Taiwan

Gender, Mobility Regimes, and Social Transformation in Asia

Citation:

Martin, Fran, and Ana Dragojlovic. 2019. “Gender, Mobility Regimes, and Social Transformation in Asia.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 40 (3): 275–86.

Authors: Fran Martin, Ana Dragojlovic

Keywords: mobility, migration, gender, Asia

Annotation:

Summary:
“This special issue, which grows out of an international symposium that the editors hosted at the University of Melbourne in November 2016, explores the interrelations among gender, human mobilities, and power across selected sites in East and Southeast Asia, where today an intensification and acceleration in spatial movements of all kinds is reconfiguring the ways in which gender relations are lived and imagined. Gender, sexuality, intimacy, and family are taking on new expressions, shaped by political and economic demands for participation in geographic mobilities, flexible labour, intimate markets, and social reproduction. The articles gathered here explore how contemporary regimes of governance in Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan and beyond impact on the spatial and social movements of people, and interrogate the economic, political, affective, and especially gendered dimensions of these emergent forms of mobility. Bringing together scholars from across gender studies, anthropology, and cultural studies, this issue explores how interdisciplinary methods and theories can productively engage the operations of mobility regimes in the making and un-making of gender relations in the Asian region” (Martin and Dragojlovic 2019).

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: China, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan

Year: 2019

Green Practices Are Gendered: Exploring Gender Inequality Caused by Sustainable Consumption Policies in Taiwan

Citation:

Wang, Sumei. 2016. “Green Practices Are Gendered: Exploring Gender Inequality Caused by Sustainable Consumption Policies in Taiwan.” Energy Research & Social Science 18 (August): 88–95.

Author: Sumei Wang

Abstract:

In the context of climate change, governments and international organizations often promote a “sustainable lifestyle.” However, this approach has been criticized for underestimating the complexity of everyday life and therefore being inapplicable to households and consumers. In addition, procedures for promoting sustainable consumption seldom incorporate domestic workers’ opinions and often increase women’s housework loads. This article employs a practice-based approach to examine the “Energy-Saving, Carbon Reduction” movement, a series of sustainable consumption policies that have been advocated by the Taiwanese government since 2008. The goal of the movement is to encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle. On the basis of empirical data collected through ethnographic interviews, this article argues that existing policies unexpectedly increase women’s burdens and exacerbate gender inequality.

Keywords: sustainable consumption, gender inequality, Taiwan, global warming

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Infrastructure, Energy, International Organizations Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Taiwan

Year: 2016

Resilience in a Cultural Context: Taiwanese Female Earthquake Survivors

Citation:

Liu, Chu-Li Julie, and Faye Mishna. 2014. “Resilience in a Cultural Context: Taiwanese Female Earthquake Survivors.” Qualitative Social Work 13 (2): 288–303.

Authors: Chu-Li Julie Liu, Faye Mishna

Abstract:

The aim of the current study was to examine how females survive natural disaster in non-western culture and to gain understanding of their unique experiences in rebuilding their lives. In September 1999, a major earthquake, named ‘921 Earthquake,’ measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale occurred in Taiwan. Many people survived, struggling a great deal in their efforts to reconstruct their lives. Five years after this earthquake, many survivors, including women, were reported to have rebuilt self-sufficient lives. Given the vulnerability of women and their greater difficulties in resuming their lives, an important question was how these women were able to be successful in this endeavor. Utilizing a grounded theory approach, 16 female 921 Earthquake survivors who had been helped by social workers, no longer received government aid and had successfully regained their selfsufficiency, voluntarily participated in this study. The study findings revealed that the coping strategies guided by female gender norms in the family, embedded in Taiwanese culture, including: children’s needs are the first priority as a maternal role norm; men working outside and women working inside; and female gender norms of supporting the family when husbands could not, were the major resources participants accessed and utilized to successfully cope with the difficulties after the 921 Earthquake. The participants’ narratives demonstrated that cultural norms can serve as coping resources for survivors. Implications for social work practice are addressed.

