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Sociology of Chinese Migrant Women in Singapore

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Submitted By wmtan3
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HS3018: Sociology of Gender

Research Question: How migrant Chinese women cope with life in Singapore.

As a migrant nation, the issue of immigration has always been an immanent theme in Singapore. In recent years, migrant workers in Singapore have come under scrutiny due to the scale at which foreigners are entering the country, with almost 1.5 million non-residents living in Singapore making up more than a quarter of our population of 5.4 million (Ministry of Manpower, 2013) of which many are also new citizens and permanent residents, who might be considered outsiders in some contexts. This influx of foreigners has always been a hot topic in Singapore, ranging from the common discourse of jobs being ‘stolen’ to domestic altercations being blown up by the media (see the curry incident; The Telegraph, 2011). Additionally, the recent announcement of the Population White Paper by the Singapore government was taken very negatively by the civil population as it initially planned to bolster the workforce by greatly increase the number of foreigners such that native Singaporeans would only comprise of a small percentage of the population (Population White Paper, 2013). As such, media and public discourse regarding immigration has been largely Singaporean-centric in nature, revolving around how foreigners have affected Singapore and its occupants; not enough has been done to investigate the experiences and conditions of migrants living in Singapore. This paper will focus on migrant Chinese women in Singapore, following their lived experiences and finding out what coping mechanism they employ to adapt to their new ‘home’.

Migrant Chinese women are a particular interesting and relevant topic in Singapore. Most regional migration studies tend to center around female foreign domestic workers, honing in on their experiences as low-skilled niche workers (Cheng, 1996; Yeoh

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