Professor Mu ZHENG shared her work about college-educated stay-at-home Chinese mothers in Singapore. The research investigates how these mothers, despite being highly educated and skilled, choose to embrace the role of stay-at-home parents after migration.

The study employs the “migrant maternal imaginary” framework to explore how do this group of women construct the productive value of domestic work by imagining the marketable value embedded in their stay-at-home motherhood and how does migration constrain and enrich parenting options of these mothers.

Professor Zheng’s findings suggest that these mothers insisted on staying at home as a self-empowering choice, emphasizing their unique contribution to motherhood, seeking future opportunities to engage in productive activities, and seeking recognition from their families for their domestic roles. Meanwhile, the study emphasizes that these women’s decision to stay at home is not just a matter of personal choice, but is closely linked to broader social, economic and cultural dynamics. These mothers face challenges from societal norms undervaluing domestic roles, gender inequalities limiting their choices, and the complexities of migration impacting their family and cultural connections.

The study also addresses the impact of migration on parenting practices, emphasizing that in the face of new cultural and social environments, mothers are able to respond to these challenges by using their educational background to develop an approach to parenting that blends the strengths of the family and the host culture.

Professor Zheng’s research exposes the intricate interplay of gender, culture, and migration on stay-at-home mothers, challenging entrenched societal norms and gender structures that undervalue domestic roles. Highlighting the blend of traditional, modern, and post-modern influences on motherhood, the study advocates for recognizing motherhood’s inherent value. It calls for future research to delve deeper into individual stories through comparative and mixed-methods approaches, aiming to shift societal perspectives towards a more inclusive appreciation of parenting practices and the productive value of motherhood within the social structure.

Written by: QIN, Kaixin

This week, Prof. Mu discussed a special group – the experiences of valuation and parenting among college-educated Chinese stay-at-home mothers in Singapore. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 36 college-educated Chinese stay-at-home mothers in Singapore, the study illustrated how socioeconomic privilege and migratory experiences concurrently constrained and liberated the identities of these highly educated stay-at-home mothers, thereby complexifying the migrant maternal imaginary.

The study emphasized the importance of transcending ideological realms in understanding how skilled immigrant mothers construct the productive meaning of being stay-at-home mothers. Elite immigrant mothers utilized their immigrant status and relatively superior educational backgrounds to position themselves as productive workers, linking the private and public spheres, and thus reconstructing the values associated with stay-at-home mothers. They emphasized full-time mothering as an agentic individualistic choice that maximized self-actualization, optimized child-rearing environments, and maintained future career prospects. Although the new institutional context constrained their career development and family support opportunities, Singapore’s tolerance towards the maternal role enabled them to reframe full-time motherhood as an acceptable alternative life choice.

Besides, the study found that the demand for intensive parenting in the new era is increasingly centered on highly educated women, which demonstrates the return and even strengthening of gender inequality in the private sphere. Due to educational backgrounds and exposure to globalized information, highly educated immigrant stay-at-home mothers in Singapore have a greater identification with modern parenting ideals centered on quality companionship, comprehensive development, and children’s subjective well-being. However, the additional burden of this concern for the educational development of the child is often borne by the mother. Despite women’s increased ability to participate in the public sphere with the help of outsourcing services, and the modern parenting ideology of sharing family responsibilities is supported and acknowledged at the levels of individual and the couple, women’s role as primary educators and caregivers in the private sphere is far from being reversed.

This research allowed me to see the complex and diverse motivations behind the parenting experiences of these highly educated Chinese immigrant mothers, prompting me to rethink the various influencing factors behind the construction of the maternal role, and guiding me to view the connotations and extensions of motherhood with an open and inclusive perspective. In the end, Prof. Mu recommended future comparative analyses across immigrant statuses, religions, ethnicities, and social backgrounds for comprehensively understanding phenomena within this domain.

