Discussion
This study is of important value in that it explores various cultural
differences experienced by migrant women who have migrated to Korea and
reveals the difficulties, discrimination experiences, and the types of
coping they show in such situations within the actual socio-cultural
context. In particular, it is considered to have practical value in that
it provides policy information necessary for multicultural phenomena in
Korean society.
In this study, through phenomenological research methods, experiences
related to cultural conflicts experienced by immigrant women with Korean
jobs were explored, and three types of adaptation were derived for them
to cope with their problems. As a result, it was found that conflicts
and discrimination were experienced in various aspects such as identity,
communication, social situation, daily life, work, etc. In addition, as
a result of analyzing the coping types of immigrant women, adaptive,
passive, and evasive types were found. These findings are discussed in
more detail in this section.
Cultural differences reported by female immigrants while working in
Korea were similar to those reported in previous studies on immigrants
(Heo & Kim, 2019; Kim, 2018; Ra et al., 2019). However, the results of
this study showed that the selective application strategy of Korean
culture had a greater influence on adaptation than the one-sided
assimilation of mainstream culture proposed by existing studies. In
addition, as previous studies have shown, the characteristics that
immigrant women should have two identities that migrants and natives
should have were reflected (Kang, 2021; Lee et al., 2021). Instead of
choosing between the two groups, they were found to selectively share
each identity according to their situation and context.
In particular, although linguistic communication was not easy for
adaptive participants, they used specific languages to adequately
demonstrate their identity in a given cultural situation. The results of
these studies differ slightly from previous studies, and it was found
that for them to settle well in Korean society, a communication method
that combines two identities must be developed.
Participants experienced cultural differences in political ideology and
economic systems. Most of the participants were aware of the realistic
situation that they could only work in poor jobs such as the 3D job
field due to the difference in economic level with Korea (Kim et al.,
2022). In particular, it was recognized that labor regulations such as
working hours and wages were very different between the two cultures. In
terms of interpersonal relationships, it was found that they experienced
a cultural shock in that Korean culture showed more hierarchical and
authoritative characteristics. Under these circumstances, they did not
unconditionally favor the Korean economic system and forcing them to
unilaterally assimilate into it certainly did not improve their
adaptability
Immigrant women expect some positive treatment from Korean society under
the consciousness that Koreans are of the same nationality as
themselves, but in the reality of Korean society, they experience
relatively great shock because they treat them as other groups. In this
regard, if Korean society wants to accept them as equal members and
create a harmonious society, various measures are needed to reduce
prejudice and discrimination against them from native Koreans and
institutional issues must be reformed.
In this way, immigrant women experience various difficulties and
discrimination while living in Korean society, and among them, there
were generally types that could not adapt. For example, passive or
evasive type immigrant women often lost their original purpose while
living in Korean society. In terms of coping methods, they use
strategies in a somewhat material-seeking manner, unlike active coping
methods to escape difficulties and discrimination.
On the other hand, adaptive immigrant women were showing an attitude of
acknowledging the cultural differences they faced, and the resulting
conflicts were resolved constructively. They actively understood and
accepted Korean culture and lived their lives at the same time. These
results can be said to show the need for immigrant women to dominantly
solve their problems to live a properly adapted life in Korea. This
coping method can be said to be a characteristic that most immigrants
require to adapt to mainstream culture.
In addition, Korean society should prepare a cultural adaptation system
that reflects their cultural characteristics to help multicultural
immigrants adapt (Chang, 2019; Kim et al., 2022; Ward et al., 2020). For
example, some parts of Korea have developed and implemented two-way
cultural exchange programs to help immigrant women adapt to their
marriage. If after-school programs for the education of children from
multicultural families and foreign workers are also carried out in this
way, they must be developed and implemented for ”passive” and ”evasive”
immigrant women in the future.
Based on these results, it is desirable to construct a program that can
develop a kind of adaptability shown by adaptive women (Kim et al.,
2022; Lee et al., 2021). First, it is important to create a social
atmosphere in which immigrant women can accept and reveal their identity
as immigrants. This can sometimes lead to inappropriate discrimination,
but hiding their identity is not the best way to eliminate
discrimination. Instead, a program is needed to properly recognize the
advantages and disadvantages of dual identity and to help them come up
with active solutions in a given situation.
Second, there is a need for a program to help develop code necessary for
mutual communication. Immigrant women use code that intersects two
modules of their native language and Korean language in their language
use. These native/Korean codes work as a positive adaptation tool, but
they can also worsen interpersonal relationships. Therefore, in this
study, ’passive’ and ’evasive’ immigrant women tended to separate and
grasp relationships with Koreans based on their mother tongue/Korean
codes, while ’adaptive’ female immigrants emphasized codes that could
unite people or workplace characteristics instead of their mother
tongue/Korean codes. Therefore, it is necessary to help them develop
communication codes suitable for a particular situation.
Third, for immigrant women to overcome cultural differences, they must
go through the process of taking the lead in solving their problems and
gaining the will to be skilled. Given the stable nature of culture,
cultural adaptation is not just a matter of choice at the moment, but a
skill that forms within long-term, stable patterns of behavior (Oh,
2020; Walton, 2020; Ward et al., 2020). Accordingly, immigrant women
need to experience the process of strengthening their willingness to
take the lead in solving their problems and increasing their
adaptability while working in Korean society. In particular, to
implement a system that can support their cultural adaptation, there is
an urgent problem that native Koreans must first accept migrants
socially and accept them as the same members. Accordingly, it is
necessary to develop each communication support program necessary for
migrants and natives.
Overall, the 10 immigrant women who participated in the study had
somewhat diverse jobs, and most women in blue-collar jobs were found to
have relatively many grievances. In contrast, both participants with a
teacher’s job were adapting to Korean society quite well. It is judged
that this may be due to the nature of their job. Thus, if future studies
examine differences in adaptation according to occupations or the
diversity of types of adaptation within occupations, such studies can
contribute to understanding the various effects of occupations on
cultural adaptation and individual differences.
In addition, although it was excluded at the request of the participants
in this study, some migrant women were suffering from sexual harassment
in the workplace due to their sexual status as women. In the Korean
society where gender discrimination against women is prevalent,
immigrant women were no exception. The gender discrimination experienced
by immigrant women, who have a position as a minority group in Korean
society, is even more serious in that it is closely related to their
poor civil rights situation. Therefore, measures to solve these problems
quickly need to be developed and carried out at the social level.
Furthermore, it is necessary to extensively study behavioral strategies
in which migrants with various characteristics, such as Korean diaspora
subjects, foreign workers, and international students living in Korea,
adapt to Korean society (Chang, 2019; Heim & Kohrt, 2019; Shrikant,
2018). Furthermore, to understand multiculturalism, which will be the
cornerstone of building a more ideal society in a Korean society that is
changing into a multicultural society, research at the national level is
needed and based on this movement, it is necessary to establish an
appropriate social system and prepare policies.