User:Comfort06/Arranged Marriage

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Love and respect in arranged versus autonomous marital life

Various small sample surveys have been done to ascertain if arranged marriages or autonomous marriages have a more satisfying married life. The results are mixed – some state marriage satisfaction is higher in autonomous marriages, others find no significant differences. Results show Johnson and Bachan have questioned the small sample size and conclusions derived from them.

Scholars ask whether love and respect in marital life is greater in arranged marriages than autonomous marriages. Epstein suggests that in many arranged marriages, love emerges over time. Neither autonomous nor arranged marriages offer any guarantees. Many arranged marriages also end up being cold and dysfunctional as well, with reports of abuse.

My Edits:

In some cultures where arranged marriages are common; there is a higher inequality between men and women. Some believe that those in arranged marriages might have a more satisfying union since they have realistic expectations and are not clouded by emotion when going into the marriage, while others believe it can lead to unhappiness and discontentment in the marriage. Many people that are in autonomous marriages look at arranged marriages as a way of force, but results have shown that many people go into arranged marriages out of their own free will. It has also been proven that 4% to 6% of arranged marriages end in divorce compared to the 50% of divorce rate for autonomous marriages. There's also been questions about sexual gratification; In Japan it was reported that the men in arranged marriages are more sexually satisfied, while in autonomous marriages the partners are in the middle. In India, there showed to be an equal amount of compassionate love shown between arranged marriages and autonomous marriages.

Religion
Some religious denominations recognize marriages only within the faith. Of the major religions of the world, Islam forbids marriage of girls of a devout parent to a man who does not belong to that religion. In other words, Islam forbids marriage of Muslim girls to non-Muslim men, and the religious punishment for those who marry outside might be severe. This is one of the motivations of arranged marriages in Islamic minority populations in Europe.

My edits:

Since religion is important in the Hindu community, parents often find spouses that have the same religion for their children. When two people with different religions fall in love, one must convert to the other's religion, forsaking their own. It is socially unacceptable for for people to intermarry, which is why parents arranging a marriage for their children will make sure they marry someone from he same faith. Hindus favor religious segregation, so many of them do not keep friendships with those from other religions. A study shows that 45% of Hindu's only have friends who have the same religion as them and 13 percent have friends with different religions. This trains children to only desire to be around those of the same religion since intermingling of religious friendships and marriages are not too common. Furthermore, the people must marry within their caste system and most have a specific type of religion. They are taught this from a young age and it is considered one of the most important rules. When love outside of a person's caste happens, the parents sometimes threaten to kill the lover. Families fear of the opinions of the public is another reason why parents forbid their children from marrying outside their caste. The lowest, known as the untouchables, are seen as unclean and they are not even allowed to walk past someone from a higher caste because of fear that they will defile them.

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