韩国急需培养女性人才

据统计,韩国女性平均初婚年龄已提高到27岁,而且不少人一生只生育1个子女。这与上一代相比,生育子女数仅为上一代的四分之一,而结婚时间推迟了近10年。从这一变化可以看出,当代韩国女性大都想摆脱生育和抚养子女所带来的有形或无形的负担。     

从统计数字看韩国女性

2003年7月2日,韩国统计厅公布了含有关于韩国女性的家庭地位、社会地位、经济活动等状况统计结果的《2003女性生活统计》报告。韩国育龄女性所生子女平均为1.3人,与30年前相比不足三分之一。并且,2002年女性初婚平均年龄为27岁,比1985年的23.4岁大3.6岁。男性也从1985年的26.4岁增加到29.8岁,增加了3.4岁。与同龄男性结婚的女性比例为14.3％。而与年龄小于自己的男性结婚的女性的比例为11.6％。据该报告,韩国育龄女性所生子女减少,将给社会经济所有领域带来劳动力不足等不小的变化。     

韩国女性的职业变迁

20 0 2年 9月 6～ 9日在韩国汉城举行了“韩国女性走过的一百年”大型摄影回顾展。此次展览包括了韩国女性最初挑战的职业、女性的人生故事、女性的发型变迁史以及女性的社会教育变迁史等内容。看过展览的人无不对韩国女性生活中多方面的发展变化感慨万千。过去的一百年韩国社会在经济、文化、宗教、教育等方面都发生了翻天覆地的变化 ,置身于其中的韩国女性不仅目睹了这些变化 ,也积极地参与到了这些变化当中 ,为了获得今天的地位而进行了不懈的努力。本文着重讲述的是韩国女性的职业变迁。一　开拓职业世界的女性们在韩国历史上 ,从高丽末…     

论韩国知识女性的婚恋文化

一背景 韩国是一个深承东方传统文化且又广纳西方文化、深受儒家思想哺育且又收纳现代化理论的国家,这种双重文化的结合在当今韩国的青年知识女性社群中颇多体现,特别是在她们的婚恋文化上。 东亚地区的传统观念中一向有“男尊女卑”,“唯女子与小人为难养也”,“女儿即弄瓦”等偏见,因此在这一地区,“三从四德”,“夫为妻纲”,“相夫教子”,“温顺贤惠”等一直是评价妇女的标准,中国历代皇朝所遵循的“三纲五常”从未赋予女子以和男人平等的地位。韩国全面接受了中国的儒家文化,也全面接受了“男尊女卑”的伦理观,即使历经百年…     

韩国劳动人口急剧减少

为迎接世界人口日(7月11日),韩国统计厅于2003年7月10日发表了《世界及韩国的人口现状》的报告。与以往相比,该报告表明韩国人口出现了以下两个特点:其一,韩国劳动人口减少,也就是说能挣钱的人减少。去年,韩国每个育龄女性生育的子女数为1.17人,低于日本(1.32人)和美     

韩国女性参政的社会环境浅析

近年来,随着韩国经济社会的持续发展、女性教育水平的提高和职业女性的增多,韩国女性的政治参与意识不断提高,同时政府也陆续出台了一些有利于男女地位平等和女性参政的政策法规.但总体说来,由于韩国是一个崇尚儒家文化的国家,因此即使在现今社会,韩国女性的政治参与程度与其他领域相比,仍处于一个相对较低的水平,对未来的发展须持谨慎乐观的态度.     

股票投资吸引更多韩国女性

韩国投资者教育委员会(KCIE)从2007年2月1~8日为女性安排了经济学教育计划。自2005年以来,KCIE每3个月组织一次这样的活动,已经先后为976名韩国女性提供了多方面了解金融问题的机会。它设在地方上的一些办事处也为310名女性提供了学习机会,使她们对股票市场萌发了兴趣。参与这一计划的女性要上4门课,包括股票市场、互惠基金、自由市场机制和资产管理。授课教师均为股票或其他金融领域的专家,他们可以深入浅出地进行讲解,使学习者更好地了解股票市场和其他金融产品。KCEI表示将进一步扩展这一计划,讲解更多的问题,为更多想要了解金融问…     

韩国采风

韩国采风杨琳去年我应邀去韩国讲学，在这个被称之为“四小龙”之一的国度里生活了一段时间，耳闻目睹了当代韩国的许多民风世俗。今肿列一二，也许对有意了解韩国社会的人士不无参考价值。韩国的精神文明许多人向往韩国经济的发达，其实他们的精神文明也有不少值得我们学...     

