ABSTRACT
Gendered and generational understandings of circular migration are scant in studies of Chinese family migration. Filling this gap, this paper draws on in-depth interviews with twenty-six returnee families to examine the work–family transitions of previously employed, overseas-educated mothers who have re-migrated from Hong Kong to Canada, Australia, the United States, or the United Kingdom. These overseas-educated returnee mothers possess transnational backgrounds that differentiate them from most first-generation immigrant mothers. This paper shows that, despite this distinction, reverse migration leads to compromised careers and domestication for these women, although they accept, and in some cases embrace, such compromises. This study elucidates how both husbands and wives in these families justify women’s post-migration changes in their work and caregiving roles. It argues that beyond economic rationalization, interrelated gender, cultural, transnational, and family lifestyle dimensions distinctively impact how second-generation returnee mothers negotiate work–family transitions. This paper offers new insights involving generational and gendered dimensions into the study of Chinese family migration. It also widens the discussion of the impact of family migration on skilled immigrant women in transnational circuits beyond its focus on the lives of first-generation skilled immigrant women.
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to Ms Queenie Siu for her research assistance and the participants for sharing their experiences and insights with me.
Notes
7 This process is similar to that of Hong Kong immigrant youth described by scholars such as Waters (Citation2006).
40 A second passport was a decisive condition that allowed these returnee families to make flexible migration decisions, something that is not possible for migrants who do not have such legal status.
41 Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong, Citation2023.
46 Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong, Citation2022.
47 Cheung and Kim Citation2022. While seeking domestic support from elderly parents is a common practice, more families choose to outsource domestic work to FDHs as household structures have increasingly become nuclear. See Chen and Zhou Citation2022.
49 Research Office, Hong Kong Legislative Council Secretariat, Citation2017.
50 Government of British Columbia, Canada CitationNd.
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Yeoh. 2005. “Transnational Families and their Children’s Education: China’s ‘Study Mothers’ in Singapore.” Global Networks 5 (4): 379–400. Man, Guida C. 2019. “Social Reproduction and Transnational Migration: Navigating Institutional Processes in Childcare by Women in Middle-Class Mainland Chinese Immigrant Families in Canada.” Canadian Ethnic Studies 51 (3): 117–136. Cooke, Fang Lee. 2007. “Husband’s Career First: Renegotiating Career and Family Commitment Among Migrant Chinese Academic Couples in Britain.” Work, Employment and Society 21 (1): 47–65. Wei, Wenchao. 2013. “My Home is Where My Husband Is: Chinese Wives’ Attitudes towards Family Migration to the United Kingdom.” Families, Relationships, and Societies 2 (1): 115–127. Additional information
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Grant Council, Hong Kong, under Grant UGC/FDS14/H06/18.
Notes on contributors
Lucille Lok Sun Ngan
Lucille Lok Sun Ngan is an Associate Professor in The Department of Social Science at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on migration and transnationalism, ethnic identities, family processes, gender, aging, and the Chinese diaspora. She has examined issues related to the migration trajectories of Hong Kong transnational families, perceptions of social tensions among migrant groups, fatherhood among second-generation returnees, cross-border students, social inequalities in East Asia, and multi-generational ethnicity among Australian-born Chinese. She is currently researching transnational aging and family processes of older adults from Hong Kong.
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