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Korea
Women Migrants by Marriage are our Citizens
One of the most popular terms regarding family in today’s Korea is “multi-cultural” family. But this is without any serious consideration about what the central components of multi-cultural families are and without properly including women immigrants by marriage or their families - the constructive agents of a multi-cultural family.
In Korea there is a “Basic Law of Healthy Family” and the family first outlined in it was the nuclear family, preserving the view that the traditional patriarchal family system is normal and healthy. With the progressive women’s movement, the definition was widened under the term “alienated family” to cover other types such as the single parent family. But immigrants by marriage are sidelined. Unless the family by international marriage is accepted as a “normal” family in a fast-changing society, the multi-cultural family is nothing but a cover which cannot conceal the reality that its members are still doomed to live a second-class, alienated life.
Prejudice against international marriage in Korea begins with the “blood purity” myth - a myth because of the long history of foreign invasions. In a modern context, Korean women married to US servicemen following the Korean War - and their children - were viewed negatively and largely forgotten.
The second wave of international marriage in Korea beginning after 1990 is mostly between Koreans and other Asians and is being viewed differently. Since 1995, Chinese women in a massive number came to marry Korean men as a result of the campaign to “support the single Korean men in rural areas”. In 2005, international marriages accounted for 11.3% of all marriages. And this wave, unlike the first, is now on the Government’s agenda. For these marriages are largely between Korean males and foreign females. The Korean people think it is natural for the foreign females to be treated as Koreans and their children as Korean second generation. So the proper measures to protect them are being set up. But there is no policy to support those families from international marriages between Korean females and foreign men. One of the reasons for the increased number of international marriages in Korea is the unbalanced sex ratio which means that more men are having difficulty finding Korean wives at their economic and cultural level. The conventional custom of providing a home and income feels to some Korean men as too much of an economic burden and so they choose marriage with a woman from a Third World country - through the commercialised marriage market.
The grooms often come to treat their immigrant partners not as an equal, but as someone they can do anything to because of the deep-rooted image of the women they have got through the process of purchased marriage. The biggest challenge these migrant women face is domestic violence. According to a recent report, 12% of the women have suffered domestic violence. Over 35% of calls through our Centre’s hotline are reportedly about domestic violence. It is even worse where the husband deserts his wife. If a divorce is through agreement, the woman is subject to deportation even in the case of the husband’s sexual violence, alcoholism, or mental disorder. Korean law guarantees the migrant women the right to stay only if they can prove the divorce was not their fault - which is very difficult to prove. The number of divorces from international marriages is growing fast. Many of the women who come to Korea for marriage come from cultures which were more gender-equal and most of the cultural conflicts come from the women being forced to accept the Korean patriarchal culture. This becomes a major factor in divorce.
What needs to be done?
Language education for these women should be a top priority to lessen their isolation.
The women should also be treated as women who migrated to fulfil their own dream for a better life and we should respect their culture, diversity and human rights.
We need to look at the women immigrants as citizens who have full rights to their citizenship. If this was done we could create the foundation for a multi-cultural, multi -ethnic, coexistent society.
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