Arranged Marriage

Arranged marriages in India

Despite a Westernisation of the Indian culture, a tradition when it comes to the bond for a lifetime remains: the concept of arranged marriage.

Although it is criticised in Europe as some sort of human trafficking, to this day 89-95% of the marriages in India are arranged. And that, compared to its European counterpart, quite successful. Only 1.2% of those arranged marriages are getting divorced, which might be the lowest divorce rate in the world. Next to this, the global divorce rate for arranged marriages amounts 6.3%. This might be seen as a story of success for arranged marriages, but as always there are two sides to it.

Opportunists claim the age many girls are getting married at is a big problem of the tradition. Being forced to get married right after attaining full age shouldn't be an option. Besides, in India it is rated as a shame for a woman to stay unmarried until her late 20s, while men are more free in this relation. This classical tradition even survived migration and modernisation. In rural areas the consent of the partners is simply not relevant and marriage is more a negotiation than an acting in the child’s best interest. But nevertheless there was a process in the urban areas. Although parents and dowry still play a role in the tradition, partners have a choice and give consent to the marriage. Furthermore, the values after which the parents look for a matching partner have changed. The focus lies rather on education and profession of the partners, which are almost valued equally between man and woman, although some strict traditional Indians still claim the ownership for women has to change from father to husband to son. Also, the partners in the urban areas are allowed to communicate more freely and have the opportunity to get to know each other during appointments organized by their family members.

Yet, traditional values such as the religion and caste still play a significant role in the matchmaking.