The impact of transnational migration on gender and marriage in sending communities of Vietnam

The recent, rapid increase in cross-border marriages between women from Southeast Asia and men from East Asia is creating a new international migration flow of ‘marriage migrants’ in the region. This article documents how marriage migration reconfigures gender power relations in three migrant-sending communities in Southern Vietnam. Analyses of data collected in 2007 indicate changes in the status of daughters and sons and a significant transformation of the marriage market. Emigrant daughters experienced enhanced status and power at home, mostly through remittances, to the extent that villagers expressed an increased preference for having girls rather than boys. Young women’s emigration has created a skewed marriage market, which gives village women and their families more bargaining power in marriage transactions. Getting married is difficult for many single men in the village due to the perceived greater value of foreign men, higher bride-prices and a shortage of potential brides. Overall, villagers view marriage migration as contributing to significant social transformations with respect to gender and power relations in households and in the marriage market.