Gavin W. Jones

Changing Marriage Patterns in Asia

This paper provides an overview of changing marriage patterns in East, South and Southeast Asia. It begins by relating marriage patterns to kinship systems. Differences in kinship systems go a long way towards explaining differences in marriage arrangements and stability of marriages in different parts of Asia, and also the greater resilience of the system of arranged marriage in South Asia than in East and Southeast Asia. The paper then examines the trend toward later and less marriage throughout Asia. This has been particularly marked in East and Southeast Asia, with the important exception of China, and especially in the large cities of the region and among highly educated women. It has shown no signs of slackening; in countries such as Japan, Taiwan and Myanmar, about 20 per cent of women currently in their 20s and 30s could well remain single when they reach their late 40s. Social norms and community and family structures have not yet adapted fully to this remarkable increase in singlehood. Yet at the same time, many young women in some Asian countries are still marrying as teenagers, in many cases below the legal minimum age for marriage. An important set of issues arises from such early marriage patterns. Consanguineous marriage has been widely practiced in some Asian countries. In some countries, it is on the decline, but in others (including Pakistan and Iran) there is little evidence of such a decline. Finally, the paper examines divorce trends. Divorce rates have been rising sharply in many Asian countries, particularly in East Asia, as a result of the strains on marriage and an erosion of the belief that marriages must be preserved at all costs. However, divorce rates remain very low in South Asian countries, where the marriage system does not allow for the “escape route” of divorce, even for dysfunctional marriages.

The Continuing Demographic Transition

From the perspective of human society, one of the most significant occurrences of the twentieth century has been the demographic transition --- the movement from tragic and wastefully high death and birth rates to low rates in many countries. Many other countries, however, are still at only the early or intermediate stages of this process. In these countries, means need to be found to accelerate the transition. This book brings new evidence to bear on aspects of the demographic trasition, with contributions from leading demographers, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians. The book ranges widely over the history and current experience of both developed and developing countries, with particular emphasis on Asia and Africa. The new field of anthropological demography is strongly represented, with contributions challenging much conventional wisdom.

International marriage in East and Southeast Asia: trends and research emphases

This paper gives an overview on international marriage in East and Southeast Asia. It first reviews the available data on the incidence and trends of transnational marriage. It then discusses the factors generally cited as contributing to the rising incidence of international marriage in the region: the increased mobility of population, particularly with respect to tourism, business travel, short-term employment and international study; and marriage market issues in a number of countries of the region, leading to deliberate and targeted search for spouses in other countries. It also reviews the types of international marriages in the region, including the national, ethnic and social characteristics of spouses in such marriages. Finally, it discusses the issues and problems covered and not (or inadequately) covered in the literature of international marriage in East and Southeast Asia in relation to the questions of rights and of the boundaries and sovereignty of the state.

Post-Cairo population policy: does promoting girls schooling miss the mark?

This article discusses the shortfalls of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) regarding the closing of the gender gap in schooling and the goal of social justice. It is argued that the deficits in socioeconomic status are compelling forces influencing educational status. The examples of Thailand and Viet Nam illustrate that socioeconomic inequalities in both nonsocialist and socialist developing countries are wide. Population specialists must be sensitive to the socioeconomic inequalities and focus on improving the educational status of all low income populations. Where limited resources may force a decision to improve education for one gender over another decisions should justify on social justice as well as pragmatic grounds the greater efficacy of lowering fertility and infant mortality through improved education for women in countries with a wide gender gap. The authors argue that the goals should be to raise enrollment ratios and the quality of schooling for all children and to give priority to reducing socioeconomic inequalities for both genders and only a secondary priority to a specific gender focus. In many countries the gender gap is closing and a strong policy emphasizing closing it is no longer needed. The effect of female education on fertility is only one part of the emphasis on female education and only one way to lower fertility. To emphasize one factor in fertility decline would be ill advised. Examples from the Philippines and Arab countries illustrate that even in high female education countries fertility has not declined very much. The ICPD Plan of Action calls for universal primary schooling for boys and girls and for wide and early access for girls and women to secondary and higher levels of education. Inequality in schooling is easier to document than is socioeconomic inequality.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CHANGES IN MEAN AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE AND PROPORTIONS NEVER MARRYING IN THE LOW-FERTILITY COUNTRIES OF EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

The long-term trend towards later and less marriage in the low-fertility countries of East and Southeast Asia has continued into the early years of the twenty-first century, and indeed accelerated in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. This paper examines the extent to which this is a general trend cutting across all educational attainment groups, and the extent to which it can be explained by increasing proportions in the educational categories characterized by higher levels of singlehood (in the case of females, the higher levels of education). In the countries where the rise in singlehood has been the steepest, changing educational composition has played a relatively minor role in the case of women. For men, in all countries examined, it has played only a minor role, or actually worked against rising singlehood. The paper examines likely reasons for these trends.