韩国女性文化艺术运动的现实与展望

一 80年代 韩国社会自觉地开展民主化运动已有30年的历史。20世纪60年代以后迅速进行的现代化、产业化过程,促使女性从传统的社会领域开始走进资本主义的社会公众领域。这样,虽然看起来女性参与社会活动的机会增多,但实际上,这一过程却是将家长式的资本主义与封建主义的儒家思想巧妙地结合起来,从而加重了女性的压力。与近代社会所倡导的自由、平等观念相反,女性所受的压力与不平等更为明显,促使女性开始认识自身的处境。     

韩国面面观

韩国面面观一、韩国人的自然观韩国人崇尚自然。在王朝时代，不少读书人抛弃官职，回到乡下，以自然为友，用诗歌和书法来抒发自己的胸怀。也有不少诗人，把富贵和名誉置诸脑后，浪迹国内名山大川，歌颂那种超凡脱俗的生活。特别是梅月堂金时习的放荡不羁，由于他那豪放的...     

Migration in far west Nepal: intergenerational linkages between internal and international migration of rural-to-urban migrants

In Nepal, international labor migration to India and overseas, as well as internal migration to the rural Nepalese lowlands, is of high socioeconomic significance. Scholarly debates about migration in Nepal have gradually shifted from an economic to a more holistic perspective, also incorporating social dimensions. However, little evidence has been generated about internal migration to urban destinations and the potential linkages between international and internal migration. This article draws on Bourdieu's “Theory of Practice” and sees migration as a social practice. Accordingly, migration practice is regarded as a strategy social agents apply to increase or transfer capitals and ultimately secure or improve their social position. Evidence for this argument is based on a qualitative case study of rural to urban migrants in Far West Nepal conducted in July and August 2009. The study at hand addresses linkages between internal and international migration practices and provides insight about a social stratum that is often neglected in migration research: the middle class and, more precisely, government employees. The authors show that social relations are crucial for channeling internal migration to a specific destination. Furthermore, they unveil how internal migration is connected to the international labor migration of former generations. Finally, the authors examine how migration strategies adopted over generations create multi-local social networks rooted in the family's place of origin.     

UNDOCUMENTED INDONESIAN WORKERS IN MACAU

Presenting new research findings on undocumented Indonesian migrant workers in Macau, this article explicates the dovetailing arrangements between public and private sector interests that are systemically creating undocumented labor migration flows. It then shows how these arrangements are structurally inherent in the mutual competitiveness of globalizing nodes of wealth creation. Undocumented migration cheapens production costs and results in a flexible black market of vulnerable, right-less, and exploited workers. Contrary to illusions of an urbanizing Asia with expanding spaces for civil liberties, the development of globally competitive megacities, built and supported by low-skilled migrant workers, rests on a global underclass of transient workers who bear the human costs of transience and labor flexibility, enabling megacities to externalize such costs and enhance their global competitiveness. The article analyzes the vulnerabilities of undocumented Indonesian workers in the context of Macau's rapid economic development as an aspiring megacity The Macau government's laissez-faire tolerance of such workers is grounded in its need for human labor that is abundant, cheap, marginal, and disposable. The flow of Indonesian migrant workers into Macau is linked to Hong Kong's exclusionary immigration policies, which aim at extricating surplus migrant labor. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government refuses responsibility for its migrant workers in Macau because Macau is not recognized as an official destination. The article shows how public and private interests motivate increasing numbers of migrants to become undocumented overstayers in Macau, as they try to avoid oppressive practices in labor migration from Indonesia and the exclusionary policies of Hong Kong.     

