Uxorilocal marriage

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Uxorilocal marriage, also known as matrilocal marriage, is a pattern of post-nubial residence in which the groom, following marriage, moves to the bride's home. In Native Amazonia, this residence pattern is often associated with the customary practice of brideservice. In other regions of the world, such as Japan, during the Heian period, uxorilocal marriage was not a sign of high status, but rather an indication of the patriarchal authority of the woman's family, i.e. her father or grandfather, who was sufficiently powerful to demand it, according to Women in Asia: Restoring Women to History, by B. Ramusack & S. Sievers (Indiana University Press, 1999). In contemporary China, uxorilocal marriage has been encouraged by the government in an attempt to counter the problem of high sex ratios caused by female infanticide, sex-selective abortion and abandonment of infant girls. Because girls traditionally marry out in virilocal marriage they have been seen as 'mouths from another family' or as a waste of resources to raise. Uxorilocal marriages was also found in pre-Islamic Arabia (before Jahilia). The women would stay with their lineage following marriage, and their husbands could visit or reside with them, but the children would trace descent through their mother's lineage.

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