With globalization, economic development and unprecedented ease of travel, the number of individuals traveling, working, or studying abroad, is rising worldwide. While one of the main objectives of migration is to earn higher salaries, many people migrate abroad to advance their careers (Stalker, 2000) or to simply experience different cultures—and student migration can be one such method to achieve those goals. These cross-border flows are also on the increase from and within the Asian region. In general, today's migration patterns distinguish themselves from migratory movements that occurred in the past in a number of ways. With most migratory movements today taking place on a temporary basis (be it as legal contract workers or in an undocumented manner), migration for settlement, for instance, does not occur in as high numbers as it used to. In addition, women are part of these cross-border movements in increasing numbers, either as single and independent migrants or as the main income earner in a ‘split’ family context. In the early post-WWII decades, there were low levels of emigration from most Asian countries due to various restrictions on their mobility, and the little movement that did exist was highly selective of the most well qualified people Piper & Ball, 2001 and Piper & Roces, 2003. The last two decades in Asia have, however, witnessed a transformation of international population movements with a massive increase in the scale, complexity and significance of migration into and out of the countries of that region Castles & Miller, 1998 and Hugo, 1996. The rapidly increasing international migration of students in the Asia-Pacific region constitutes one of those flows, and a considerable proportion of Japanese people are part of this type of cross-border movement.
This article investigates the specific case of Japanese women studying abroad first and foremost from a migration studies perspective. Women constitute about half of all Japanese students studying abroad. A focus on these women's migratory movements, however, cannot be seen in isolation from other globalizing tendencies, such as the ‘globalization of labour markets’ and the ‘globalization of education.’1 We are interested in exploring women's motivations and experience based on the assumption that ‘gendered expectations of the female life course’ (Kelsky, 2001 p. 2) play an important role.
We first examine this topic from the viewpoint of cross-border migration. Existing literature concerning contemporary migration in the context of Japan has only dealt with Japan as a migrant receiving country ( Douglass & Roberts, 2000, Herbert, 1996, Mori, 1997, Piper, 2000a and Piper, 2000b). 2 In the more specific context of student or skilled migration, the phenomenon of increasing flows of Asian students to Japan has been observed (Cross, 1990) as well as a new form of semiskilled migration, that is the movement of trainees who come to work in Japanese companies (Hugo, 1996). However, there are few studies investigating the flows of Japanese skilled or student migration to overseas destinations.
With Japan having joined the ranks of the top economic powerhouses in the world, globalization of production and finance as well as the need for English skills has triggered skilled migration to overseas destinations. In an increasingly internationalizing world, it is not surprising that the number of Japanese students opting for study abroad is on the rise. Interesting in this context is the high percentage of women taking part in this international studying abroad phenomenon. There is mounting evidence that this has to do with persisting gender inequalities within the Japanese employment system as well as the social conventions and traditional lifestyles prevailing in Japan Habu, 2000 and Kelsky, 2001. Investment in higher education is a sure way for women to overcome their disadvantages or to resist more conventional life paths. And this is precisely the topic area this article attempts to address.
This paper first provides an overview of the existing data on skilled migration of Japanese to overseas destinations. More specifically, the focus is on students studying overseas as a subcategory of skilled migration. According to Li et al. (1996), international student migration is a highly underresearched issue among migration scholars. They argue that the paucity of research and little scholarly interest in this subject is related to the short-term nature of this type of movement whose sole purpose is not the taking up of paid employment per se. However, it has been widely remarked upon by other migration scholars that one of the features that distinguish much of today's migratory flows from those in the past is their temporary nature (Castles & Miller, 1998). We, therefore, share their definition of student cross-border movements as a form of migration. Migration, be it voluntary or involuntary, is a permanent or semipermanent change of residence Lee, 1966 and Yaukey, 1990, and student flows do involve a change of residence. Moreover, and possibly more importantly, there is a clear link between short- and long-term movements. Specifically in the US context, an estimated one in three overseas students will become a permanent resident (Fawcett and Carino, quoted in Andressen and Kumagai, 1996 pp. 7–9). Furthermore, there is empirical evidence (Findlay et al., 1994), indicating that people who have received parts or all of their education abroad are more likely to live and work abroad after graduation than those who have never left their home countries—regardless of whether permanent residence is the eventual goal of the education-related move or not.3
What Findlay et al. (1994) and Li et al. (1996), neglect however, is the gender dimension of the experiences of students studying abroad. There is hardly any academic literature on this topic apart from Andressen and Kumagai (1996), but their study does not derive from a migration studies perspective. By contrast, Kelsky (2001) clearly shows the differences between “internationalized women” and their more recent male version (on the rise since the burst of the “economic bubble” in the 1990s). For men, the idea of the global career is almost never linked to a questioning of gender relations in Japanese society. On the other hand, the women in her study rarely take the notion of career in isolation but feel profoundly affected by what they view as “Japan's feudalism”. Kelsky's sample, however, does not focus on female students per se, but includes a wide range of Japanese women at different ages. Habu (2000) and Matsui (1995) document the experiences of Japanese women studying in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively, focusing on their underlying reasons for study and their future aspirations. Our approach parallels Habu and Matsui's studies in that we aim for a detailed investigation of Japanese women studying abroad, before, during and after their overseas experiences.
