WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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LE BACH D. –D. BÉLANGER –KHUAT T. H.
the demand for Vietnamese women on the Chinese side. We cannot
state that the reason for the female border crossing flow is due to the
female deficit. Rather, we infer this relationship based on other studies
and on the assessment of local observers. Sixth, our data is entirely
collected on the Vietnamese side and we know little about the situation
on the Chinese side.
3. Crossing the border
An important finding of this study is that although the women
surveyed were labelled as past victims of traffic into China, the vast
majority wanted to go to China initially. It was through their attempts
to find ways to migrate and live in China that they fell into the hands
of traffickers. For the study participants, the two most important
motivations for leaving were economic and family related. On the one
hand, women perceived China as a land offering more job opportunities
than Vietnam and hoped to find a cash earning activity there. On
the other hand, many women wished to find a husband and have a
child and, after having failed to do so at home, imagined that China
will give them a better chance to achieve this desire. In many cases, the
desire to marry and work overlaps and they equally prompt women to
consider and initiate migration.
3.1. Marriage
Women in Vietnam, especially in the rural areas, are under strong
social pressure to get married and have children, particularly son(s).
The pressure comes not only from their own family, especially their
parents, but also from the community. Women of 24-25 years of age
are considered to be already “old” or “impossible” to get married
(Bélanger and Khuat, 2002). Their parents consider them as “burdens”
and as “delayed-action bombs” (i.e. a threat to the family economic
and social well-being). Older single women are shameful and potentially
harmful to their family’s reputation. Single women considered too
old to marry are often the victims of gossips and stigma (Bélanger and
Khuat, 2002). The social pressure for marriage is particularly strong for
women who are beyond the socially-defined appropriate age for marriage
(18 to 24 or 25 years old), or those having some “problems” like
being considered “ugly” or not very resourceful or stupid. “Those
women who are ugly go there (China) to get married” (FGD with local
authorities in Hai Dong commune). For women who have a hard time
getting married, China looks like a land of opportunities. Thus, they are
highly at risk of being trafficked.