User:Mmccartney1/Arranged marriage

Dowries In India
A dowry is a gift of money, property, or valuable items gifted to a groom by the bride’s family after marriage. As stated by Santana Flanigan, “Dowries originally started as 'love' gifts after the marriages of upper caste individuals, but during the medieval period the demands for dowries became a precursor for marriage.” The practice of the dowry system has helped enhance women's marriages in different ways. One of the ways is helping the woman find a better husband by offering more to him. Another way is it helps women have a guaranteed social status and economic security. Lastly, dowries can help families with similar social and economic status allin with one another. Although using dowries does not always have a positive outcome some negative side effects may happen. In many instances, the families of women can not afford to put up a dowry for their daughters. This can cause the daughter not to get married which in turn, in severe cases, can lead to suicide or depression. When a family can not afford a dowry for their daughters this can make the daughter feel like a financial burden to the family as well. As a result of these negative side effects, there was a law that was passed in 1961. This law was called the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 and was passed in India. The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 made it so it was illegal for a family to demand, give, or take a dowry, and if caught, they could be punished by law. However, this act has some loose knots in terms of its rules. It is stated that the couple is allowed to have a wedding present in the form of money, clothes, or other things that do not count as a dowry. It also states that if a family does decide to give a dowry, it does not invalidate the marriage and no legal issues will be taken unless they get caught. Therefore, giving a dowry is illegal by law but many people still find ways to give them. They found these ways by finding the loopholes in The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961. For example, the family will gift gifts of large sums of money to the couple as a wedding gift, this money to some, may be seen as a dowry, and since giving money as a wedding gift is allowed this may be considered a loophole. According to Lodhia at Britannica, “In 1984…it was changed to specify that presents given to a bride or a groom at the time of a wedding are allowed.” This correction to The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 made things more specific. The corrections made it so that when the married couple received wedding gifts they had to document what the gift was, who gave it to them, the relation of the person to the couple, and how much the gift was worth. This made it easier to track if a couple did receive a dowry versus if it was a wedding gift. After 1984 even more additions were made. In the Indian Penal Code modifications were made to help female victims of dowry-related violence. Dowry-related violence is when the groom's family demands a dowry from the bride's family before, during, or after the marriage. These acts of violence only affect the women in the marriage and can often lead to very brutal violence. According to The Advocates For Human Rights, “The most common forms of dowry-related violence are physical violence, marital rape, acid attacks, and wife burning (where a woman is covered in kerosene or some other accelerant and deliberately set on fire).” These violent attacks result from the bride’s family not wanting to or being unable to pay a dowry that the groom's family has demanded.

Arranged Matchmakers in India
For matchmakers, traditionally called nayan, in India it is custom for them to be a family friend or a distant relative. Some people however do not prefer to use a matchmaker. As stated by Santana Flanigan, “Some families with marriageable age children may prefer not to approach possible matches with a marriage proposal because communication between families could break down, and could result in accidental disrespect between the two families.” This person is a neutral matchmaker when families are trying to plan an arranged marriage. The nayan usually has two roles that they play: one is as a marriage scout and the other is as a negotiator. As a marriage scout, the matchmaker goes out into the community and tries to find a potential match for the person who wants to get married. As a negotiator, the matchmaker talks to different families and tries to come to a common ground about a potential arranged marriage between two families. While going about this process the matchmaker considers several different considerations including but not limited to family background, financial status, and family reputation. Once the nayan finds a match they will get in contact with the families and start to arrange communication between the future couple. Communication starts strictly from the matchmaker to the two people and their families. Eventually, families will begin to communicate with each other while also allowing the new couple to communicate with one another. After the families have talked about the marriage and made wedding plans the matchmakers come back to help in the process of the wedding. The help offered by the nayan can come in the form of jewelry or wedding setup. Usually, the matchmaker does not receive any pay for the work that they have done but will often be given gifts from the families of the new couple.

Laws and Policies That the United States Has for Arranged Marriage
The United States has some very clean and concrete laws about arranged and forced marriages. A forced marriage is where one or both of the people who are planning to be married do not want to be or get married to one another. This usually happens because of religious, cultural, or social status reasons. In most cases, the families of both parties feel that the two people should get married for many different reasons but the men and women that are to be married do not want to get married. In the United States forced marriages are not permitted at all and can be pushed through the law. According to The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, “...in all U.S. states, people who force someone to marry may be charged with violating state laws, including those against domestic violence, child abuse, rape, assault, kidnapping, threats of violence, stalking, or coercion.” In an arranged marriage the families of the individuals help choose the marriage partner but overall will not force a marriage upon anyone if they do not want to get married. This is the one difference between arranged and forced marriages. Usually for forced marriages the family plays a part in choosing the individual the person will marry but they have no say in whether they want to marry them or not. The United States Government is against forced marriage and sees it as a human rights abuse. The United States Government also tries to help non-United States Citizens who may be forced into an arranged marriage. With this, they also help United States citizens who may be in a forced marriage situation. The United States government has many different policies and laws on what they believe is right for arranged marriages.