Labour migration and rural transformation in post-colonial Swaziland

This article describes the effects of labor migration in rural southern Swaziland. It is argued that wages from rural migration to mining areas were invested in agricultural implements such as tractors, in education of children, and in cattle. These effects are improvements in rural quality of life and involve women in agricultural production. Male labor migration in southern Swaziland contributed to progress and rural development for rich and poor families at the individual level. Community level changes from labor migration were not evident. The author does not suggest that all changes were due to labor migration or unique. Negative effects are recognized, such as life style changes or changes in social customs. It is stated that southern Swaziland benefited little post-independence from national development. The Lowveld benefitted from sugar and citrus plantations. The central region experienced development of industry and commerce. The northern region had sugar plantations and mining development. The western region established commercial forests. The south only had export labor, which was attracted to higher wages in South Africa. Data and arguments in this article pertain only to male labor migration to mining areas. The literature on development tends to associate male labor migration with underdevelopment. Women are left to plough the fields in traditional agricultural production. Evidence is presented for southern Swaziland, which showed periods of low agricultural production and poor health conditions. During the 1940s this was the case and male absence was very high. Although women had limitations, it is argued that the most important factor was unavailability of new technology. By the 1970s, women were able to hire private or government tractors for tilling the soil.     

Professionalization and Probity in a Patrimonial State: Labor Inspectors in the Dominican Republic

Are international labor rights campaigns making a difference in Latin America? This article reveals that Dominican policymakers and bureaucrats are responding to foreign pressure by redoubling their commitment to a distinctively Franco‐Iberian model of labor law enforcement, in which skilled labor inspectors use their discretion to balance society's demand for protection with the economy's need for efficiency. In so doing, they provide an alternative to traditional collective bargaining practices—which at least partly decouples both the intensity of the enforcement effort and the degree of worker protection from the level of unionization—and an example for the rest of the region. The article therefore concludes by reconsidering the Central American experience in light of the Dominican findings and discussing their joint implications for our understanding of administrative reform, industrial relations, and globalization, not only in the so‐called CAFTA countries but in Latin America more generally.     

"Birds of Passage": Migration of South Indian Laborers to Southeast Asia

This paper deals with the migration of south Indian manual and unskilled workers to Southeast Asian countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It presents an analysis of the pattern of mobility of the laboring classes who crossed the seas and seeks to develop a migration paradigm that encompasses the various dimensions of the different types of intra-Asian migrations. The author argues that south Indian laborers who migrated to Burma and Malaya experienced both free and unfree migration situations during the colonial period. Different types and streams of migration coexisted and depending upon the changing strategies of employers, government, and laborers themselves the migrants were free and unfree at the same time. Hence, it is suggested that an a priori distinction between free and unfree labor migration is difficult to substantiate, at least in the case of south Indian labor migrations. In this study migration is conceptualized as an integrated and continuous process. For the lower castes and communities out-migration meant an opportunity to better their material conditions and to overcome social and caste oppression. In other words, migration to foreign countries certainly provided them avenues for social mobility that was denied in their native land.     

Migrant labor at ASIAD '82 construction sites in New Delhi

Abstract

Throughout India the scale of migrant labor is reaching alarming proportions. Apart from the spontaneous migration of essentially free labor from impoverished rural areas to urban centers, there exists a deliberately planned migration of bonded or semi-bonded labor over distances ranging from 200 to over 2000 kilometers. With the rising demand for labor in the oil-rich countries of the Persian-Arabian Gulf, labor migration in India has also taken on international dimensions.     

Labor market integration of returned educational migrants in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan has experienced increasing educational migration, and many of these students hope to return home after graduating. The ability of returned migrants to succeed in Turkmenistan’s labor market is complicated by a variety of factors, including variation in educational quality across countries, intrusive state regulation of foreign education, and Turkmenistan’s large informal sector. Based on a survey of 98 Turkmen citizens, this study compares the career trajectories and perceptions of the labor market of people educated in Turkmenistan to those educated elsewhere. Because men and women undertake different strategies of educational migration, it also compares patterns of labor market integration by gender. Country of education does appear to matter for employment in Turkmenistan, but the effect is most prominent immediately after graduation. Women were less likely to be employed in Turkmenistan, partly because they were more likely to have been educated abroad, and more likely to have a partner abroad.     

