Immigrant Wives As Volunteers in Taiwan: Their Characteristics and Experiences

The prevalence of transnational marriage can be witnessed in Taiwan in the late twentieth century where Chinese and Southeast Asian women, mainly from Vietnam, dominate numerically. Most of the women got married to Taiwanese men through the operation of profit-pursuing marriage agents. These immigrant wives, contracting “commodified transnational marriage ”, are labeled in Taiwan as “foreign brides”, a derogatory term that implies exclusion and discrimination. It has been recognized that immigrants can improve their economic, social and emotional well-being, civic participation and integration in the host society by undertaking volunteering activities. Nevertheless a variety of factors can prevent them from voluntary work. In other words, it is significant to disclose immigrant wives’ experiences of being volunteers in Taiwan. However, the studies to date on the issue of these women have largely concentrated on adaption; little attention is paid to their participation in volunteering. Thus this paper aims to learn about the characteristics and experiences of immigrant wives who participating in volunteering in Taiwan by conducting qualitative research. The major questions raised for this paper are: 1) What are their factors for volunteering? 2)What are reasons keeping them from volunteering? 3) What types of volunteering work do they do and why? 4) What does volunteering work mean for them? The research results can put forward recommendation to policy-makers and mainstream organizations with a hope of promoting volunteering participation of immigrant wives in order to improve their well-being in Taiwan.