Pros And Cons Of Arranged Marriages

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 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

Also, this type of marriage is chosen because of social status. A rich family will want their heir to marry into a family that is worth their status. And lastly, very religious and cultural son and daughters will just agree to an arranged marriage because of the way they have been brought up since childhood and they know that they will not have to worry about their parents of not approving or rejecting of their choice of spouse.

Ever since the 1950’s, the rate of divorce has been increasing immensely to a degree that it is becoming socially acceptable. It is losing its stigma as well. Most divorces in the world have similar reasons and statistics as to why divorce is becoming more common, but also have some differences. For instance, Japan’s divorce rate is at 27% whereas Russia has a higher divorce rate around 60% due to some of the same controversial reasons. Japan’s divorce is still fairly lower than the United States and Russia because of traditional beliefs and low marriage rate whereas the other two large countries is still increasing.

Long before 1970, divorce was relatively uncommon. Getting a divorce was very tedious. At that time, you could only get a divorce under grounds of adultery, abandonment, cruelty, intoxication or any other serious reason to no longer be together. What has changed and why has the divorce rate raised to 50% of all marriages? Divorce rates has raised to 50% because of society changes, view of monogamy, and young marriages.

Divorce is a rising social issue in the United States of America, but it is not a new concept. Divorce has been a social issue since at least 1867 when for every 35.9 marriages, one couple were to get a divorce (Huth, 1947). Although divorce is not a new concept, it has become more social acceptance which is raising the divorce rate over the years. Another controversial topic in divorce is when the two people divorcing have a child or children together. Approximately 150,000-200,000 children in the United States of America are affected by divorce yearly (Huth, 1947).

Historically speaking the rise in divorces could possibly be due to the ease of access. At-Fault Divorce is the process of divorce through which “grounds” for approval of the divorce were required. Originally those wanting to file for divorce had to have proof of a reason that proved incompatible to their marriage. This meant divorce was not readily available to all married couples, and even in the event they had chance to file for divorce there was still an opportunity it could not be approved. This ended in 1969 when

Since the late 50’s, the divorce rate in America continues to increase. The actual divorce rate in America is approximately between 38% – 40%. There are many causes of divorce in the United States but the most popular causes are financial problems, infidelity, loss of communication, and abuse.

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

Divorce now in our times happens very often because of adultery or just constant fighting and disagreements. Many factors play I divorces today such as money. People get married and then sometimes one of the significant others leaves and takes their partners money. A lot of the times money is also an issue because the couple needs to decide who gets a certain amount or how they are going to divide it all. Money plays a huge factor when it comes to divorces now.

One of the main reasons that Indian parents firmly believe in arranged marriages is because they find these marriages to last the longest and be the most satisfying. Their argument is that in an arranged marriage “it takes time and effort to know, understand, accept, and love each other; a whole lifetime” (Marriages in Heaven). A study was done in 1996 with twenty-five Indian couples in arranged marriages, twenty-five Indian couples in love marriages, and twenty-five American couples in compassionate marriages. They asked these couples to score how satisfied they were with their marriage and relationship.

The final cause of recently increasing divorce is lack of communication. Owing to financial status in each family, many people are fairly busy. For this reason, they have inadequate time to talk to their spouse about their problems. Consequently, that usually causes divorce. Some couples are often quiet when they have problems with each other. Soon their little problems expand to big problems, resulting in divorce. Maybe if people communicated more with their partner divorce rates would be increasing so drastically.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2011 there were 2,118,000 marriages in the United States and almost half as many divorces (2013). The CDC also reports that only half of all first marriages will reach their twentieth anniversary. Divorce is a topic everyone is familiar with and it has almost become a normal part of life. While it is assumed that more divorces occur now than in the previous generation, the CDC actually reports that divorce rates have dropped over the past twenty to thirty years, though this could be due to the increase in individuals who live together without ever getting married or those who simply separate and cannot afford to become legally divorced. However, it has become a more