International Marriages and Gender Reconfiguration in Okinawa: Globalizing family reproduction and the human rights of Aian migrant women

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24710307
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Gender
• Research Institution: Okinawa International University
• Principal Investigator: Sawada Kayo 沖縄国際大学, 総合文化学部, 教授 (60454998)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 国際結婚 / ジェンダー / 家族 / グローバル化 / 沖縄 / 移住女性 / ベトナム / フィリピン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research aims to explore the background and processes of the global reconfiguration of family and human reproduction in contemporary Okinawa, which maintains the highest birthrate in Japan from the perspective of gender. Focusing on the commodification of cross-border marriages in Miyako island, which shows one of the highest birthrates in Okinawa while the number of Asian migrant women who are married to Okinawan men is increasing, it investigates the following 5 points: (1) the changes in population and fertility in Miyako island and Okinawa, the reproductive “crisis” of Okinawan family as seen on the marriage squeeze for Okinawan men, (2)the reproductive strategies of globalizing Okinawan family, (3)the migrant circuit and social situation of marital migrant women from Vietnam and the Philippines, (4)their agencies and conflicts, and (5)the protection of their human rights in Okinawa as well as their home countries.

Free Research Field

人口社会学、ジェンダー研究