As an emerging phenomenon of the marital relationship in rural China, the negative impacts of divorce increasingly arise. It is important to understand the causes and mechanisms of divorce in rural society. In this paper, we try to regard the sex ratio of married age population in the marriage market as an important environmental factor, and estimate the effects of gender imbalance on female divorce decisions. Our empirical results show that gender imbalance with surplus males exposes married rural females to a higher risk of divorce, especially young females. We argue that our results are consistent with the basic national conditions of China. Although the status of females has improved as a whole in the past decades, traditional gender identity and social norm still play notable roles in rural China, which expel females out of the enjoyment of marriage to some extent. Therefore, education, economic development, civilization and rural development are essential for healthy rural marriage markets.
