Introduction: Increasing Numbers of Indonesian and Vietnamese Women in East Asia and Their Status in Chinese Society OKUSHIMA Mika In this special issue about migrants in the field of domestic works or household and caregiving work in East Asia, three articles by Asato, Yokota, and Okushima aim to analyze the background and circumstances of new faces since the 1990s, namely, the Indonesian and Vietnamese women as migrant workers and wives. These women increased not only in place with the local women who had higher position and status, but also with the Filipina workers who formerly were the dominant group and also have relatively higher education and skill level, because of their lower cost to employ and lesser claims and advocacy for their rights. Taiwan, as one of the biggest receiving countries of these migrant women, has today about 160,000 careworkers caretakers or, chiefly consisting of the Indonesians (2007), and also 400,000 marriage migrants in total (Jan. 1987 Jul. 2007) made up mainly of Mainland Chinese and Vietnamese women. Although most of the women migrated during the last twenty years, they still encounter and suffer from traditional views and ethics of Chinese society, that is, the women are outsiders, of low status, expected to be obedient, and concurrently playing the roles of wife and domestic worker/slave. Thus the boundary between the migrant workers and marriage migrants is often unclear, too, when the domestic worker marries her employer or 21
20 2008 her employer s family members, and the marriage migrants are obliged to work vice versa, because of their husbands lower class, aging, and/or handicap. Many of the Indonesian and Vietnamese women, who have lower education and skill and little support from their home governments, have no other choice than to adapt themselves to those actual conditions. Therefore, discriminatory discourses on their characteristics, or so-called stereo-typicalization, such as Indonesian workers have lower skill but higher obedience and diligence or Vietnamese wives have fair skin and Buddhist spirit (just like us Chinese), have become a marketing strategy, not only of the mediate agencies/brokers and national governments, but also of the women themselves. This causes a vicious circle of damping and disadvantage, which makes the Indonesian and Vietnamese women stay in their lower position and status in the receiving countries, just as we see in Taiwan. 3 2007 8 10 2 1. ASEAN NIEs 20 22
1990 90 ASEAN 1980 NIEs NIEs 50 Hugo 1995, 2000 2001 2005 2005 2006 2006 2006 36 40 1987 1 2007 7 2007a 1 2000 23
20 2008 1 1990 2007 10 2002 2004 18.4 20 EPA 2005 2007 2006 2005 2007a IT 24
4 2 1980 70 2007 2007 BNP2TKI 2008 1990 2.6 2007a 1986 ÐDô 9 i Mói 2006 7.5 2006 2008 2005 7.7 2007a 2005 5,822 2007 9,812 2007b 2007 2 700 25
20 2008 2 2007 10 26
1 2006 428,240 104,807 96,647 89,916 86,628 156,559 271,681 13,185 91,622 76,476 20,171 9,663 80,253 27,611 59,017 120,637 185,781 12,613 44,853 73,247 14,471 7,995 70,747 26,763 55,676 0 64,262 0 43,209 0 4,188 0 7,235 0 2,545 7,840 7,248 368 291 272 401 872 1,041 65 44 2007b 27
20 2008 1 1 2000 2001 2004 2007 3 2004 12% 8% 28
3 2007 3 10 10 2007 8 3. 1 2 1 29
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3 1. 4 2007: 159 162 2007 65 2 4 50 10.8 18.1 40 4 6 3 7 14.7 3 37 14.4 5.5 31
20 2008 2 2000 2000 2001 2000 2000 640,276 602,276 11,334 10,893 3,285 3,432 2,062 1,956 23,159 22,978 2000 2000 1999 2000 2005 38,524 37,980 103,417 102,847 37,469 38,854 29,850 30,767 62,349 65,419 1 2 3 37 14.4 5.5 15.1 5.6 391.2 155.6 2008 33 34, 52 32
37 22.3 5.3 15.1 2 1943 Wolf 1980 Watson 1991 1994 1997 tongyangxi muijai Watson 1991: 234 238 1991 228 235 Wong 2004: 83 85 1980 3 33
20 2008 3 2007 No 1965 9 30 77 GAM 1 1967 60 n.d. 2 1977 3 1980 n.d. 4 1980 50 5 1985 n.d. n.d. 1987 6 1988 90 n.d. n.d. 7 1990 n.d. 40 1990 8 1994 40 9 1995 30 10 2000 30 11 2000 n.d. 12 2000 03 13 14 10 15 2005 10 16 2007 10 1 4 7 15 2 3 4 7 34
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1960 2 4. 37
20 2008 caregiver, careworker 1 nanny governess 2003 2004: 31 32 NGO 38
2005a 2005b NHK 2007 2007 Okushima 2007 Univ. RS Atma Jaya Abba Love Toko Indo Shirley PPNI Dijen PRS, Depsos IFGF-GISI Puspronakes, Depkes Depnakertrans & BNP2TKI Wilem Jimmy PSTW Karya Kasih JICWELS STIKes Sint Carolus KDEI & Shelterhouses VECOT Teddy PSTW Bhakti Putra Pratama STIKes Binawan 1 1 2006 1,913 3 4,292 2 13% 2 2007 2003 04 39
20 2008 1 06 11.9% 39,690 01 03 7 06 76.1% 30,208 3 1991 2004 43-5 1 28 2006 18 1 34 2007 1994 68 110 120 2005 F-Gens Journal 3 269 278 NHK 2007 4 3 2008 269 274 2001 7 121 147 2005 17 1 47 2007 104 56 67 1997 40
2007 15 2007 2007 New Releases No. 639 http://www.nso-go.kr 2008 1 20 2007 2005a FTA 7 52 55 2005b 7 56 59 2006 57 2 190 217 2006 3 2005 B 2005 08 2007a 72 115 2007b B 2005 08 2008 2008 2004 2007 8 1 4 16 http:// www.chousunonline.com/article/20070416000042 2008 3 29 2007a 2007b 2006 Vietnam 41
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