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.