Source

NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 8, 2004: A study by the Centre for Social Research (CSR) — “Indian Marriages: Economic Independence and Changing Power Relations” — has tracked the changes in matrimonial advertisements over the past 50 years. It shows how much the profiles of the Indian bride and bridegroom have changed from the 1950s onwards:



Earlier, barbers, dhobis (washermen) and priests acted as intermediaries in marriages. Today, the role is being taken over by advertisements in the print and electronic media, including newspapers and Internet. The space vacated by the collapse of the joint family system is now being occupied by neighborhood marriage bureaus — at a price of course.



Notwithstanding social activism and the law against it, dowry remains an integral part of most Indian marriages. Only the list of items given as “gifts” to the groom’s family has changed over the years according to market trends.



If marriage bureaus have taken over the market, beauty parlours and “finishing” schools have stepped in to beautify the bride and equip her with etiquette. They are expected to become what the saas-bahu soaps reflected as the “new woman” — decision-makers who are independent and intelligent as well as traditional home-makers and ideal daughters-in-law.



There is still a very strong preference for arranged marriages, specially in rural areas where they are arranged by family elders on the basis of caste, degree of consanguinity, economic status and education, if any, and astrology.



Among the elite and those living in urban and metropolitan areas, love marriages or marriages of choice are becoming common.



Divorce is still perceived to be an admission of a woman’s failure as a wife and daughter-in-law. No wonder, India has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world. In 1991, the divorce rate was less than one per cent of the adult female population. But data collated from the Indian Statistical Institute says the percentage of divorced population has now gone up to 1.6 per cent.



HPI adds: Perhaps the biggest change in marriage in India is age. According to the website here, prior to 1951, the average age of men was 20 at marriage and women 13. In 1991, the men’s age was 24 and the women’s 19.

Post Views: 688