Full responsibility with partial citizenship: Immigrant wives in Taiwan

The interrelationship between increased ageing and declining fertility is facing many developed countries with challenges, risks and policy debates around care, reproduction and women's rights. This article demonstrates the special case of cross-border marriages and the lives of immigrant wives in Taiwan, with a view to identifying their social needs and hence their prospects for social inclusion. It considers the extent to which these immigrant wives have managed to fulfil the dreams of their own native families and/or satisfy the reproductive demands of their 'in-law' families. Issues of women's social and reproductive role, gender discrimination and the unfulfilled rights and 'partial citizenship' of immigrant wives are discussed. The author argues that immigrant wives carry full responsibility but possess only partial citizenship. The ideology of the spousal sponsorship regime, which makes the application for naturalization extremely difficult, not only increases the vulnerability of immigrant women but violates their human fights.