Beyond political citizenship: marriage migrant women’s voting practices in South Korea

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of Filipina marriage migrants.

No. of respondents	Average age (range)	Average time since arrival in years (range)	No. of Citizens/No. of PR holders	% Living with in-laws	% Divorced	% Voted in the last election^1	% Associate degree or higher	Average No. of children
66	39.7 (25–63)	12.6 (5–23)	64/2	23% (15/66)	18% (12/66)	95% (63/66)	65%	2

¹ For women who were interviewed in 2014, the last elections were presidential election in 2012 or 2014 local election. For women who were interviewed in 2018, the last election was local election in the same year.

Table 2. Distribution of Filipina marriage migrants’ occupations.

Occupation	Frequency
(English) Teaching	26
Farming	9
Interpreter/Counselor	6
Small/Networking business	7
Caregiving/Nursing	5
Cleaning/Cooking/Serving	4
Factory work	2
Homemaker	7
Total	66

Table 3. Voting patterns of Filipina marriage migrants who voted in elections between the 2012∼2018 elections.

	VOTING PATTERN Frequency (%)
No. of migrants who voted	Dependent voter	Independent voter	Transitioned voter
63	26 (41.3%)	25 (39.7%)	12 (19%)

Figure 1. Cultural and Performative Citizenship by Voting Pattern.

Table 4. Key characteristics of dependent, independent, and transitioned voters.

Type of Voter	Key Characteristics
Dependent voter	Intergenerational cohabitation and/or strong presence of in-laws in daily lives Self-perception of being less knowledgeable about Korean politics and political candidates than their Korean family members Mobilisation to vote occurred primarily through Koran family members
Independent voter	(mostly) Nuclear family living arrangement Divorced or widowed Prior political socialisation in the Philippines Marriage migrant has an active interest in politics; thus, mobilisation to vote not occurring exclusively through Korean family members Husband indifferent to politics
Transitioned voter	Engagement in local ethnic- or migrant-based communities and organisations Emerging collective identity and sense of belonging as damunhwa Achieved economic independence within the marital family