on how cultural ties and value preferences shape migration aspirations and influence the composition of migrant populations.

When the healthcare system neglects some people: Rural-Urban Migration, socio-cultural conditions, and health coping strategies in informal settlement, Madina, Ghana: An exploratory design

Migrants face several unmet health needs due to the inability of the healthcare system to address their healthcare challenges. As a result, they adopt coping strategies to overcome their healthcare needs. Consequences can include infrequent but severe adverse reactions, dangerous drug interactions, incorrect dosage etc. Little is known in Ghana about the role played by cultural and linguistic barriers in shaping migrants' access to formal healthcare and the coping mechanisms adopted by these migrants to overcome their healthcare challenges. Surprisingly, most of the studies that have been conducted have focused on financial barriers to care accessibility. This presents a loss opportunity for any health programme aimed at addressing this inequity. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by exploring the challenges of healthcare accessibility and coping strategies adopted by migrants to overcome their healthcare needs in the informal urban settlement of Madina, in the Greater Accra Region. The author employed a narrative type of qualitative research design. A purposive and then snowball sampling technique were used to select 20 participants to participate in the study after saturation was reached. Twelve in-depth interviews (IDIs) and six key informants' interviews (KIIs), as well as two focus group discussions (FGDs), were conducted. The study is consistent with the ecological model, which posits that health is determined by influences at multiple levels. The author found linguistic, cultural, stigmatisation and financial challenges as the main barriers to healthcare accessibility among the migrants. As a result, self-medication and the use of lay health personnel for addressing healthcare needs were more pronounced. The study also found other means of survival that posed a health risk to the migrants. Based on this, it was recommended that healthcare systems take into account the healthcare needs of migrants who are people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

A Long Loop: Transmigration of Korean Women in Japan

Focusing on new women immigrants/migrants from Korea to Japan in recent years, this article explores the form of transmigratory practice of U-turnees, who have past experiences of having lived in Japan or been born there prior to the end of Japan's colonial rule in 1945 and returned to Japan around the year 1989 when the South Korean government lifted the restriction of overseas travel for its citizens. I suggest through mini life histories of five women that their lives can best be understood in terms of ongoing engagement with more than one nation-state as home. On this basis, I argue that what might look like a chaotic swirl of new immigrants/migrants is in fact not based on the discovery of a brave new world, but firmly based on family history and configurated by state-to-state relations.

Migrant mothers, left-behind fathers: the negotiation of gender subjectivities in Indonesia and the Philippines

The distinct feminization of labour migration in Southeast Asia - particularly in the migration of breadwinning mothers as domestic and care workers in gender-segmented global labour markets - has altered care arrangements, gender roles and practices, as well as family relationships within the household significantly. Such changes were experienced by both the migrating women and other left-behind members of the family, particularly 'substitute' carers such as left-behind husbands. During the women's absence from the home, householding strategies have to be reformulated when migrant women-as-mothers rewrite their roles (but often not their identities) through labour migration as productive workers who contribute to the well-being of their children via financial remittances and 'long-distance mothering', while left-behind fathers and/or other family members step up to assume some of the tasks vacated by the mother. Using both quantitative and qualitative interview material with returned migrants and left-behind household members in source communities in Indonesia and the Philippines experiencing considerable pressures from labour migration, this article explores how carework is redistributed in the migrant mother's absence, and the ensuing implications on the gender roles of remaining family members, specifically left-behind fathers. It further examines how affected members of the household negotiate and respond to any changing gender ideologies brought about by the mother's migration over time.

Gendering Skilled Migratory Streams: Implications for Conceptualizations of Migration

The dominant paradigm in studies of international migration has largely neglected the significance of skilled women in migratory streams. Much recent analysis of international migration has been overly influenced by conceptualizations developed in the context of the migration of women who engage in unskilled labor, or of ungendered but implicitly androcentric theorizations of skilled migration, whether arising from a modernization thesis or globalization thesis. In this paper I explore the legacies of such theorizations and the ways in which the presence of skilled women can challenge these conceptualizations. This paper suggests the need to rethink the household-labor market-immigration nexus in the light of issues of social stratification which a focus on skilled women migrants raises.

The Role of Primary Social Groups in Migration Decision-Making: A Case Study of Chinese Students in Australia

This article sought to analyze the role of primary social groups on the migration decision-making process of on-shore asylum seekers. Previous research on migration decision-making had been dominated by an individual-family-community analysis, and failed to consider the role of other social groups. This article is based on research on the Chinese students living in Australia at the time of the June 4, 1989 event in Beijing. Their experience was used to conceptualize the role of the migrants' primary social groups in migration decisions. The article addressed several themes of group-based migration decision-making and outlined the basic characteristics of the primary social group as a decision-making unit.

