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The Employment Demands for Female Immigrants in the Transnational Marriages in Kaohsiung CountyShih, Ping-yu 12 September 2007 (has links)
Due to the prevalence of transnational marriages, the issues related to foreign spouses have become a focus of the government, a wide variety of related organizations, media and academia in Taiwan. Some people within these groups mentioned that the relevant issues were, in fact, over discussed. Actually, according to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, before the Interview System was established in 2004, transnational marriages were only 31.39% in 2003; most of the immigrants were foreign spouses (mainly females). The numbers were higher than those of foreign laborers, and even higher than the total numbers of aboriginal peoples. The foreign spouses have become the fourth group in Taiwan. As a result, studies on female immigrants are worthy of research. There has been less research concerning employment rights and demands, and in particular there¡¦s almost no quantification study. Because of the difficulties in determining vocabulary designed for the questionnaires and interviews with the foreign spouses, the employment demands can only be studied after receiving assistance from the related sections/departments of Kaohsiung County.
The study aims to understand the professional trainings and employment demands of female immigrants as well as the remuneration, work hours and humiliation in Taiwan. Based on the collected literature reviews and the workshops on employment promotion, their work experiences and language preferences were understood. Surveys were carried out by 28 counselors of the Veterans Affairs Commission and the study subjects were foreign spouses in the 27 villages/townships of Kaohsiung County. Interviews were held at the Immigration Service Center of Kaohsiung County, and foreign spouses from China were excluded. 1180 questionnaires were sent and 932 were received. Valid questionnaires were 900.
The study result shows that: there¡¦s significant influence of age, education level, number of children and husbands on the employment demands. 50% of the foreign spouses from China cannot write Chinese, the official language in Taiwan. Many of them have no knowledge that there are professional training and employment provided by the Service Center; there are no preferred training classes arranged by the Center in which they can participate, such as babysitter training. The present trainings were often merely cooking and housework courses. Regarding the humiliation their reaction is quite diverse; either it is absolutely agreed or disagreed with. Transportation is also a main problem. Almost all foreign spouses have a heavier workload in housework than the ordinary Taiwanese housewives. They work more than 8 hours a day and receive less remuneration.
Proposals: (1) foreign spouses from China or Southeast Asia should be separated in the related researches; (2) foreign spouses from China should be differentiated between wife of veteran or non-veteran; the variation of their education level and age should be analyzed; (3) a Simplified Chinese should be designed for the foreign spouses from China; (4) try to avoid the humiliation; particularly the labor condition that is worse than the condition regulated in the Labor Law; (5) encourage enterprises to pick up the workers from home to the company in order to solve the problem of transportation; (6) open babysitter or nursing classes so that the care quality can be enhanced; if the related professional trainings can be continued, the lack of man power problem can be solved and (7) according to the Employment Services Act issued by the Ministry of the Interior that relates to courses lasting for 18 hours: the participants are mostly females at middle age or older; participating in courses is free of charge; and a living allowance can be applied for. But in the questionnaire, it indicated that a participating fee would be charged.
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