The Main Squeeze: A Constricting Marriage Market Backlash Against Women's Empowerment

This paper examines how the 'marriage market squeeze'---a phenomenon where excess men are seeking partners in a heterosexual marriage market---causes backlash against women's empowerment. Focusing on South Korea, I show the scarcity of women in the marriage market has emerged as acute threats for some young men: backlash becomes a political solution for resolving the status threat for men feel inhibited from becoming household breadwinners and dutiful sons. Through qualitative evidence, I highlight factors that shape the marriage squeeze: past demographic policies and diverging preferences for marriage between men and women. Using a regression discontinuity design and a survey experiment, I show that men who perceive a greater marriage squeeze are more likely to oppose institutions aimed at empowering women, such as demanding the abolition of gender quotas and opposing measures to prevent gender-based violence and are more likely to support conservative governments that espouse antifeminist policies.