Arranged marriages may not be seen as commonly these days in western culture, but they have still become an important aspect in several cultures all across the world.
Judaism
Marriages in Judaism between a man and a woman call for a relationship in which God is directly involved, and traditionally is to fulfill the need to bear children. As a part of Jewish tradition and customs, arranged marriage is seen as more equal than other cultures. (14) Within the culture, marriage is solely based on love and the belief that couples should have had some interaction before their wedding day. Dating between the two first occurs when the family gets involved in the job, character, and amount of dedication to religion that the partner has. However the practice seems to have been frowned on by Torah law and Jewish custom due to the marriage of Isaac. Isaac's proposal through Rebecca's parents, (Genesis 24) must have first been confirmed by Rebecca herself, deeming that no one should be forced into marriage. (4) It was at that time that arranged marriages took a turn in the Jewish religion. In fact, many of Jewish religion believe in the "Shadchan" method where the partner meets with someone that they believe is actually compatible, rather than someone random which is what the parents would do, unaware that their decisions would be different than that of their child. (15)
Islam
Arranged marriages are viewed within the Islamic culture as a voluntary union of the two partners, where consent of the couple on marriage is actually required, which will also help build trust between the pair. The family will inquire a partner through their personality, education, finances, background, and beauty. The parents will suggest the couple meet and if the partners agree, the first date will take place. Couples are not allowed to be left alone until after meeting several times when they will decide if they wish to go through with a marriage. According to Islamic law, parents are not allowed to force or trick their offspring into marrying a person, which makes the marriages more flexible. (6) On occasion, the bride's family will demand a payment be made to the bride seeing that she has now become property of the husband, she is still allowed to own her own property or use the money as she pleases. These marriages must always be public with a large feast, hilarity, and many festivities. Marriage will serve the purpose of fulfilling the need the men and women may have, as well as display obedience to the religious figure, Allah. (15)
|
Indian Subcontinent
Within the Indian subcontinent, Hindu and Pakistani marriages did not revolve around the two people, more as it did the families. Marriage united and built a strong relationship between the two families and has been done so since the fourth century. (21) The arrangement was originally based only on the parent's opinions, but going on into the 20th century, preferences of the couple were being brought to light. Parent's choices would be limited to only those of the same caste. Not only within these religions are arranged marriages practiced, but all throughout India with a rate of 95% of all marriages having been arranged. Arranged marriages have become such an important part of the culture to the point where only 2% of all arrangements end in divorce, compared to our marriage system where the divorce rate is over 50%. On the day of the wedding it has become a 5000 year tradition for a married woman to wear Sindoor (a holy red powder) on her forehead in front of over 500 people. (4) In most cases, love does not come around for the couple right when the marriage occurs, but such a tradition has lead to these people learning to love someone they never imagined themselves loving before. (15)
South Africa
A family's social class within the tribe was one of the main contributors to determining whether to go through with an arranged marriage. It was often found that noble families believed it to be honorable to have an arrangement for their children. The children, coming from wealthy families, depended greatly on their families until they were able to establish their own recognition in the tribe. In contrast, parents from lower class families permitted their children to select their own partners, creating quite a paradox in the culture. From a young age, children from indigent families struggled through their lives, allowing them to strive for survival and making them more recognized in their communities. Hundreds of years go into having the arranged marriages take place mostly for the upper class. (10)
Women are viewed as valuable and by tradition, husbands will offer a gift to the family of the bride. However women are valuable only as property, meaning that the gift being offered to the family is from the highest bidder, and whoever bids the highest, wins the prize. Some tribes look down on those types of marriages as they are uncivilized and inflict torture on the poor women. Being taken into the 21st century, we begin to notice that the practice has slowly become more violent and is no longer used as an act of honor. Constant abductions of girls ranging from ten through twenty have become a controversial topic as these girls are being forced into marriage and becoming victims to statutory rape. The government has made an effort to put a stop to the abductions, yet still the disappearances continue. (12)