The specific case study we present here to illustrate the gendered dynamics of student migration are MBA students in the United States. Our focus on female MBA students illuminates the realities of the institutional barriers that these women confront in the Japanese corporations. Career tracks are not symmetrical for men and women, and the rigid internal labour market structure allows little flexibility for entry and exit from the labour force. Such structural rigidities disadvantage women who attempt to take on the dual responsibilities of work and housework. It is partly the culmination of these push factors that compels women to migrate for their professional degrees.
We attempt to contextualize the socioeconomic constraints in country of origin (Japan) and host country (the United States) to gain a more complete understanding of women's differing motivations and reasons for studying abroad. In other words, we are concerned with the strategies developed by Japanese women to counteract career barriers ‘at home.’
The case of the Japanese women MBAs may be viewed within the context of the ‘marginal woman’ (Park, 1928).4 As Stonequist (1935) explains, the marginal individual passes through a three stage process: introduction to two cultures, crisis, and adjustment. Japanese women who pursue MBAs first confront their limited prospects for a serious career through their experiences of working in the Japanese corporate environment. On the one hand, there is the male culture; men are placed into the internal labour market where they receive extensive training and are promoted on the basis of their performance and loyalty to their employer. Alongside this main stream career track is the female culture; women are assigned to menial and repetitive tasks and receive little training. It is a dead-end track which does not lead to upper management levels. Career-minded Japanese women are marginalized between these two dominant cultures. For them, the crisis comes with their harsh realization that there is little opportunity for advancement within Japanese companies. However, they still have a choice. They could either remain with their employers and play out their prescribed roles much like the majority of working women, or they can break out of the system in search of something better. The pursuit of an MBA from an institution abroad offers them a viable option. Although they remain a fraction of the female working population, women MBAs are the innovators or the pioneers of the new breed of Japanese women. Being marginalized from the two dominant cultures is the driving force for their pursuit of a degree which many women view as the passport to breaking through career barriers.5 And finally, the adjustment stage is the extent to which they assimilate with the dominant cultures upon completion of the MBA. Will they be accepted, or as Stonequist suggests, will their minority status eventually grow and they bec
With globalization, economic development and unprecedented ease of travel, the number of individuals traveling, working, or studying abroad, is rising worldwide. While one of the main objectives of migration is to earn higher salaries, many people migrate abroad to advance their careers (Stalker, 2000) or to simply experience different cultures—and student migration can be one such method to achieve those goals. These cross-border flows are also on the increase from and within the Asian region. In general, today's migration patterns distinguish themselves from migratory movements that occurred in the past in a number of ways. With most migratory movements today taking place on a temporary basis (be it as legal contract workers or in an undocumented manner), migration for settlement, for instance, does not occur in as high numbers as it used to. In addition, women are part of these cross-border movements in increasing numbers, either as single and independent migrants or as the main income earner in a ‘split’ family context. In the early post-WWII decades, there were low levels of emigration from most Asian countries due to various restrictions on their mobility, and the little movement that did exist was highly selective of the most well qualified people Piper & Ball, 2001 and Piper & Roces, 2003. The last two decades in Asia have, however, witnessed a transformation of international population movements with a massive increase in the scale, complexity and significance of migration into and out of the countries of that region Castles & Miller, 1998 and Hugo, 1996. The rapidly increasing international migration of students in the Asia-Pacific region constitutes one of those flows, and a considerable proportion of Japanese people are part of this type of cross-border movement.
This article investigates the specific case of Japanese women studying abroad first and foremost from a migration studies perspective. Women constitute about half of all Japanese students studying abroad. A focus on these women's migratory movements, however, cannot be seen in isolation from other globalizing tendencies, such as the ‘globalization of labour markets’ and the ‘globalization of education.’1 We are interested in exploring women's motivations and experience based on the assumption that ‘gendered expectations of the female life course’ (Kelsky, 2001 p. 2) play an important role.
We first examine this topic from the viewpoint of cross-border migration. Existing literature concerning contemporary migration in the context of Japan has only dealt with Japan as a migrant receiving country ( Douglass & Roberts, 2000, Herbert, 1996, Mori, 1997, Piper, 2000a and Piper, 2000b). 2 In the more specific context of student or skilled migration, the phenomenon of increasing flows of Asian students to Japan has been observed (Cross, 1990) as well as a new form of semiskilled migration, that is the movement of trainees who come to work in Japanese companies (Hugo, 1996). However, there are few studies investigating the flows of Japanese skilled or student migration to overseas destinations.