The Difference Gender Makes: State Policy and Contract Migrant Workers in Singapore

The increasing numbers of men and women involved in international labor migration at all skill levels have raised crucial policy issues and concerns for both sending and receiving countries, not only in the area of migration and employment legislation, but also in terms of how migrant workers are positioned within the larger society. Using the case of Singapore, we adopt a gendered analysis to examine the central role of state policies and practices in the incorporation vis-à-vis non-incorporation of male versus female contract migrant workers into Singapore society, in terms of their differential access to legal protection; the differential effects of state medical surveillance of their bodies; the different ways in which their ‘skills' are valorized; as well as differences in the efforts invested into the social control of these workers in public space.

Acute psychiatric disorders in foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong: a pilot study

AIM

To explore the psychopathology of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) who had an acute psychiatric disorder in Hong Kong.

METHOD

This was a retrospective chart review. Demographic and clinical data were extracted from case records of FDWs who were admitted for the first time as inpatients for psychiatric treatment to three regional hospitals of the same catchment area in Hong Kong between 2000 and 2004. Relevant socio-demographic data on local FDWs and the general population of Hong Kong were obtained from local government departments.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven Filipino and 14 Indonesian FDWs presenting with their first and so far only psychiatric admission were identified. There were significantly more FDWs who were single or never married in the sample. Filipino FDWs tended to fall ill after 4 years of service in Hong Kong while the corresponding figure for Indonesian FDWs was 2 years. Indonesian FDWs were older and had less access to social and medical services than their Filipino counterparts. Home sickness and marital problems were more commonly identified as stressors rather than work-related difficulties. Acute and Transient Psychotic Disorder (ICD-10) was diagnosed in over 60% of the subjects, making FDWs two times more vulnerable than local women of similar age for this illness.

CONCLUSIONS

FDWs constitute a vulnerable group in terms of psychiatric morbidity. Concerted political, social and psychological efforts would be require to alleviate the distress faced by this particularly disadvantaged subset of female expatriates.

Violence against women migrant workers: issues, data and partial solutions

"Despite the creation of specific norms, procedures, and institutions to protect women migrant workers, serious gaps remain. Statistics for measuring violence are not compiled comprehensively or regularly. Two occupations that increase the risk of violence are domestic service and entertainment-related services. Migration through illegal channels and trafficking also increase the risk. This article suggests a list of indicators to measure violence of three major types: (1) economic, (2) social/psychological, and (3) physical/sexual. Evidence from several countries to document instances of violence is reviewed. Major policy issues for the sending and receiving countries are outlined, and some recommendations for addressing such violations are made."

Family and internal migration in Taiwan

"In this paper we examine internal migration in Taiwan in the 1960s when rural economic conditions were volatile, the shift from agriculture to non-farm employment was gaining momentum, and the government's policy of industrialization through export was adopted. Migration is seen as one component of households' survival/adaptation strategy.... Our empirical analyses are consistent with our a priori theoretical expectations that household access to land, participation in the local wage labor force, and access to migrants' social networks directly influenced how families in Taiwan deployed migration as a household survival strategy."

The globalisation of the nursing workforce: barriers confronting overseas qualified nurses in Australia

Recent decades have coincided with the rapid globalisation of the nursing profession. Within Australia there has been rising dependence on overseas qualified nurses (OQNs) to compensate for chronic nurse shortages related to the continued exodus of Australian nurses overseas and to emerging opportunities in other professions. Between 1983/4 and 1994/5, 30 544 OQNs entered Australia on either a permanent or temporary basis, counter-balancing the departure overseas of 23 613 locally trained and 6519 migrant nurses (producing a net gain of just 412 nurses in all). The period 1995/6--1999/2000 saw an additional 11 757 permanent or long-term OQN arrivals, with nursing currently ranked third target profession in Australia's skill migration program, in the context of continuing attrition among local nurses. This pattern of reliance on OQNs is a phenomenon simultaneously occurring in the UK, the US, Canada and the Middle East --- the globalisation of nursing reflecting not merely Western demand but the growing agency and participation of women in skilled migration, their desire for improved quality of life, enhanced professional opportunity and remuneration, family reunion and adventure.