Modern society has undergone rapid economic change and subsequent human migration under the influence of globalization and open-door immigration policy. Korean society has also undergone a hectic transformation into a multi-cultural society with an i...
Modern society has undergone rapid economic change and subsequent human migration under the influence of globalization and open-door immigration policy. Korean society has also undergone a hectic transformation into a multi-cultural society with an increase of international marriages.
Ethnic Korean women living in China hold similar dispositions in terms of language and way of life to Koreans in Korea, and account for a great proportion among immigrant wives. As ethnic Korean women from China who marry a Korean man can learn Korean language and adapt to life in Korea quickly, so they can also easily get a job in Korea and enjoy a variety of experiences getting them. Therefore, they were appropriate for subjects as this study.
This study aims at deciding the meaning of the experiences getting a job in Korea for ethnic Korean women from China who have married a Korean man and have been engaged in professional occupations. The study focuses on descriptions and analyses of data collected from in-depth interviews with ethnic Korean women from China who married a Korean man, and engaged in professional occupations living in Daegu metropolitan city. The interviews focused on the motifs of path, significances and plans in the future as to getting a job in the manner of case study.
The results are as follows.
First, their reason for getting a job can be divided into economic reasons and non-economic reasons. An economic motif is to 'cover living expenses,''cover educational expenses for children' and 'prepare my home.' Non-economic motifs varied from 'escaping from stifling daily life,' 'helping others,' 'a rewarding work and fun' to 'adapting to the Korean society,' etc.
Second, any analysis of categorizing the path of participants getting a job into those with career experiences in the manufacture/service industry and those without those experiences resulted in the former's boasting a good command in English to seek information to get a job for themselves and applying for a position, and they were engaged in a variety of occupations. In addition, those without any experience in the industries displayed relatively more experiences in the government authorities.
Third, significances of research participants according to their getting a job varied in positive significances such as 'economic assistance,' 'self-development,' 'mental self-fulfillment and happiness,' 'expansion of social network', 'beneficial for child education' and 'improvement of position within the family,' and negative significance such as 'role conflict.'
Fourth, the participants have experienced discrimination and bias against foreigners, immigrant wives and married women under the process in getting a job or at workplace, and also experienced some discriminations in terms of their academic history and age in the job market. In addition, a negative perception of immigrant wives by Koreans made them uncomfortable and disrupted their sense of well-being.
Fifth, their future plans related to getting a job were those in which they can make use of their linguistic ability.
Suggesting some ideas that would somewhat be of help based on the research results above are as follows.
First, some of the participants in the study are not proficient in Korean language, and have no high academic history. But they were seeking for a job and were engaged in a position nearly an expert though education and job-training they have participated in so that they could adpat to life in Korea. Thereby, we can analogize that those who went from the stage of early adaptation to settlement working with Koreans in the Korean society would work together with them in Korea and hold a great desire to get a job to enjoy economic stability and bountiful life. So, a study and policy to understand their desire for getting a job and discover types of profession they can be engaged in, which are at the stage of settlement, shall be pushed ahead.
Second, several conflicts they have experienced while they were at home and their place of work at the same time were commonplace. Conflicts owing to situations in which they cannot raise their kids and educate them well were the most serious, so it seems that associating employment support policies for those women with raising their kids and supporting their education might be desirable in the future.
Third, their future plans were concentrated on the positions in which they can make use of Chinese language. A variety of job success models shall be discovered, and success cases overseas can be introduced to diversify these women's professions, which would expose them to a number of occupations and be left for future reviews.
This study is an in-depth research for some cases of ethnic Korean immigrant wives from China with experiences in professional posts, which includes several limits as follows.
First, it has collected its subjects through multi-cultural family support center, so they could hold pride in their work as a practitioner and hold positive mind-set. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze experiences at their work-places and their characteristics according to the types of profession they are engaged in through subsequent researches aiming at immigrant wives in a number of professions.
Second, research participants moved to the cities or migrated to get a job for a better condition from their homeland before marriage. In addition, they hold a strong desire for getting a job based on managing their lives after entering Korea. Participants' plans for future professions were neither concrete nor diversified compared to their active application to establish their sense of existence. Therefore, holding a concrete plan for future life or discovering some cases to prepare for their future professions might be necessary in order to set plans that can support their getting a job in the future.
Key-words: immigrant wives, ethnic Koreans in China, motif of getting a job, significance of getting a job, discrimination and bia
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