Class about Gender and Migration

Hello, this is my first post here.

But I feel like I need your opinion.

I’m an university student in Germany and I had last week this class that is still bothering me.

It is mainly about Migration in Asia (since my major is Japanese language and culture) and this particular class was about Gender in Migration.

We had this text about the gender stratification of migration.

It seems that migration law in Asia is really strict and in some countries you only get accepted when you are a skilled worker or some exception.

It seems a lot of countries don’t give women the education to become a skilled worker migrant so they have to migrate illegal or as a domestic worker. (Exceptions to traditional health care or teaching jobs it seems)

In the text was stated that one of the main reasons a women is migrating is because the job situation is bad in her country and her husband is permanently unemployed and cant support the family. So the women is migrating to a country either as a domestic worker, entertainer (mostly working in a bar hostess etc) or illegal (prostitutes). It seems even when they entered the country legally e.g. as a domestic worker, there are no proper laws to secure them, so they face things like domestic violence & rape.

These things are not new I know so here comes my problem:

Also it was stated that when the women earns the money the relationship faces “reversed gender roles” and causes in most of the cases difficulties in the marriage.

My teacher then asked what this could mean.

And he says that this is a “Momentum/spark of emancipation”

they qouted the example of german ruins women after ww2

But I read an article earlier that this isnt a really good example of emancipation because as soon as they could the traditional gender roles were again there.

Then they said that the effect was delayed and that it ended in the womens movement in 1968.

Then I heard that the german womens movement was just born because nobody in the Students Movement would hear their voices. So I cant see the connections there so much. And even if it had an effect the ruins women affected a majority of german families. I dont know how many migrating woman with there reasons are out there and then I think they are scattered.

So can the situation be seen as a spark of emancipation???

Women who are often forced to work in a foreign country because their men cant feed the family and they have to take an illegal job because the country is not supporting them the right education? (okay this is worst case scenario but still >_<)

Then …. the last word of my teacher were(he didnt want to discuss them):

1. We shouldnt victimize those women so much

2. there are a lot of women who are doing it on their own free will

3. and there are some who are doing good things with these money sending it to their families and make a good living. Lets see it positive

My Opinion:

1. I dont think that stating that a lot of women are facing domestic violence or rape is victimizing them.

2. I can imagine that there are some women doing it on their own free will but I guess doing this work or going illegal to a foreign country…. this will be a minority

3. But this “positive thinking” and those women who make a good living shouldn’t keep us from criticizing the conditions right???

This whole issue bothers me too much.

Especially because someone used the word “forced emancipation” for the migrating women. This word feels soooo wrong.

I just recently started to learn about gender studies but this whole discussion felt so weird.

So I think I need some input from people, who know more about this issues.

And last but not least: Im very sorry for my confusing english.

Thanks for reading ^^”’