Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the types of cultural adaptation
of migrant women, focusing on the cultural conflicts and coping that
immigrant women face in their daily lives and professional activities in
Korean society. Data collection conducted semi-structured interviews on
the daily lives and jobs of women who moved to Korea. The research
method focused on categorization techniques was analyzed by applying a
phenomenological approach. As a result of the study, 21 subcategories
were reorganized to name 8 top categories consisting of identity,
communication, social situation, conflict in daily life, conflict at
work, adaptive, passive, and evasive. In addition, three paradigms
consisting of cultural differences, experienced conflicts, and coping
types were constructed. In the discussion session, policy directions
were presented focusing on adaptation, and institutional devices were
presented to overcome cultural conflicts.
Key-words: migrant women, multiculturalization, phenomenology, cultural
adaptation, and coping types
Modern Korean society is changing into a multicultural society composed
of people from various cultural backgrounds as the number of workers
from third-world countries and transnational marriage immigrants
increases in Korea (Hundt, 2016; Lim, 2020). Among them, the settlement
problem of female residents implies more than the labor force
(Ghazarian, 2018; Hundt, 2016; Yi, 2016). It varies depending on the
purpose of stay of female immigrants staying in Korea. Among them,
long-term residents exclude short-term visits such as tourism (Hundt,
2016; Hunt, 2020; Walton, 2020).
Looking at it, there are migrant workers, married migrant women,
compatriots of foreign nationality, and international students
(Ghazarian, 2018; Jang & Kim, 2018; Kim, 2018). Among them, migrant
workers are foreign workers who do not have Korean nationality and work
for wages at workplaces, and can be classified as non-professional work
visas, professional work visas, and unregistered migrant workers
according to the type of visa (Ra, Huh, Finch, & Cho, 2019; Walton,
2020). Mainly, workers from Asian countries who have entered the country
to solve the shortage of domestic labor are representative, and overseas
Koreans such as ethnic Koreans are also a majority. Married migrant
women are women who have acquired Korean nationality through marriage
and are a unique phenomenon that appears in Korean society. As of 2021,
more than 130,000 women are married immigrants, accounting for more than
5% of all immigrants (Chang, 2019). Unlike foreign workers or married
immigrants, North Korean defectors can take Korean citizenship at the
same time as they enter the country, which is somewhat different from
the situation faced by ordinary migrant women (Chang, 2019; Lee & Park,
2018; Titzmann & Gniewosz, 2018).
However, as migrant women generally flow into Korean society, interest
in their social adaptation is increasing, and it can be an important
layer to build a key clue necessary for multicultural policies of Korean
society in the future (Chang, 2019; Walton, Harris, & Iwabuchi, 2020;
Ward, Kim, Karl, Epstein, & Park, 2020). And already, with the increase
in domestic migration of workers from third world countries and
transnational marriage immigrants, modern Korean society is transforming
into a multicultural society composed of people from various cultural
backgrounds. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination has already defined Korea as a multi-ethnic society in
August 2007 (Yi, 2016). Because of these changes, Korean society has
faced a new problem of conflict and discrimination between ethnic
groups. One of the immigrant groups involved in such matters is female
immigration. This is because female immigrants do not mean simple labor.
Compared to men, women show an overwhelmingly high rate of immigration
for marriage (Lee & Jung, 2012). In addition, in terms of being greatly
influenced by social adaptation devices, the social adaptation
phenomenon of migrant women is an important reason to receive great
attention.
The problem is that allowing female immigrants to enter the country does
not guarantee them an adaptable daily life or work life (Kim, 2018; Ra
et al., 2019). The reality is that they are experiencing various types
of difficulties and social discrimination in the process of adapting to
Korean society even after entering the country. Most of their adaptation
difficulties are often problems of adaptation to personal situations,
and may otherwise begin with the socio-cultural stereotype of immigrants
remaining in Korean society (Jang & Kim, 2018; Kim, 2018; Lee & Park,
2018; Yi, 2016).
Given that there is social discrimination against female immigrants,
many studies tend to pay attention to the ability of female immigrants
to assimilate as a way to solve these sociocultural conflict problems
they face (Lee & Jung, 2012). In other words, it focused on the aspect
of acceptance of mainstream culture as a response to the cultural shock
experienced by women during the immigration process of residents (Kang,
2021; Kim et al., 2020; Lee & Park, 2018). In this way, the position of
viewing adaptation to Korean society as a fairy tale in Korean
mainstream culture needs to examine the facts that immigrants can
sacrifice various capabilities (Lim, 2020; Oh, 2020; Stolz, 2020;
Walton, 2020).
To overcome these limitations, it is necessary to view cultural
adaptation as an interaction between mainstream culture and immigrants’
culture (Berry, 1997; Bourhis, Moise, Perreault, & Senecal, 1997). This
perspective is a common point that appears in various cultures that have
already experienced multiculturalization for a long time. For example,
Berry (1997) assumed the cultural diversity of immigrants within the
mainstream society to maintain their identity (Berry, 1997; Sam &
Berry, 2010). He classified cultural adaptation strategies as
integration, assimilation, separation, and alienation according to the
combination of immigrants maintaining their original culture and
embracing mainstream society.
