THE VIETNAMESE DOUBLE MARRIAGE SQUEEZE

According to Guttentag and Secord (1983), the relative balance of powe r between the sexes is determined by dynamic interactions of dyadic an d structural power. Dyadic power accrues to whichever sex is relativel y rare owing to the larger proportion of potential relationships avail able to it, the demographic dimensions of which are commonly known as a marriage squeeze. Structural power refers to control over economic, political or legal resources: men or women, according to the thesis, a ttempt to overcome existing deficits in dyadic power by gaining such r esources. The unique dual case study presented here illuminates the st ate political institutions and other contextual conditions under which both dyadically disadvantaged men and women have been unable to garne r such structural resources. Young women in Vietnam during the 1970s a nd 1980s faced a severe deficit of male partners due to population gro wth, war, and excess male migration. At the other end of the Vietnames e diaspora, overseas Vietnamese men during the 1980s and 1990s have fa ced an even greater shortage of Vietnamese women. In each area, the se x in surplus has not only been forced to delay or forego marriage, but has also lost structural power. Women's advocates in Vietnam have bee n weakened in the postreunification era due in part to the implementat ion of free market reforms in a nondemocratic political context. Overs eas men have been disadvantaged due to a more equitable Western social and legal climate that has eroded their former advantage.