Forced Marriage : A Form Of Abuse And A Honor Crime Against Humanity Essay

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.

When my roommate was in elementary school, the boys in her grade would not let her play sports with her. The reason they gave her was that she was a girl, and sports were not for girls. She was told that she was not strong enough to play, and that sports were a boy thing. They then told her to go play house or kiss tag. When they said that, she proceeded to beat the boys up, making them look like the ones who weren’t strong. While violence is not the way to prove someone wrong, this story has a point. Taylor wanted to play basketball, but she was told she couldn’t because she was a girl. This might seem like innocent children making assumptions, but this is where it begins. These children will grow into adults that watch movies like Pixel, where the woman who is objectified is literally turned into an object, watch television shows like Two and a Half Men, which glorifies the manipulation and sexual conquest of women, and read books like Lolita and take it seriously. This idea, while developed in other places as well, is created through the media.

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.

ReferencesAugust, P. (2005, October). Arranged Marriages in the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriageBowman, H. & Spanier, G. (1978). Modern Marriage. McGraw-Hill Book Company.

The cultural identities of women have also changed significantly as stated in an article from Salford City Council website. Women are now more often than not allowed free choice in who they marry. Whereas 100 years ago there was a very high percentage of forced marriages. A forced marriage is where neither party consent to marriage. The BBC-Ethics website say a forced marriage is a ‘feeling’. In 2007 a Forced Marriages act was passed. This enabled court action to be taken, allowing women and men to protect and fight for their identities. However despite this in 2009 there was still an astonishing amount of forced marriages in and around Europe. Acts like this were put in place in order to help people protect not change their identities, however it is important to recognise that identities are changed due to the attempt at stopping such situations. Both women and men are allowed the freedom of choice affecting their independency, and in turn their identity.

About two centuries ago a new standard to the way marriage should be viewed came about. This set higher expectations for marriage. This change made more strict divorce laws, in turn made it harder to end a good marriage, it gave individuals more freedom to refuse a spouse. “The husband became the family’s economic motor, and the wife its sentimental core.” (p. 385) By the late eighteenth century marriage became a private contract between a husband and wife and was not regulated by church or state. However many working-class families did not adopt the new norms until the twentieth century. Different culture and countries still argued their views, many changed their description of an ideal mate.

In the novels written by Charlotte Gilman and Kate Chopin, the concept of marriage is contradicted from the romanticized relationship to a notion of imprisonment. Through the feminist perspective the reader gains a sense in which marriage may be the primary cause to gender oppression. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman’s central figure, who is unknown to the reader, is metaphorically imprisoned in a house in which the warden is her own husband. In contrast to this Chopin’s Character, Louise Mallard, gains a sense of liberation from a bleak marriage. It is clear that there two works illustrate how the characters are imprisoned through marriage. In both works there is a fine-line between the concept of domesticity and masculinity that ties

According to section 5 of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) marriage can be defined as “…the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.” (AustiLII, n.d.). However, there are also forms of illegal marriage such as forced marriage. Filed under section 270.7A of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), forced marriage can be defined as an illegal marriage whereby the victim entered into the marriage without freely and fully consenting usually due to the use of coercion, threat or deception or because the victim was mentally incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony (Office of Parliamentary Counsel, 2015).

It was a bit difficulty for me to choose a topic for this assignment as I had many in my mind. At the end I decided to write on forced arranged marriage after I came across a news article that one of my friends sent to me. The news article, which was published on the news-press.com, talked about how a 13 years old Florida girl was married to a man and it was not a love marriage but an arranged marriage. The girls wedding was arranged by her parents when she was 13 years old and gave birth at the age of 14 and the father of the girl stated that he wished his daughter was obedient (Zeitlin, 2017). The news was a bit shocking to me as it took place in America, but there are

Kingston, many girls are forced into marriages by being told it is the right thing to do. In summary, underage arranged marriages are very dangerous and unfair to the children who are placed under those circumstances while they haven’t even reached the capacity to comprehend what they want.

This essay will discuss the issue of arranged marriages. According to Webster, an arranged marriage is “a marriage planned and agreed to by the families or guardians of the bride and groom, who have little or no say in the matter themselves.” I will be discussing this according to the following ethical theories: Utilitarianism, Rights Theory, and W.D. Ross’ Theory. Under these theories I will discuss whether or not they would view arranged marriages as ethical or unethical and under what circumstances one would find an arranged marriage ethical or unethical.

Marriage is a union that has been around for as long as humans have walked the earth. The human race depends upon the union of its members, and as such, the subject of marriage has been an issue that receives more intense scrutiny and attention than many would likely believe. In today's day and age, with humanity continuing to move in a modern direction, many argue that marriage is a union that should be entered into freely and should be based exclusively on the love between two people. However, I argue that arranged marriage, which has taken place throughout the ages and throughout the world, is a union that offers its observers a marriage based in support, longevity and love, and is an institution that should not be frowned upon.

Do arranged marriages violate human rights as they are protected by international humanitarian law? Marriage is a vital part of the social and economic life of a person’s life. It forms the foundation for a continued family line, and the backdrop for raising children. In most societies, marriage is an important relation both between the two people and between the person and the society, and there are many rituals and traditions tied to the marriage. In many parts of the world, arranged marriages are still common, and are the expected and accepted way to find someone to share a lifetime with.

In many societies, marriage is a celebrated institution commemorating the union between two consenting adults and the beginning of their lives together. However, this experience and celebration is different for the millions of girls around the world who are forced to wed while still children, some not even yet teenagers.