Southeast Asian Urbanization and the Growth of Mega-urban Regions

Southeast Asia has not been sufficiently urbanized long enough to have developed a real urban proletariat, yet it has been profoundly affected by urbanization. An important development has been the emergence of extended metropolitan regions, which now contain about 11 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population. In studying the dynamics of growth of these extended regions, it is important to designate zones around the official metropolitan areas. When this is done for the Southeast Asian mega-urban regions, they are the zones immediately outside the metropolitan area where urban expansion is marked, in-migration greatest, and occupational change most rapid. A corollary of this is that the conclusion frequently drawn that Asian big-city growth is slowing is misleading, because studies usually fail to include the rapidly-growing areas outside metropolitan boundaries. Trends over the 1990–2000 period for Jakarta and Bangkok illustrate the point. Realistic appraisal of the planning needs of Southeast Asia’s mega-urban regions requires integrated research on the broader metropolitan region surrounding the metropolis proper.

Revolution war and modernization: population policy and fertility change in Iran.

Fertility trends in Iran over recent decades can be plausibly related to a number of causal factors. Population policy shifts were quite marked, and were related to political upheaval and war, which influenced both official policy and popular perceptions of the nation’s need for children. A range of developmental factors were also important. The key fertility trends to be explained include the rise to an exceptionally high level in the early 1980s (a TFR of just below 7), and the speed of the subsequent decline to a TFR of about 2.7 in 1996. As well as estimating the proximate determinants of these trends, the paper sets them in their political and developmental context. Iran’s fertility trends are then compared with those of Islamic countries of North Africa and West Asia to gain additional insights into possible causal factors. An adequate explanation of fertility change in Iran needs to draw on elements of a number of theories of fertility transition.

Malay marriage and divorce in Peninsular Malaysia: 3 decades of change.

In the 1950s nuptiality among the Malays of Peninsular Malaysia was characterized by early near universal marriage polygyny and a high incidence of divorce--a pattern common to most Muslim societies. The past 3 and especially the past 2 decades have witnessed a sharp rise in age at marriage for females sharp declines in the incidence of divorce and of polygymy and a narrowing of the age difference between husbands and wives. These interrelated trends are tied to education. Westernization and other aspects of social change and the new marriage patterns in turn have had profound effects on interspouse and intergenerational relationships. (Authors)

Population Trends and Policies in Vietnam

Vietnam in recent years has succeeded in lowering both its death and birth rates. The rate of natural increase has fallen somewhat, but was on the order of 2.4 or 2.5 percent per annum in 1980, sufficient if continued to double the population in about 28 years. This rate of increase occasions great concern in official planning circles, given Vietnams difficulties in feeding its population and the imbalance in population distribution, with particularly severe pressure in the Red River Delta in the North (see Figure 1). The governments response has been to set ambitious targets with regard to both population growth and distribution: the aim is to lower the rate of population growth to 1.7 percent per annum by 1985, to move 10 million people from the North to the South by the year 2000, and to hold constant the size of cities in the South. Large-scale programs to attain these goals have been set in motion. After reviewing the historical problems of population pressure on the land, principally in the North, and touching briefly on overall economic conditions, this paper reports on available demographic data for North and South Vietnam and describes government policies and programs to deal with the problem. Although Vietnam was unified in 1975, in considering rates of population growth and availability of demographic data it is necessary to maintain the distinction between North and South, because the situation differs so sharply between these two regions. The information was derived largely from published Vietnamese sources, unpublished data from the 1979 census, the vital registration system and the family planning program, discussions with government officials, and field visits undertaken by the author in 1981 as a member of a Basic Needs Assessment Mission of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities.

Marriage in Asia

This introductory article provides some comparative background on marriage trends in Asia, to show where the countries included in this special issue fit into overall Asian and international patterns. It also notes the contribution of different chapters to our understanding of these issues. This special issue gives readers a taste of the diversity of Asia, by including articles on countries from Turkey in the west to the Philippines in the east, two of Asia’s three largest countries—China and Indonesia—and a country in South Asia—Sri Lanka. The articles examine the trends in marriage and explore the possible factors contributing to these trends in different national circumstances. We explore why, although similar forces continue to shape changes in Asian societies, including the institution of marriage, sharp differences in marriage patterns and systems persist throughout the region. Finally, we note limitations in extant literature and speculate about future marriage trends in Asia.