Transnationalism and Gender Inequalityy
Astronaut Wives Living Transnational Lives; Independence or Gender Inequality? ‘Astronaut wives’ refers to middle to high class women of Hong Kong and Taiwan who raise their children alone in a new country isolated with unfamiliar difficulties. The transnational arrangement is a process which women immigrate to Canada with their children; their husbands leave Canada to work in Hong Kong or Taiwan within a few months and regularly visit until retirement (Chiang, 2008). Experiences varied among each ‘astronaut wife’ interviewed by Chiang, Waters, Kobayashi and Prestont but the majority felt “an escalation of traditional gender roles’, an ‘unequal distribution of household labor’ and a deterioration of power inside and outside the home” (Waters, 2002, p.8). Hong Kong and Taiwan transnationalism is becoming more popular with middle to high class families for economic, political, educational, and lifestyle reasons but “it[‘s] primarily [the] women who absorb most of the cost in their transnational family strategy” (Chiang, 2008, p.3). Gender inequality is most evident in recent immigration due to the reasons behind choosing transnationalism, adaptation to the Canadian ‘second shift’, the loss of career, support system, and more child care and housework responsibilities. Gender inequality is more obvious in women of long-standing immigration by the sense of freedom with the absence of the husband, loss of agency when the husband is present in Canada. Taiwan and Hong Kong transnationalism does not renegotiate gender relations but perpetuates them through Canadian gender norms and the presence of the husband. The reasons behind choosing the transnational arrangement represents the women’s sacrifice for family especially the children. Few responses from the women interviewed in the articles by Waters and Chiang chose to immigrate to Canada for reasons concerning their own interests or needs. The ‘good of the family’ (Waters, 2002, p.4), children’s education and a
References: Chiang, Lan-Hung Nora. (2008). ‘Astronaut families’: transnational lives of middle-classTaiwanese married women in Canada. Social and Cultural Geography, 9 (5), 505-518. Kimmel, M., Holler, J. (2011). The Gendered Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press Canada. Kobayashi, A., Prestont, V. (2007). Transnationalism through the life course: Hong Kong immigrants in Canada. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 48 (2), 151-167. Waters, J. L. (2002). Flexible families? ‘Astronaut’ households and the experiences of lone mothers in Vancouver, British Columbia. Social and Cultural Geography, 3 (2), 118-134.