Women in transit: Risky journeys and precarious lives among North Korean female escapees in China

This article seeks to unpack the gendered dynamic of transit migration through a case study of North Korean women escapees in China. Drawing on the notion of situated agency, which implies that agency is a kind of social embedding, this paper analysed 30 interview narratives of North Korean women to capture the structural factors that shape their risky journeys and precarious lives in transit. The content analysis reveals key gendered dimensions of transit migration. The feminized marketization in North Korea caused a dramatic increase in the outflow of women to China. The border-crossing and deportation experiences of female escapees are precipitated by a complicated smuggling and trafficking industry. Despite their hyper-precarious lifeworlds in the transit country, these women show varying degrees of resilience and resourcefulness that enable them to move on to their next steps of life. The findings broaden our understanding on the meaning of gendered mobility in transit migration shaped by the deterrent border regime.