Keywords: coping strategies, cultural norms, female earthquake survivors, grounded theory approach, Taiwan

Topics: Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Women, Gender Roles Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Taiwan

Year: 2014

Immigrant Networks in New Urban Spaces: Gender and Social Integration: Gendered Immigrant Networks in New Urban Spaces

Citation:

Avenarius, Christine B. 2012. “Immigrant Networks in New Urban Spaces: Gender and Social Integration: Gendered Immigrant Networks in New Urban Spaces.” International Migration 50 (5): 25–55. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00511.x.

Author: Christine B. Avenarius

Abstract:

This article investigates how dispersed settlement in areas of urban sprawl affects the structure of personal networks that in turn influences the likelihood of social integration among male and female immigrants from Taiwan. Settlement in the deconcentrated spaces that currently constitute the new urban spaces of U.S. metropolitan areas potentially offers more opportunities to interact with ethnically diverse people than the traditional ethnic enclaves of inner cities. However, these spatial structures also increase dependency on cars and road systems. Findings from ethnographic fieldwork in Orange County, California, show that the social networks of affluent first generation immigrants from Taiwan are not comparable to the densely knit broadly based ties linking neighbors and kin group members traditionally attributed to immigrants.

Instead, the social networks of immigrants with high levels of human and economic capital are based on loosely bounded, sparsely knit, and dynamic specialized ties. At the local level networks involve few ties to extended relatives, but a substantial amount of relationships with former classmates and members of recreational associations. However, despite good English skills and employment in diverse workplaces the number of interactions with nonimmigrants outside of work and school environments is rather small.

These circumstances are experienced differently by men and women. Female immigrants consider living in the deconcentrated spaces of master-plan communities beneficial for achieving personal contentment. They welcome the changed conditions for social interaction and enjoy the decrease in network size and frequency of contacts that result in less obligations and responsibilities compared to life back in their country of origin. Male immigrants, however, mourn the loss of opportunities to gain reputation and social recognition. They would prefer to live in areas with close spatial proximity of immigrant residences. These gendered evaluations further affect the likelihood of social integration for first generation immigrants.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Women Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Taiwan

Year: 2012

Overt Employment Discrimination in MNC Affiliates: Home-country Cultural and Institutional Effects

Citation:

Wu, C., J. J. Lawler and X. Yi. 2008. “Overt Employment Discrimination in MNC Affiliates: Home-country Cultural and Institutional Effects.” Journal of International Business Studies 39 (5): 772-794.

Authors: C. Wu, J. J. Lawler, X. Yi

Abstract:

Using job announcements posted by MNC subsidiaries in Taiwan and Thailand, we investigated the effects of MNC home-country cultural and institutional forces on the use of employment gender and age discriminatory criteria in host countries where anti-discrimination legislation was absent. We examined the cultural effects with composite measures taken from the work of Hofstede and Schwartz. The effects of the existence of anti-age and anti-gender discrimination employment legislation in an MNC home country were also assessed to control for institutional factors. Logit analysis shows that MNC home-country culture and institutional environment can have a strong impact on the use of discriminatory criteria by MNCs in host countries, at least those lacking protective legislation. Specifically, MNCs based in countries that have existing and effective age and gender discrimination laws, and have more individualist and less masculine cultures, are less likely to engage in at least overt gender-based and age-based discrimination.
Keywords: MNC; employment discrimination; age; gender; national culture; institutional forces

Annotation:

Analyzed recruitment ads in Thailand and Taiwan (no regulations in either country at the time of the study), overt gender and age discrimination; Asian-Pacific, North American and European-based companies

Existence of a home-country cultural impact on the likelihood of these types of discrimination by MNC subsidiaries even after controlling for key home-country institutional influences

Topics: Age, Economies, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Balance, Gendered Power Relations, Globalization, Governance, Multi-National Corporations Regions: Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Taiwan, Thailand

Year: 2008

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