The Positive Effects of Arranged Marriage
I. Introduction
Background of the Study
A
lot of people, especially from the Western part of the world, consider that
arranged marriage is something that the parents decide it waywardly, without
thinking the consent of their son or daughter. So, it’s like love is just a
silly thing to be the root of a commitment that last long (Zufoletti, 2007).
In
an arranged marriage, the parents should select a good partner for their child
and as they think of their child’s welfare in the future, they try to check the
aspects of the selected individual if he or she is compatible with their child.
They continually practice arranged marriage because they don’t want their
children to marry someone with another culture, status in life and the beliefs
they’ve learned. In this generation, arranged marriages are not mandatory
however the permission from the parents is considered necessary because parents
have their opinions about the future husband or wife of their child (Theo,
1993).
Arranged
marriage is one of the important traditions practiced in some countries some
countries of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other countries in the world
that you may not have noticed or heard about it. It is a celebration and also a
culture that is not accepted to others yet, no matter how you twist or turn this
kind of tradition, it has advantages to the people who still practice it and
contributes disadvantages too (http://clvb.hubpages.com/hub/Arranged-Marriage--Why-or-Why-not, 2008).
The
practice of arranging a marriage is continually emerging throughout the world
although other people eventually try to shift their conception about the idea
of this kind of marriage. Alteration happens in some nations due to the rising
generation but some are caused by the government. Pakistan for instance, it
still holds the tradition of having this kind of marriage and it constitutes
nearly 90 percent of marriages. Japan also practices it and presently, it
comprises more or less 29 percent arranged marriage of all marriages in the
place (http://atlas.kennesaw.edu/~akapilev/essay4.html).
Even
if majority of the public says this issue is true about an arranged marriage is
true, we still could not generally conclude that they do it just to profit themselves
while hurting others (Zufoletti, 2007).
In
every case, there is bad and good. An arranged marriage is no exemption to
this. It has its good, positive, and advantageous effects. The advantages are
as follows:
a. Social Compatibility
The feeling of
sympathy towards others with regards to their social being and living with them
in a harmonious way is what we call social compatibility.
Theo (1993)
stated that problems or conflicts in a marriage are mostly caused by unmatched
religious views, socioeconomic status and cultural upbringing. However, with a
fixed marriage, these differences are completely prevented because the unions
are decided with these parameters in mind. Owning these parallel views, the
husband-to-be and wife-to-be will have continual peace and understand each
other avoiding many arguments.
b. Personality
As
explained by Theo, “Parents may be good judges of their children's
personalities. In an arranged marriage, parents choose a spouse compatible in
personality, using logic rather than the illusive emotion of love. In normal
western marriages where people choose their own mate, love and lust are often
considered before compatibility. In some arranged marriages, the families make
sure the potential partners have compatible horoscopes as well as
personalities. An additional benefit of arranging a marriage comes into play
with a shy person or someone who does not have the opportunity to meet a
potential spouse on his own. Arranging a marriage may be the only way some
people will be able to make a union.”
c. Extended Family
Furthermore,
in an arranged marriage, the first party doesn’t engage in an arrangement with
an unknown second party. So basically, the two parties should have known each
other for years before arranging a marriage. Consequently, they would know that
both parties have desirable family background and both show the same beliefs
and rules about right and wrong. When the potential spouses already marry, they
create a relationship with the extended family. Future sons and daughters of
the couple, the parents of both spouses will have influence them. Living with
in-laws that are mistrustful or create mistreatment, it can lead to
misunderstanding toward the husband and the wife. So when the parents are going
to arrange a marriage, they have to really find what kind of family they would
get involve their son or daughter to prevent a conflict between two families.
Choosing a good family for their child makes everyone happy and understanding
because family is a very important group that you could ever have and it is
also important to marriage (Theo, 1993).
d. Lower Divorce Rate
Theo
further elaborated, “Arranged marriages experience lower divorce rates than
western love-based marriages. India, one of the countries where arranged
marriages are still very popular, has the lowest divorce rate in the world at
1.1 percent. Many factors effect whether or not a marriage will last such as
money attitudes, compatibility, extended family, respect, religious beliefs,
and moral upbringing. An arranged marriage eliminates many incompatibility
problems to ensure a mutual respect between partners. Love grows from respect.”
Objectives of the Study
The
main goal of this study is to achieve the following objectives:
1.
What are the positive effects of arranged
marriage?
2.
What countries in the world that still practice
arranged marriage?
3.
What country has the lowest divorce rate of
arranged marriage?
4.
What country has the highest divorce rate of
arranged marriage?
Significance of the Study
At
present time, divorced marriage is rampant in the society thus, there are cases
unsolved and still in the process of settling it in the court. Most people who
experienced divorced marriage are those people married through a love-based
marriage. The researcher then would like to persuade and encourage those who
will be arranged in such marriages or are already in a fixed marriage to
preserve the tradition and lessen divorce rate.