The interactive cultural model developed by Bourhis, Moȉse, Perreault,
and Seʼnecal (1977) emphasized that the cultural adaptation of certain
immigrants was the result of interactions with mainstream groups in
native cultures (Bourhis et al., 1997; Lee & Jung, 2012; Sam & Berry,
2010). Several studies have noted that the cultural adaptation
experienced by immigrants is a result of the interaction between the
original culture of immigrants and the native culture (Berry, 1997;
Bourhis et al., 1997; Ghazarian, 2018; Oh, 2020; Sam & Berry, 2010;
Shrikant, 2018; Titzmann & Gniewosz, 2018; Walton et al., 2020).
Therefore, the researchers of this study judge that it is important to
consider the characteristics of the two cultures to properly explain the
many adaptive interventions experienced by female migrants in the
situation of daily life or vocational activities in the process of
settling in Korea (Jinhee, 2019; Kang, 2021).
Korea has long been characterized as a single-ethnic country (J. Kim et
al., 2020). However, in modern times, Korean society has seen an
increasing number of cases of different ethnic groups entering the
country due to the atmosphere of the global village era. In particular,
the case of women immigrating to Korea for marriage has become a very
remarkable change in culture, and it can be said that great interest has
now been formed in the adaptation process and reality of women who have
come to Korea for immigration purposes (S. K. Lee, 2018; Y. Lee & Park,
2018; Lim, 2020; Shrikant, 2018).
In this atmosphere, Koreans are reminded of the fact that they still
define themselves as the characteristics of a single person (Chang,
2019; Heim & Kohrt, 2019). The current trend of multiculturalization in
Korea cannot be ignored, and at the same time, it is time for each other
to make efforts to form a positive aspect of interaction with the
already introduced relationship with migrants (Hundt, 2016; Ward et al.,
2020). Native Koreans have not smoothly accepted this trend, but local
and government organizations are now actively leading the systems
necessary for multiculturalization.
Meanwhile, the majority of female immigrants who move to Korea choose to
move to Korea for economic activities. It can be said that women who
immigrate to Korea from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines have some
economic goals. However, migrant women living in Korea experience that
their goals are not easily achieved simply by participating in economic
activities (Jang & Kim, 2018). In particular, they realize that
cultural adaptation in Korea should come first due to cynical treatment
or discrimination caused by cultural differences. This is the same for
native Koreans. From the perspective of native Koreans, they cannot be
rejected unconditionally (Jang & Kim, 2018; Oh, 2020; Ra et al., 2019).
This is because many people got married in Korea, so now a new
relationship has been formed with the concept of family, and an
atmosphere in which no one can resist this new relationship has been
created.
However, it can be said that the dilemma that immigrants still have
about their identity remains (Kang, 2021; Ward et al., 2020). If so, it
is a very important problem to identify the characteristics of migrant
women’s experiences that appear in Korea now. Analyzing the problems of
self-identity, cultural conflict, and cultural adaptation of migrant
women through daily life and professional activities, their coping
behavior in Korea will greatly help collect appropriate systems for
multiculturalization in the future.
As has been observed so far, both Korean culture and their culture must
be fully considered to understand the adaptation of female immigrants to
Korea (Hundt, 2016; Kim, 2018; Lee & Jung, 2012). However, existing
studies have limitations in that they try to understand adaptation by
focusing on Korean culture. For example, identity studies explain
identity in a way that immigrants can assimilate into Korean culture as
quickly as possible rather than emphasizing their nationality or ethnic
identity more. Studies dealing with communication also evaluate based on
Korean in finding ways to resolve differences between vocabulary and
grammar. In other words, the dominant characteristic of recognizing
Korea’s multiculturalism is that it is most adaptable to communicate and
communicate like Koreans (Chang, 2019; Heim & Kohrt, 2019). In
addition, most studies dealing with cultural differences view immigrant
adaptation as a fairy tale to mainstream culture and strongly support
the perception that the acceptance of Korean culture has a great
influence on their adaptation.
There are several studies dealing with immigrant life from the mutual
perspective of the two cultures (Hunt, 2020; Jinhee, 2019; Lim, 2020).
However, there is virtually a lack of research that systematically
examines the cultural differences and adaptive realities experienced by
immigrant women who immigrate to Korea in daily life and professional
scenes from the mutual perspective of the two cultures. Considering that
immigrant women have socio-cultural conflicts at the same time in their
daily lives as well as in their work lives, past general research
results on immigrants have limitations in understanding their cultural
adaptations and the difficulties they face. These studies cannot provide
information on how the dual identity of immigrant women works in the job
field, how they cope with cultural differences, and what efforts they
make to overcome difficulties caused by language differences.
Furthermore, several studies reveal that not everyone adapts in the same
way even in the same situation (Berry, 1997; Kim, 2018). Even if the
various cultural differences and adaptation difficulties faced by
immigrant women are similar, there may be individual differences in how
they cope with situations in which they have to adapt culturally.
Surveys of such adaptations can be of great significance in that they
provide useful information on successful cultural adaptations (Chang,
2019). Therefore, in consideration of these points, this study attempts
to explore the cultural conflict experiences of female immigrants and
their response strategies. In addition, by identifying the types of
adaptation and maladjustment, the characteristics to be reflected in the
social institutional aspect will be analyzed.