Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic
Recognising the increasingly vital yet precarious role that Asian migrant care workers (MCWs) play within Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) health system, this paper delves into the qualitative exploration of the experiences encountered by Japanese MCWs amidst everyday challenges and injustices during...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Kōtuitui |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2024.2344487 |
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| author | Shinya Uekusa |
| author_facet | Shinya Uekusa |
| author_sort | Shinya Uekusa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recognising the increasingly vital yet precarious role that Asian migrant care workers (MCWs) play within Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) health system, this paper delves into the qualitative exploration of the experiences encountered by Japanese MCWs amidst everyday challenges and injustices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa. Gaining in-depth understanding of their lived experiences, encompassing challenges inherent in their care roles and racial/social injustices outside their care roles, holds the potential to establish a sustainable care workforce capable of delivering quality health care while also attracting and retaining MCWs in Aotearoa. Employing the perspective of Critical Migration Studies (CMS), this pilot study explores the hidden costs of care provision, drawing insights from in-depth interviews conducted with 10 Japanese MCWs in late 2022 and early 2023, and presents mixed findings. The data indicates intersecting challenges in their work, including unfair treatment, linguicism, labour market inequality and various forms of social injustices. However, most Japanese MCW participants had developed robust resilience in dealing with these perceived challenges and injustices in Aotearoa, stemming from their previous experiences of gender, cultural and other forms of oppression in their workplace and everyday life in Japan. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b05885f8f8d14b7fbac8beca3c5762e1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1177-083X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Kōtuitui |
| spelling | doaj-art-b05885f8f8d14b7fbac8beca3c5762e12025-01-28T01:57:24ZengTaylor & Francis GroupKōtuitui1177-083X2025-01-01201466410.1080/1177083X.2024.2344487Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemicShinya Uekusa0Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New ZealandRecognising the increasingly vital yet precarious role that Asian migrant care workers (MCWs) play within Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) health system, this paper delves into the qualitative exploration of the experiences encountered by Japanese MCWs amidst everyday challenges and injustices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa. Gaining in-depth understanding of their lived experiences, encompassing challenges inherent in their care roles and racial/social injustices outside their care roles, holds the potential to establish a sustainable care workforce capable of delivering quality health care while also attracting and retaining MCWs in Aotearoa. Employing the perspective of Critical Migration Studies (CMS), this pilot study explores the hidden costs of care provision, drawing insights from in-depth interviews conducted with 10 Japanese MCWs in late 2022 and early 2023, and presents mixed findings. The data indicates intersecting challenges in their work, including unfair treatment, linguicism, labour market inequality and various forms of social injustices. However, most Japanese MCW participants had developed robust resilience in dealing with these perceived challenges and injustices in Aotearoa, stemming from their previous experiences of gender, cultural and other forms of oppression in their workplace and everyday life in Japan.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2024.2344487Asian migrantcare crisiscritical migration studiesglobal care chainshidden cost of careJapanese migrant |
| spellingShingle | Shinya Uekusa Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic Kōtuitui Asian migrant care crisis critical migration studies global care chains hidden cost of care Japanese migrant |
| title | Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | hidden costs of providing care a pilot study of japanese migrant care workers experiences in aotearoa new zealand during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | Asian migrant care crisis critical migration studies global care chains hidden cost of care Japanese migrant |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2024.2344487 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shinyauekusa hiddencostsofprovidingcareapilotstudyofjapanesemigrantcareworkersexperiencesinaotearoanewzealandduringthecovid19pandemic |