Ethical Issues Against Arranged Marriage

Arranged Marriages have been around since time can remember. An arranged marriage is a marital union between a man and a woman who were selected to be wedded together by a third party. Historically, arrange marriages were the main way to marry. In certain parts of the world, it is still the primary approach. There are two types of arrange marriages. The first is a traditional marriage where the children can, with strong objections, refuse to marry their soon to be spouse. In a forced marriage, the children have no say in the matter. Bread Givers shows an excellent representation of the pressures on children from their parents to be married against their will.

Arranged marriages are traditional in Africa, South-east Asia, The Middle East and Latin America. Due to migration the practice has been extended today to western world countries. Many families choose their daughters’ husbands according to wealth, so converting the woman into a tradable good. Arranged marriage is a marital union where a third party matches the bride and the groom; arranged marriages were common globally until the 18th century.

Arranged marriages are very popular amongst many countries and cultures. It is the tradition of someone’s spouse being chosen for them, usually by their parents. Unfortunately, a decent amount of these marriages occur with the person being forced against their will, or the bride being a child. Arranged marriage, as seen in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” is an important topic in literature and modern-day culture.

Arranged marriages have been a practice that has been around for a long time. It has been predominantly common in third world countries where the income gap is significantly obvious between the wealthy and the poor. By definition, arranged marriage is a marriage that is arranged by the parents of the man and woman getting married, instead of the man and woman choosing to date and marry each other. Shafer-Landau states that cultural relativism claims that the correct moral standards are relative to cultures, or societies, where as ethical subjectivism claims that the correct moral standards are those endorsed by each individual. The practice of arranged marriages and similar scenario of forced marriages alike are both controversial and up for discussion.

Arranged marriage may sound strange in the United States as it is impractical in this country. According to Gagoomal. Arranged marriage is broadly defined as unions in which people other than the bride and groom, typically parents or other family members, play important or decisive roles in determining who marries whom I strongly believe that the arranged marriage is a good choice and beneficial because an arranged marriage is believed to guarantee a mate for us, more stable compared to a love marriage in terms of love, and leads to perpetual happiness. it is difficult to find a mate nowadays especially in the United States because people are very busy with their work and have no time to find life partner. This is due to the job prospect as many countries are rapidly developing.

Arranged marriage is found in various cultures and countries around the world, including Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East; having an arranged marriage is thought of as an Afghani tradition and has been a part of life for many families. The practice of arranged marriage has advantages and disadvantages; it can create more family power and give more financial security. Sadly being forced into a marriage can disrupt the independence of the engaged, most women stop their education when they become engaged resulting in many women being illiterate. This makes it impossible for them to be successful without depending on their husbands. Arranged marriage is found in many cultures throughout the modern world, though in a lot of cases it results in a happy family it can also be very limiting on women and often girls are married before they can give consent.

In our society, we wouldn’t consider arranged marriages as a normal thing we are, use to consensual heterosexual serial monogamy. But in some countries, they do consider arranged marriages normal. In India, arranged marriages have been apart of the Indian culture since the fourth century and many consider it a central fabric of Indian society (Arranged Marriages, Matchmakers, and Dowries in India, 2000). Pakistan also considers arranged marriages as normal in Pakistani culture elders of the family are considered wise and they are the ones who help pick out a spouse a family member (Arranged Marriages are the Part of Pakistani Culture, 2012). Japan still practices arranged marriage but now less than ten percent of marriages are arranged compared to half a century ago when about seventy percent were arranged(Tying the Knot, 1998). In China, they have marriage markets where parents line the pathways share with other parents their clippings they have on their child, hoping to find a good match for their child (Epatko, 2015). Still, today many countries consider arranged marriages normal.

However, it has been custom in parts of India for centuries. Arranged marriages are the process of a third party, usually family, selecting a suitable partner to partake in marriage. Naturally uncommon and “bizarre” to anyone from a western society. Nevertheless when looking at empirical studies it does sway my western bias. One study compared American and Indian arranged marriages. The conclusions were at first American couples were a lot happier. In this case the concept of free will is the issue. To accept this practice does not sway judgments upon right and wrong to a point. However the fact that the marriage is “arranged” not chosen questions the concept of free will. In turn this scenario disagrees with the statement to some

Arranged Marriage vs. Free-choice Marriage"Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry" (Tom Mullen, 2005, p.1). It is argued that free-choice marriages based on love or romance, offer more independence and freedom as compared to arranged marriages where the man and woman are chosen by the parents and so there is pressure and is not so suitable and independent. However, no marriage is necessarily an ideal sort of marriage. Therefore, it becomes difficult to predict the ideal sort of marriage. The decision is upon the individual, whether he or she wants to be part of an arrange or free-choice marriage. There are two main types of marriages that are practiced in various societies and

Arranged marriages occur all over the world and in some parts it is popular or compulsory and in others not so admired. Most

Arranged Marriages: is defined as marital union the bride and the groom is chosen by their families. The couple have no say in the decision-making progress. My Perspective of marriage is a man and a woman should have that right to choose who they would like to Marry. Nevertheless, I feel it is vital to have the support of both families. I believe people don’t embrace the similar bias for arranged marriages, like they do for polyandry.

The arranged marriages were to keep social class within the family. Arranged marriages were also important to keep money and power inside the family as well. Fathers did not want their upper class daughter to marry a lower class “poor” man and he reaps all of the benefits of what their families were worth. They took social stratification so seriously that they married within their families. The arranged marriages usually happened between parallel and cross cousins. Parallel or cross cousins are the children of either their mother or fathers siblings. Arranged marriages still go on today in other countries such as India and

From the perspective of a Utilitarian, one would argue that arranged marriage is both ethical and unethical. A utilitarian decides whether an action is good or bad based on the results that bring the greatest good to the greatest number of people affected by the action. The so called good can be defined as “happiness.” In India, places where arranged marriage are very common because it is part of their culture. Therefore in a Utilitarian eyes it would be ethical to get married if it were part of your culture and geographical location because betraying your culture would do more harm and some forms of happiness are superior to others. Many couples find themselves to be part of happy marriages like we saw in the article What It’s Really Like To Have An Arranged Marriage. Sandaya, the bride, who lived in India had an arranged marriage set by her parents. She felt honored to have done this for her family and knew it was a

Arranged marriage is a good thing and should be respected by those throughout the world who condemn it.

In the same way as arranged marriages are an established and expected part of Islamic culture, arranged marriages are very common also in India, where Hinduism is the leading religion. Most marriages here are arranged, but importantly with” the consent of the bride and the bridegroom and the blessings of the elders” (http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/h_marriage.asp). Also here the question of consent is very important to provide a distinction between arranged and forced marriage. This focus on consent has been a modern development of this ancient tradition. In the past, consent from the spouses was not necessary for them to be married (http://www.culturalindia.net/weddings/arranged-marriage.html HHHHHjjlafdkdk.)