Uxorilocal marriage as a strategy for heirship in a patrilineal society: evidence from household registers in early 20th-century Taiwan

Abstract

In pre-industrial Taiwan, an uxorilocal marriage, in which a man moved in with his bride's family, was a familial strategy used to continue family lineage and to enhance family farm labor. We examine the prevalence and circumstances in which a family would call in a man for one of their unmarried daughters. Using data from the Taiwan Historical Household Registers Database (THHRD) from 1906-1945, we identify the individual-level factors (including parental status, sibling status, household heads' occupations, and the capacity of the family labor force) and community-level factors (including ethnic demographics and the prevalence of uxorilocal marriages by region), which are predictive of uxorilocal marriages. Our analyses first show that women without siblings and women with only female siblings were more likely to adopt the uxorilocal form of marriage. In addition, the effects of number of siblings' were moderated by the presence or absence of parents. For women without any male siblings with at least one parent, especially a father, residing in the household, the likelihood having an uxorilocal marriage was higher than for those without any parents. Second, an uxorilocal marriage was more common in families without men in the labor force to fulfill the manpower needed for farming. Third, uxorilocal marriage was more likely to occur in families living in the poorest socioeconomic conditions, especially those families in which household heads did not own land and had to sell their labor for agricultural production. Our findings imply that the adoption of uxorilocal marriage varied not only from place to place but also from time to time; it was conditioned by the modes and the means of labor production.

Causes of child adoption in Taiwan, 1906-1945

“…The frequency of uxorilocal marriages is on average almost the same in the south and the north, around 12 percent. Yet, the distribution of this type of marriage was highly irregular, which may indicate that it was a local rather than a regional phenomenon (Chuang and Wolf 1995;Li et al 2019;Lin, Yang, and Chuang 2014;Wolf and Huang 1980). These differences in marriage patterns also affected the chance of being given away for adoption before age fifteen for girls especially: for northern Taiwan the average ranged from 45 to 66 percent, while in southern Taiwan it ranged from 12 to 17 percent.…”

Causes of Child Adoption in Taiwan, 1906-1940: The Importance of Gender, Household Composition and Variation over Time and Place

“…The frequency of uxorilocal marriages is on average almost the same in the south and the north, around 12 percent. Yet, the distribution of this type of marriage was highly irregular, which may indicate that it was a local rather than a regional phenomenon (Chuang and Wolf 1995;Li et al 2019;Lin, Yang, and Chuang 2014;Wolf and Huang 1980). These differences in marriage patterns also affected the chance of being given away for adoption before age fifteen for girls especially: for northern Taiwan the average ranged from 45 to 66 percent, while in southern Taiwan it ranged from 12 to 17 percent.…”

Between rivalry and support: The impact of sibling composition on infant and child mortality in Taiwan, 1906‒1945

“…It should be noted that uxorilocal marriages were also frequent in some areas, which meant that the husband in the relationship did not have a strong position. This was, however, not the norm and was mostly frowned upon(Li et al 2019). Nevertheless, the father-in-law would be the one who held the most power.…”

“…The frequency of uxorilocal marriages is on average almost the same in the south as in the north, around 12%. Yet, the distribution of this type of marriage was highly irregular, which may indicate that it was a local rather than a regional phenomenon(Chuang and Wolf 1995;Li et al 2019;Lin, Yang, and Chuang 2014).…”