The rise in cross-national marriages and the emergent inequalities in East and Southeast Asia

Abstract

This paper reviews the trends and driving forces for the relatively recent growth in cross-national marriages in East and Southeast Asia with a specific focus on the experiences of female marriage migrants from Southeast Asia. It explicates the various forms of inequality faced by the low-income marriage migrant women including gender power dynamics within the household, socioeconomic inequalities, integration into the destination society, and intergenerational transfer of inequalities. We acknowledge that the inequality experienced by marriage migrant women results from a complex web of intersecting social-cultural, political, and economic forces occurring in Asia in the past three decades. As a result of rising female educational attainment and the practice of marriage hypergamy in Asia, an increasing number of low socioeconomic-status men from developed countries seek marriage partners abroad from lower-income and less-developed countries. Upon entering the cross-national marriage market, many low-income migrant women face multiple disadvantages in the host country due to inadequate socioeconomic support, language barriers, social stigma on foreign brides, and a lack of legal status. These inequalities exacerbate their initial disadvantages to perpetuate a vicious cycle of intergenerational disadvantages for their offspring. We conclude with a critique of extant literature and identify promising future research directions.