A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 3, Issue 2 - Summer 2004
The International Mail-Order Bride Industry: An Increasing Threat to Women
The international "mail-order bride" industry has been proliferating in recent years, using the internet as a high-powered engine to reach an unprecedented number of clients. A Google search for "mail-order brides" results in 590,000 websites, including "The Mail-Order Bride Warehouse." As this industry flourishes, however, the stories of women who come to the U.S. as mail-order brides only to suffer exploitation, abuse, or murder are coming to light. As a result, the industry is facing increased scrutiny from people concerned about the implications mail-order marriages have on the human rights of the women involved. This increased international attention will likely result in new regulations and restrictions.
Who Is Involved?
International marriage brokers (IMBs), also known as international matchmaking organizations or "mailorder bride" agencies, capitalize on increasing disparities between women in economically distressed countries and men in the wealthiest nations of the world. The men who use these websites are primarily from the most industrialized nations: United States, Australia, Canada, and Western Europe (particularly Germany, Sweden, and Norway,) with an increasing number from Japan. In the literature, men who utilize these websites are referred to as consumer husbands. In the U.S., consumer husbands are overwhelmingly white, middle-class, middle-aged, and often divorced. The majority would like to father children, and many already have at least one child.1
The testimonials of consumer husbands on IMB websites make it clear that they are looking for a "traditional" family. They often express a dislike for the increased equality that women in their home countries have seen in recent years. The testimonials also show that these men are seeking a relationship in which the woman's sole identity is as an obedient wife and mother and there is deference to the man as "head of the household. According to one consumer husband from the United States,"The women over there [in the former Soviet Union] are like they were here 50 years ago. For them, their family comes first. They appreciate what they've got more than American women."2 According to Gary Clark, author of Your Bride is In the Mail and a zealous advocate for the IMB industry, "The effects of feminism are perverse."3
Potential "mail-order brides" are typically young women from countries experiencing economic distress and widespread subordination of women. Most of these women are under intense pressure to marry. In the face of harsh stereotypes of "old maids" and a lack of education and employment opportunities, they are often seeking to both satisfy a social expectation and gain economic security. For example, facing a bleak economy, women from the former Soviet Union are increasingly represented on websites. A recent study found nearly 500 websites advertising women from former Soviet republics. Looking at less than half (219) of these international marriage brokers, a total of 119,649 women in the former Soviet Union were represented.4 Ironically, rampant sexism in home countries coupled with the pervasive image of a progressive West, leads these women to see marriage to one of the men described above as their best hope for liberation.
International marriage broker websites have been described as "part Playboy and part Sears Roebuck,"5 advertising women according to sexualized, ethnic stereotypes. In describing this stereotyping, Suzanne Jackson, associate clinical law professor at George Washington University, explains that these companies purport that "all Russian women are X, all Asian women are Y, all Latinas are Z-and emphasize that the women they offer (women who are in fact hoping to leave their home countries) will all be 'home-oriented' and 'traditional' wives."6 For example, the "My Thai Bride" website begins its sales pitch this way: "In all the world the most beautiful women are oriental. For decades western men have appreciated the oriental femininity and beauty.T he most beautiful and feminine oriental women are Thai. Their grace, elegance and feminine beauty is legendary. The teachings of the centuries old Thai culture creates Thai girls who have high moral values, a strong commitment to their families, and are supportive of their husbands. In Thailand, putting one's own interests before those of others is unusual."7
While IMBs cater to consumer husbands, they treat the women being "advertised" as mere commodities. For example, these companies provide men with names, photos, explicit biographical data, and addresses of the women, but do not provide these women with similar information about consumer husbands. In addition, men are often instructed in wooing techniques, provided with sample letters, and, for an extra charge, can have the company do the letter-writing for them.
Power Imbalances
By matching their clients with women in difficult circumstances, the mail-order bride industry systematically creates marriages with massive power imbalances. This power disparity combined with these men's typical conceptions of an ideal marriage and mate often leads to servant-like conditions for wives. In fact, organizations working with women who have immigrated as mail-order brides report that many of their clients suffer domestic violence. Advocates have accumulated many disturbing examples of the abuse and murder of mail-order brides.
In the United States, the story of Anastasia King has been widely reported. Below is her story as told by the Tahirih Justice Center, a U.S.-based NGO working to "enable women and girls who face gender-based violence to access justice:"8
At the age of 18, Anastasia King, a woman from Kyrgyzstan, married an American man who selected her out of a catalogue of prospective brides he received from an International Marriage Broker (IMB). Two years later, desiring a different wife and allegedly unwilling to pay for a divorce, Mr. King ordered a tenant in their Washington State home to kill Anastasia. Weighing nearly 300 pounds, Mr. King pinned his wife beneath him as the tenant strangled her to death with a necktie. King's previous wife had left him because he was abusive.9
Women, such as Anastasia, who are in a foreign country, face enormous obstacles in attempting to leave an abusive partner. All domestic violence survivors confront difficulties in seeking help, however, unfamiliarity with the culture and legal system, language barriers, and isolation make seeking help even more difficult, if not impossible, for recent immigrants. In addition, these women often fear retaliatory violence from their abuser as well as deportation. And, the need for resources for themselves and for family back home which often leads women to the IMB trade to begin with, can then serve to keep them in an abusive relationship.
New Regulations
Advocates around the world are working to create appropriate services for foreign-born women facing domestic violence and to provide prospective "mail-order brides" with information that may help them avoid abuse. As part of these efforts, advocates are drafting and implementing new regulations and legislation.
In the United States, the industry is responsible for about 4,000 to 6,000 marriages every year, meaning that approximately four to six percent of all women who receive residency via marriage are "mail-order brides."10 Cherry Blossoms, one of the oldest international marriage brokers, claims credit for 1,500 marriages each year, 11 and expects to generate 2,000 marriages in 2004.12 To control this blooming industry, United States Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Congressman Rick Larsen (D-WA) introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate and House. The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2003 13 would:
According to Senator Cantwell,"The primary goal of my legislation is to better inform women entering this country as a prospective spouse about the past history of the man she may be marrying and to better inform them of their rights as residents of the United States if they become victims of domestic violence."15
Introduced in July, the bills have been referred to the Senate Judiciary committee, the House Judiciary Committee's Sub-Committee on Immigration, and the House International Relations Committee. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing in July entitled Human Trafficking: Mail-Order Bride Abuses that profiled the problem and highlighted the proposed legislation. Due to contentions surrounding all immigration-related issues, advocates expect no further action to be taken on the bills this term. Nonetheless legislators are buoyed by the momentum of the bills. Abbey Blake, a spokeswoman for Congresman Larsen (D-WA), expects the measure to be introduced again next year. "We're really encouraged by the early support we've gotten," Blake said.16
The international community as well as individual governments must take action to prevent the exploitation of women through the international "mail-order bride" industry. Because the industry is a transnational phenomenon, coordination on the international level is critical to successfully monitoring IMBs, preventing abuse, and providing appropriate services to the women victimized by the industry. In addition to addressing individual instances of abuse, the underlying system of globalized gender inequality upon which the industry relies must be addressed.The more the international community works to empower women in societies throughout the world, the less vulnerable they will be to exploitation.
References:
This article has been drawn from a more extensive article, Profitable Proposals: Explaining and Addressing the Mail-Order Bride Industry through International Human Rights Law in the San Diego International Law Journal. To order please email SDILJ at: sdilj@sandiego.edu or call at: (619) 260-4531.
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