East Asian Mothers in Britain: An Intersectional Exploration of Motherhood and Employment (Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life)

How do Chinese, Japanese and Korean mothers in Britain make sense of their motherhood and employment? What are the intersecting factors that shape these women’s identities, experiences and stories? Contributing further to the continuing discourse and development of intersectionality, this book examines East Asian migrant women’s stories of motherhood, employment and gender relations by deploying interlocking categories that go beyond the meta axes of race, gender and class, including factors such as husbands’ ethnicities and the locality of their settlement. Through this, Lim argues for more detailed and context specific analytical categories of intersectionality, enabling a more nuanced understanding of migrant women’s stories and identities. __East Asian Mothers in Britain__ will appeal to students and scholars across a range of disciplines and with an interest in identity, gender, ethnicity, class, migration and intersectionality. Acknowledgements 7 Contents 9 Abstract 11 1 Introduction 13 Why Study East Asian Mothers in Britain? 15 Locating East Asian Motherhood and Gender Within the Contemporary Debates 17 East Asia and Confucianism 19 The Impact of Confucianism on Women’s Lives in East Asia 21 Women’s Lives in Urban China 21 Women’s Lives in Hong Kong 23 Women’s Lives in South Korea 26 Women’s Lives in Japan 29 Conclusion 31 Researching East Asian Mothers in Britain 32 Scope of the Book 36 References 40 2 The Question of Identity for East Asian Migrant Women 49 Identity 50 Identity in the Globalised/Globalising World 51 Ideology and Identity 56 Heterogeneity and Malleability of Ideology 57 ‘Idealised Motherhood’ vs ‘Idealised Worker’ 58 Conflicting Notions of Combining Motherhood and Work 61 ‘Gendered Moral Rationalities’ 64 Identity of Migrant Women 66 Migrant Women in Britain 67 Identity of East Asian Migrant Women 70 Chinese Migrant Women 70 Korean Migrant Women 74 Japanese Women 78 Conclusion 81 References 82 3 Intersectionality and Storytelling in the Context of East Asian Mothers 90 Rethinking Intersectionality: Intersections of Gender, Race/Ethnicity and Class and Other Categories 91 Intersectional Categories 94 Major Intersectional Categories: Gender, Race/Ethnicity and Class 98 Gender 98 Race/Ethnicity and Nation 102 Class 106 Other Categories 109 Narratives: Stories of Human Life 113 Storytelling and Construction of the Self 113 Narrative as a Strategic Medium for Self-presentation 114 Storytelling as a Means of Achieving a Sense of Biographical Continuity and Unity 115 The Interpersonal and Interactional Characteristics of Narratives 116 References 119 4 Narratives of Stay-at-Home Mothers: The Ideology of Intensive Motherhood 127 Stories of Minju 129 Before Coming to Britain 129 After Migration and Motherhood 129 Construction of the Future: ‘Resolving’ the Teller’s Problem 139 Stories of Han 140 Before Marriage and Motherhood 140 After Marriage and Motherhood 141 After Migration 145 Construction of the Future: ‘Resolving’ the Teller’s Problem 148 Narratives: Construction of the Past, Present and Future 149 The Virtue of ‘Good’ Mother 151 ‘That’s What Mothers Are Supposed to Do’ 160 Conclusion 164 References 166 5 ‘I Also Have a Life Other Than Just Being a Mother’: Narratives of Employed Mothers 172 Narratives of Hua 173 Before Migration 173 After Migration and Motherhood 175 The Continuity of Past and Present 182 Legacy of the Chinese Work Ethic 183 Why Women ‘Chose’ to Work 193 The Challenges of Working Mothers: Discourse of Limited Time for Their Children 200 Conclusion 203 References 205 6 Gendered Division of Household Labour 209 Challenging the Gender ‘Norm’?: ‘I’m Like a Weekend Mum.’ 212 ‘I’m the Manager and My Husband Is an Assistant Manager ’: Women as Primary Carer and Men as Secondary Carer 218 Limitations on Women’s Resistance to Traditional Gender Ideology 223 ‘Her Daddy Doesn’t Do Any Housework ’: Woman as a Sole Carer 228 ‘Men Need a Sense of Self-Achievement’ 230 Conclusion 233 References 234 7 Conclusion 240 The Reconfiguration of Culture in a Diasporic Setting and Its Impact on Motherhood and Employment 241 Gendered Division of Household Labour in a Diasporic Setting 243 Intensive Mothering Ideology for East Asian Mothers in Britain 246 In What Ways Have Different Intersecting Factors Affected East Asian Women’s Lives Differently? 248 Limitations of the Research and Recommendations for the Future 253 References 255 Appendix: Biographical Details of the Participants by National Origin 257 Index 261 Annotation How do Chinese, Japanese and Korean mothers in Britain make sense of their motherhood and employment? What are the intersecting factors that shape these women's identities, experiences and stories? Contributing further to the continuing discourse and development of intersectionality, this book examines East Asian migrant women's stories of motherhood, employment and gender relations by deploying interlocking categories that go beyond the meta axes of race, gender and class, including factors such as husbands' ethnicities and the locality of their settlement. Through this, Lim argues for more detailed and context specific analytical categories of intersectionality, enabling a more nuanced understanding of migrant women's stories and identities Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 1-36 The Question of Identity for East Asian Migrant Women (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 37-77 Intersectionality and Storytelling in the Context of East Asian Mothers (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 79-115 Narratives of Stay-at-Home Mothers: The Ideology of Intensive Motherhood (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 117-161 ‘I Also Have a Life Other Than Just Being a Mother’: Narratives of Employed Mothers (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 163-199 Gendered Division of Household Labour (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 201-231 Conclusion (Hyun-Joo Lim)....Pages 233-249 Back Matter ....Pages 251-259