Trafficked Women!

People from all over the world come to Canada to find refuge here.  Although, for some women, immigration to Canada is in an act of exploitation against women, for them to become a mail-order bride.  This is when a woman (usually of the same culture) from a third world country is ordered by a man in a first world country.  The mail-order bride system "exploits the economic inequality between poor countries and prosperous countries, as well as the most demeaning and discriminatory cultural and ethnic stereotypes of women. This phenomenon thus fosters subordination based on ethnicity, sex and social class within a country, between countries, and between individuals" (Belleau, 2003).    

The fact that women are looked at as objects and are treated as such is just wrong to me.  I don't believe that men have the right to buy women.  One can just imagine the effect that this would have on the woman or bride.   The woman is putting herself in danger as she becomes vulnerable and is dominated by the man.  Some women are treated as less of a human being in some countries, and are already looked at by members of their country as less of a person than men and do not have equal rights.  The idea of a woman considering becoming a mail-order bride as a better life than the one she has, or as a cultural norm, or that it is in some way gratifying to herself or her family is preposterous, the society that the woman comes from is sexist as well as the act itself.

In Canada, "at the moment, the law exposes brides to penalties, while leaving the introduction agencies and consumer-husbands unpunished" (Belleau, 2003). The fact that the men involved in order the mail-order bride go unpunished is an act of oppression itself.  The woman who already suffers from social sexism, is then punished for an act of sexism.

How will mail-order brides ever become an act of cruelty and  become a ruling against men?  I am personally astonished to learn that the women are punished for being a mail-order bride and the men are not.  To me, this is a sad and exhausting example that as a woman, makes you feel helpless and really intensifies the reality of the patriarchy society that we live in.  I think that in order for the government to help the situation it would have to involve helping the woman in the situation, with support programs that would help her to become independent, especially in situations where the woman is abused.  The very fact that these women do not have any resources, money or few rights as an immigrant, is what endangers the women into further submission.

Brenda,

References,

Belleau, M. (2003). Canadian Woman Studies: Mail-order brides and Canadian immigration policy, 22(3/4), 94-103.