With Japan having joined the ranks of the top economic powerhouses in the world, globalization of production and finance as well as the need for English skills has triggered skilled migration to overseas destinations. In an increasingly internationalizing world, it is not surprising that the number of Japanese students opting for study abroad is on the rise. Interesting in this context is the high percentage of women taking part in this international studying abroad phenomenon. There is mounting evidence that this has to do with persisting gender inequalities within the Japanese employment system as well as the social conventions and traditional lifestyles prevailing in Japan Habu, 2000 and Kelsky, 2001. Investment in higher education is a sure way for women to overcome their disadvantages or to resist more conventional life paths. And this is precisely the topic area this article attempts to address.
This paper first provides an overview of the existing data on skilled migration of Japanese to overseas destinations. More specifically, the focus is on students studying overseas as a subcategory of skilled migration. According to Li et al. (1996), international student migration is a highly underresearched issue among migration scholars. They argue that the paucity of research and little scholarly interest in this subject is related to the short-term nature of this type of movement whose sole purpose is not the taking up of paid employment per se. However, it has been widely remarked upon by other migration scholars that one of the features that distinguish much of today's migratory flows from those in the past is their temporary nature (Castles & Miller, 1998). We, therefore, share their definition of student cross-border movements as a form of migration. Migration, be it voluntary or involuntary, is a permanent or semipermanent change of residence Lee, 1966 and Yaukey, 1990, and student flows do involve a change of residence. Moreover, and possibly more importantly, there is a clear link between short- and long-term movements. Specifically in the US context, an estimated one in three overseas students will become a permanent resident (Fawcett and Carino, quoted in Andressen and Kumagai, 1996 pp. 7–9). Furthermore, there is empirical evidence (Findlay et al., 1994), indicating that people who have received parts or all of their education abroad are more likely to live and work abroad after graduation than those who have never left their home countries—regardless of whether permanent residence is the eventual goal of the education-related move or not.3
What Findlay et al. (1994) and Li et al. (1996), neglect however, is the gender dimension of the experiences of students studying abroad. There is hardly any academic literature on this topic apart from Andressen and Kumagai (1996), but their study does not derive from a migration studies perspective. By contrast, Kelsky (2001) clearly shows the differences between “internationalized women” and their more recent male version (on the rise since the burst of the “economic bubble” in the 1990s). For men, the idea of the global career is almost never linked to a questioning of gender relations in Japanese society. On the other hand, the women in her study rarely take the notion of career in isolation but feel profoundly affected by what they view as “Japan's feudalism”. Kelsky's sample, however, does not focus on female students per se, but includes a wide range of Japanese women at different ages. Habu (2000) and Matsui (1995) document the experiences of Japanese women studying in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively, focusing on their underlying reasons for study and their future aspirations. Our approach parallels Habu and Matsui's studies in that we aim for a detailed investigation of Japanese women studying abroad, before, during and after their overseas experiences.
The specific case study we present here to illustrate the gendered dynamics of student migration are MBA students in the United States. Our focus on female MBA students illuminates the realities of the institutional barriers that these women confront in the Japanese corporations. Career tracks are not symmetrical for men and women, and the rigid internal labour market structure allows little flexibility for entry and exit from the labour force. Such structural rigidities disadvantage women who attempt to take on the dual responsibilities of work and housework. It is partly the culmination of these push factors that compels women to migrate for their professional degrees.
We attempt to contextualize the socioeconomic constraints in country of origin (Japan) and host country (the United States) to gain a more complete understanding of women's differing motivations and reasons for studying abroad. In other words, we are concerned with the strategies developed by Japanese women to counteract career barriers ‘at home.’
The case of the Japanese women MBAs may be viewed within the context of the ‘marginal woman’ (Park, 1928).4 As Stonequist (1935) explains, the marginal individual passes through a three stage process: introduction to two cultures, crisis, and adjustment. Japanese women who pursue MBAs first confront their limited prospects for a serious career through their experiences of working in the Japanese corporate environment. On the one hand, there is the male culture; men are placed into the internal labour market where they receive extensive training and are promoted on the basis of their performance and loyalty to their employer. Alongside this main stream career track is the female culture; women are assigned to menial and repetitive tasks and receive little training. It is a dead-end track which does not lead to upper management levels. Career-minded Japanese women are marginalized between these two dominant cultures. For them, the crisis comes with their harsh realization that there is little opportunity for advancement within Japanese companies. However, they still have a choice. They could either remain with their employers and play out their prescribed roles much like the majority of working women, or they can break out of the system in search of something better. The pursuit of an MBA from an institution abroad offers them a viable option. Although they remain a fraction of the female working population, women MBAs are the innovators or the pioneers of the new breed of Japanese women. Being marginalized from the two dominant cultures is the driving force for their pursuit of a degree which many women view as the passport to breaking through career barriers.5 And finally, the adjustment stage is the extent to which they assimilate with the dominant cultures upon completion of the MBA. Will they be accepted, or as Stonequist suggests, will their minority status eventually grow and they bec
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