There has been a significant increase in the international migration of professional workers over the past twenty years associated with the expansion of companies’ activities overseas. While this trend has been recognised from an economic perspective, very little has been researched from a social angle. In particular, there has been scant attention paid to the gender composition of this population movement, and the impacts of such migration on households, particularly on women’s work patterns and the organisation of domestic work. The migration experiences of such workers will include not only possible changes in practical arrangements, but also the potential for transformations of identities, in gender, national and ethnic terms as migrants move from one social setting to another.

This website summarises the main findings from a collaborative project looking at these issues by comparing British and Singaporean migration to China. The collaboration was between Dr Katie Willis, Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, UK (http://www.liv.ac.uk/Geography.html) and Dr Brenda Yeoh, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore (http://www.nus.edu.sg/). Funding was provided by the Transnational Communities Programme (http://www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk) of the Economic and Social Research Council (http://www.esrc.ac.uk) (Research Grant No. L214 25 2007). This research also builds on research conducted by Katie Willis and Brenda Yeoh 1997-1998 on Singaporean migration to China, funded by the Lee Foundation of Singapore and HSBC Holdings Small Research Grant Scheme administered by the Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) (http://www.rgs.org/).

These two nations were selected for a number of reasons:

1. Although both countries have substantial investments in China, their histories of overseas ventures differ greatly, with Britain’s long colonial history and the high profile of British multinational companies, contrasting with Singapore’s foreign investment dating largely from the 1986 launch of the ‘regionalisation drive’. Companies’ internal labour markets are very important in skilled international migration, but many Singapore companies have no tradition of overseas postings.
2. Migration decisions and experiences are affected by the cultural norms in the source country. Our 1997-19998 research demonstrated that family considerations represent obstacles to professionals’ mobility between Singapore and China, so this project investigated whether such concerns are specific to Singapore’s society based on ‘Asian values’, or whether UK households have similar problems.
3. So often the migration experiences of ‘non-western’ ethnic groups in ‘western’ cities are the focus of research. This research investigated how the British migrants adapt to living and working in a difference cultural environment, with particular emphasis on the negotiation of gender identities and household strategies. The majority of Singaporean international migrants are ethnic Chinese, so provide a potentially fascinating comparison.
4. The comparison of Singaporeans and Britons also allows a comparison between the experiences of two transnational communities motivated by similar economic aims but bounded by different socio-political and historical parameters. While Singaporean migrants often (re)invent historical ‘ethnic’ roots and notions of a return to their ‘cultural homeland’, British counterparts, contending with the legacy of colonial dominance, my draw on constructed difference between ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ technologies and ideologies in doing business and social life.
5. Pre-existing contacts in government and private sector companies, as well research experience in Singapore, provided practical reasons for the selection of the two countries.

1. To explain the motivations behind migration and non-migration and the gendered aspects of these motivations.
2. To investigate the way in which migration to China has affected the household strategies adopted by managerial and professional workers.
3. To examine the ways in which migration has affected the (re)construction of social identities (i.e. the intersections of ethnic, gender and national identities and ‘place’).
4. To compare and contrast the experiences of British and Singaporean migrants in China in terms of household strategies, social networks and group identification.
5. To contribute to the debate regarding personnel relocation policies within British and Singaporean private sector companies, and to discussions around the potential obstacles to Singapore’s regionalisation drive.

Between October 1998 and June 2001, 150 interviews were conducted with Singaporeans and Britons in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China. Interviewees fell into one of four groups:

1. Individuals working in China.
2. Individuals accompanying spouse/partner to China.
3. Individuals working for companies where Chinese postings a possibility, but they have chosen not to take up an overseas posting.
4. Individuals whose partner/spouse is working in China, but they have stayed back in the UK or Singapore.

Interviewees were found through a range of channels including Singapore Clubs, British Chamber of Commerce, personal contacts and Embassies/ Consulates.

There are a series of linked webpages which highlight the major findings of this project. Click on the appropriate topic below.

Overview of British and Singaporean communities in China

Household Strategies (household strategies.doc)

Migration and Gender Identity (gender identity.doc)

Migration and National/ Ethnic Identity (national identity.doc)

Company Policies – Indicators of Best Practice (company policies.doc)

Support Services (support services.doc)

Yeoh, Brenda and Willis, Katie (1997) ‘The global-local nexus: Singapore’s regionalisation drive’, Geography 355, Vol. 82, Part 2, pp. 183-186.

Yeoh, Brenda and Willis, Katie (1998) ‘Singapore Unlimited: Configuring Social Identity in the Regionalisation Process’, Transnational Communities Programme Working Paper Series WPTC-98-08, Oxford. Can be downloaded from www.transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working_papers.htm

Willis, Katie and Yeoh, Brenda (1998) ‘The social sustainability of Singapore’s regionalisation drive’, Third World Planning Review 20, 2, pp. 203-221.

Yeoh, Brenda and Willis, Katie (1999)‘’Heart’ and ‘wing’, nation and diaspora: Gendered discourses in Singapore’s regionalisation process’ in Gender, Place and Culture 6,4, pp. 355-372.

Willis, Katie and Yeoh, Brenda (2000) ‘Introduction: Gender and Migration’, in Katie Willis and Brenda Yeoh (eds.) Gender and Migration Edward Elgar ‘International Studies in Migration’ series, pp. xi-xxii.

Willis, Katie and Yeoh, Brenda (2000) ‘Gender and transnational household strategies: Singaporean migration to China’, Regional Studies 34:3, pp. 253-264.

Yeoh, Brenda, Huang, Shirlena and Willis, Katie (2000) ‘Global cities, transnational flows and gender dimensions: The view from Singapore’, Tijdschrift Voor Economische en Social Geographie 91:2, pp. 147-158.