No abstract

Previous research has used dependency theory to explain sex consumption by rich, northern men travelling to ‘developing countries’. Little is known about how this perspective can be applied to sex‐related consumption by tourists from non‐western regions. Analyzing the East Asian Social Survey of 2008, we found that many eastern Asians had engaged in sex‐related entertainments abroad. People from the newly rich countries had become exploiters of sexual services in peripheral countries. East Asian tourists also went west and north bound overseas for sexual pleasures. We argue that the increasing economic activities and travelling opportunities across borders may better explain the overseas sex‐related consumption of eastern Asians than dependency theory. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Numerous studies show that job demands increase work-to-family conflict (WFC), while job resources have mixed effects on it. Yet the way in which their effects on WFC differ by gender is under-explored in Asian societies, where increasing female labour force participation coexists with traditional gender beliefs. Using data from the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) (N = 1,265), we find that mechanisms by which employment and family characteristics affect WFC differ for men and women. Having young children strengthens the effect of weekend work on WFC for women, but not for men. Working from home blurs work‐family roles for women, but not for men. Increased family demands increases men’s but not women’s vulnerability to WFC, even though men do less housework. This study illuminates the importance of a gender-sensitive and culturally grounded explanation for WFC.

Taiwan has long been recognized as a labour-absorbing society, but today approximately 3 per cent of its population is working in China, an increasingly important destination for regional immigration. In this article we go beyond conventional immigration economics to examine how social connections and ethnic politics affect Taiwanese motivations to move to China for employment. Results from a national random-sample survey conducted in 2005 are used to analyse the willingness and potentiality of Taiwanese to work in China. The findings indicate that besides human capital factors, social networks and political/ethnic identity offer insights to understanding migrations among Taiwanese, as well as why the vast majority have so little interest in going China-bound.Taiwan is conventionally described as a labour absorbing society, 1 with the accumulated number of unskilled labourers entering from South-East Asia estimated at approximately 365,000 in 2008. 2 Today it is increasingly recognized as a labour sending society, with at least 3 per cent of its population of 23 million currently working in China 3in other words, the number of workers leaving Taiwan

This article studies the determination of married women's employment discontinuity in Taiwan. Many studies have demonstrated that a high proportion of married women leave their jobs because of marriage, pregnancy, or childbirth (MPB). This article suggests the concept of labour market segmentation be brought back into the study of women's employment stability. Using nationwide sampling data from the 2001 Taiwan Social Change Survey, the article analyses how job status and sociocultural factors affect women's various decisions to quit their job. By using multinomial logistic analysis of over 900 married women, the author discovers that job status of both wives and husbands, husbands' ethnic background and gender-role attitudes have significant impacts on women's reasons to quit. Labour market segmentation by gender significantly affects the employment stability of married women. The results indicate a complex decision-making process when married women struggle to hold onto their jobs in this East Asian society.