Gender Disparity, Domestic Abuse, And the Mail-Order Bride Industry

This article explores the phenomenon of "mail-order brides". The article begins with a brief history of the industry, and goes on to demonstrate how the industry encourages men to view brides as commodities. The article argues that men who "order" brides feel as though they own the women because they pay a large amount of money for mail-order bride services. Brides are extremely vulnerable to abuse because of dependency on their husbands, lack of language skills, and unfamiliarity with local legal systems. The article concludes with suggestions on how to better protect mail-order brides including: increasing the regulation and monitoring of mail-order bride providers, improving the monitoring of resulting marriages, and providing more education to brides about their legal rights.