Journal
GENDER & SOCIETY
Volume 30, Issue 6, Pages 890-911Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0891243216670602
Keywords
transnational labor migration; motherhood; femininity; morality; Vietnam
Categories
Funding
- Wellcome Trust, UK [GR079946/B/06/Z, GR079946/Z/06Z]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Given that care duties are central to the definition of motherhood across contexts, an extended separation from the woman's family due to migration presents a major threat to her social identity as a mother and wife. Drawing on West and Zimmerman's notion of doing gender and ethnographic research on Vietnamese low-waged contract workers in Taiwan, I provide vital insights into the discursive processes and everyday practices that underlie migrant women's negotiations of motherhood and femininity. Specifically, I examine the various ways migrant women perform and negotiate meanings of hy sinh (self-sacrifice) and ch?u d?ng (endurance) that are core values of Vietnamese womanhood. Combating the stigma of bad motherhood and failed femininity, I emphasize, is not just about reasserting one's sense of gendered self but also about reassuring her access to the future support and care of the family. The study emphasizes intentionality and pragmatism in women's social doings of gender and highlights moral dilemmas in gender politics.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available