Foreign marriages are a sensitive subject in the Vietnamese community, and increasingly so in the international community as well.
But it’s not the fact that Vietnamese are marrying foreigners that people find unsettling; it’s that so many of these cross-country nuptials are based on brokered marriages. As has been cited in countless media outlets time and again, the marriage of young Vietnamese women to foreign men is on the incline, and the business of marriage brokering is booming. Many Vietnamese women, most often those from impoverished towns and villages, see marriage as a gateway into a new life of better opportunities and less financial turbulence. They seek out marriage services that can take them abroad and away from their present socioeconomic realities. Some women have found true happiness through their brokered marriages, but, it seems, these women are in the minority. For instance, in South Korea, a destination country for a majority of brokered marriages, the average marriage lasts just 3.1 years. Many women have found themselves exploited, trafficked or abused at the hands of their brokers. Others, after safely making it to their destination countries, struggle to adapt to their new surroundings or are placed in abusive situations at the hands of their new spouses. Some have been beaten to death. Others have sought out death.
One the reasons why foreign marriages and marriage brokering is so difficult to address is that it’s hard to regulate. As Andrew Billo recently wrote for the Asia Society, many women voluntarily engage in brokered marriages. We know that roughly 133,000 Vietnamese women engaged in foreign marriages between 2005 – 2010, but we can’t know for certain how many of those marriages were brokered.The current legal infrastructure still doesn’t have adequate provisions to clamp down on unlawful or exploitative brokering.
The spike in foreign marriage is also alarmingly representative of the desperation to escape poverty and subordinate status of women in Vietnam. Billo writes that “the proliferation of marriage brokering is largely market driven, and at the intersection of supply and demand is the market price for these women: about $5,000.” What’s perceptive and unsettling in Billo’s assessment is the implication that women are regarded as commodities–objects to be traded, sold and ultimately discarded if they’re judged to be “damaged goods.”
A marriage broker in Singapore advertises itself as a “life partner” matchmaking service.
But what if we borrowed a different concept from our business and economic textbooks when we talk about the potential of women? What if instead of being viewed as commodities, women are recognized as entrepreneurs–as agents of change that can stimulate economic growth and opportunity, among the thousands of other brilliant things they are capable of? That’s what microfinance was designed to do, and that’s why VNHELP has been supporting microfinance in Vietnam since 2009. To date, we’ve helped 400 women get access to microloans of $50 – $400 so that they can start or scale their own businesses in Vietnam’s Dong Thap and Vinh Phuc provinces, and we’re hoping to reach even more women.
Prioritizing female borrowers, microfinance puts the power of to make economic decisions in the hands of the women. It lends women capital at manageable repayment terms to start their own businesses and forge their own economic path. The best microfinance programs also give women a forum to discuss their ideas, learn additional life skills and gain financial literacy. Of course, microfinance isn’t the panacea to poverty: each loan dispersed requires hard work and follow-up on the part of both the lending organization and the borrower. After all, it takes time to pull oneself out of poverty. Rarely do such things happen over night. But what matters is that microfinance strategically positions women into roles of self-sufficiency and empowerment. And it gives women a chance not to just lift themselves out of poverty, but to become the leaders of the families and communities. Unlike the brokered marriages, it’s not about reliance. It’s about helping women reach their full potential so they can change their own lives.
So while a small number of women may find brokered marriage their ticket to a new life, and while we congratulate those who find happiness in their marriages, we’re going to instead focus our efforts on expanding microfinance.
Ebullient and in charge, this microloan recipient is turning her life around.
Photo courtesy of Lawrence D’Attillo, a generous supporter of microfinance for women in Vietnam
Tags: microfinance, women & girls