RETHINKING ASIAN MOBILITIES

ABSTRACT

Vietnam's economic reforms have generated much praise for the country's rapid “opening” of its markets, as if the Vietnamese nation had previously existed in a state of isolation, closed to broader global influences and exchanges. Such discourses overlook the importance of transnational circulations of people, goods, technologies, and expertise during the socialist era that were vital to Vietnam's postwar national reconstruction and continue to play a role in post-socialist economic transformation today. This article traces the socialist pathways of labor migration between Vietnam and the former Soviet Bloc (specifically, East Germany) in the 1980s, mobilities that are generally absent in studies of contemporary export labor industries. Based on multi-sited ethnographic and archival research, the author follows Vietnamese workers first to the East German factories where they labored as “contract workers,” and then through their subsequent return and reintegration into Vietnamese society after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These mobilities bespeak of an alternative history and formation of diasporic communities that are little acknowledged or addressed in literature on labor migrations, and yet are important to understanding emerging forms of stratification today in Vietnam. Moreover, an analysis of early non-capitalist experiences with overseas labor regimes in the 1980s provides insights into contemporary Vietnamese governance practices that promote—rather uncritically, similar to other “emerging countries” —export labor as a nation-building strategy to reduce endemic poverty and develop a late socialist country.     

Governance and Conflict

Within a global gendered economy based on an international division of labor, Filipina migrants have become nannies, maids, and caregivers in affluent homes in numerous Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Filipina migrants who seek employment as domestic workers abroad have been described as “classical” transmigrants who keep in touch with family members back home and commute between their countries of origin and their destinations. In this article — based on ethnographic research in Israel, Palestine, and the Philippines between 2003 and 2008—the author argues that Filipina migrants are transnational in a much broader sense than commonly discussed in studies on migration: engaged in border-cross-ing journeys through a number of nation states, many Filipina migrants move on and on rather than back and forth. They do so within a global hierarchy of desirable destination countries, ranked according to the differences between nation-states with regard to salaries and the legal entitlements migrants can claim, the costs and risks migrants have to take in order to enter, and these countries’ overall subjective and imaginative attractiveness. By migrating on, Filipina domestic workers acquire an intimate picture of the Middle East “backstage.” Some even become self-pro-claimed Middle Eastern experts or politically active Christian Zionists or sentimental Orientalists, who, in spite of their Christianity, miss fasting on Yom Kippur or during Ramadan as they continue their journeys toward Western Europe and North America, where they have hopes of living and perhaps gaining citizenship.     

Whither the Liberal Democratic Model? Immigration Politics in Switzerland and Japan

A comparison of Japan's and Switzerland's immigration policies disclaims both globalist and public choice explanations that would predict a similar increase in immigrant numbers and an expansion of immigrant rights in liberal democracies. Although both countries have traditionally espoused a rather exclusionary approach towards immigration, Japan is unique in having hitherto succeeded in preempting large numbers of immigrants from entering the country and in having avoided the legal and societal integration of those migrants already present in its territory. In seeking to explain the different trajectories followed by immigration politics in Japan and Switzerland, despite their similar internal and external economic constellations, this article highlights the role of domestic institutions and norms in filtering economic pressure for immigration. Whereas these internal determinants explain to a large degree why Switzerland has become a country of immigration while Japan has not, the central factor explaining the recent expansion of foreign residents’ rights in Switzerland lies not so much in internal determinants but in the country‘s progressing approximation to the European Union and its single market. Notwithstanding these differences, the article concludes that Japan‘s greater resistance to change might now have reached a critical juncture, where demographic pressure and economic demand will make an opening up to increased labor migration unavoidable.