Written by: SHAO, Tianhua

2024年3月13日中午，新加坡国立大学社会学与人类学系的穆峥教授在我系周三性别研讨会上发表了题为“复杂化移民母职想象：新加坡受过大学教育的华人全职妈妈的价值塑造和育儿经验”的线上学术报告。校内外共四十余位师生通过zoom参会，我系宋婧教授主持并参与对谈。

近年来，新加坡优质教育资源和针对高技能人才的宽容移民政策吸引了大量华人精英群体迁入，密集育儿一度成为公共讨论焦点。穆峥教授的研究对象为生活在新加坡的受过大学教育的华人全职妈妈，她们的身份交叉了移民、性别与阶级的多重社会因素，她们同时也是家庭中密集育儿的主要承担者。作为相对精英的移民母亲群体，她们在构建自己社会（再）生产角色的过程中同时面临机会和挑战。基于此背景，穆峥教授的研究聚焦两个问题：（1）她们如何通过想象嵌入于全职母职中的市场价值来构建家务劳动中的生产价值? (2) 移民如何限制和丰富了她们的育儿选择？通过对36位参与者的半结构式深度访谈，研究洞察并展示了精英华人移民母亲赋值家务劳动的四种常用策略：强调选择家务劳动的能动性、强调高质量母亲育儿、视全职母职为获取未来雇佣机会的生产基础、（与丈夫）共识家务劳动的价值。通过赋予私领域家务劳动中的生产性意义，她们重新构建了移民母职的复杂想象。同时，移民新加坡于精英华人母亲育儿的影响是限制与机会并存的。一方面，得益于自身相对优越的社会经济地位和新加坡对全职母亲友好的文化氛围，她们能够接触更多元的家庭和人生可能性、拥有更平等的家庭内协商过程，最终使得移民成为一种可行的生活与育儿选择。另一方面，受制于社会对于全职父亲的污名化、女性慕强择偶的婚恋传统以及现有劳动力市场的性别结构，性别化的育儿期待依旧根深蒂固且难以改变，全职母亲的身份与她们而言能动与局限并存。

汇报结束后，宋婧教授就穆峥教授的发言内容与其开展了互动讨论。宋婧教授分享了伴侣间移民抉择中男性追随者的研究案例，随后发问当新冠疫情期间工作-家庭界限变得更加模糊的情况下，全职母职又是如何被合理化与正当化的？最后提醒性别与家庭议题的研究者与关注者要警惕新自由主义“自由选择与自我实现”话语带来过度美化全职母职的风险。穆峥教授表示认可，并进一步提出当讨论劳动领域的性别不平等时，我们应当关注男性与女性对于正式工作获取机会的不同，以及男性化工作和女性化工作被看重程度的不同。

本次研讨会加深了同学们对于移民、性别与育儿的交叉性的理解，为移民母职研究提供了宝贵的亚洲分析案例和公-私领域互动的理论视角。

Written by: TU, Lingyan

穆教授在她關於新加坡高學歷全職母親的研究中，提到高學歷中國女性選擇在新加坡成為全職媽媽反映了對精英地位的追求。成為全職母親重新定義了她們的角色，且與傳統的家庭主婦有所區別。同時，新加坡的移民管理呈現出二元化。一方面，低技能移民工人缺乏國家勞動法保護，簽訂個別合同，被視為短期流動勞動力。另一方面，移民專業人士或外籍人士享有特權，受到歡迎並受到法律系統的保護。她們將全職媽媽作為一種新的人生選擇，能夠與孩子共度質量和親密的時光，並在各種可能性中調整自己的育兒方式。

該研究旨在探究高學歷中國全職媽媽如何賦予家務勞動生產價值，並探討其中的市場價值。研究採用半結構化深度訪談的方法，共有36位符合標準的高學歷中國全職媽媽參與了研究。

研究發現，新加坡的高學歷中國全職媽媽採用了四種策略。首先，她們將專注於家務勞動的決定視為自主決策，強調背後的深思熟慮和主動性。其次，她們通過強調提供高質量的母愛和陪伴來評價家務勞動，拒絕認為全職媽媽是時間浪費或人力資本的損失。第三，她們將全職媽媽作為未來就業的生產基礎，通過獲得認證、語言培訓、學位獲取和兼職工作來為未來職業做好準備。最後，她們通過與丈夫共同承擔育兒和家庭責任來獲得評價和認可，鼓勵丈夫更好地理解和欣賞全職媽媽的價值。研究也提出關於全職父親的猜想，雖然得到「支持」，但依然面臨結構性問題。最後，文章指出移民生活提供了更多可能性，但也存在結構性和文化性的限制。未來該研究將向多方面深入。

Written by: WANG, Junjie