Gendering the Migration System in East Asia

This paper attempts to do gendering the migration system in East Asia by focusing on social reproduction. Inter-Asian migration has been one of the key characteristics in recent migration trends (WMR 2012). Jones and Findlay (1998) showed migration system emerged in East Asia by examining the various linkages among origins and destinations including FDI aids, trade and migration. Building upon Jones and Findlay (1998)’s work, I attempt to gendering the regional migration system by examining two feminized migration streams: labor migration for care and marriage migration to the major destinations in East Asia including Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. In analyzing these migration streams, I explore the changes in socio-demographic and economic conditions of the destinations including the gender division of labor, care provision, (care) labor market, and state policies for migration. By comparing the state responses to the seemingly uniformed issues of care provision, I argue that the recent intensification of migration system in Asia is conditioned by changes in mode of social reproduction.