Changing Trends of Marriage and Its Future | Sociology Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

• The Hindu attitude to marriage has come down from the ancient Vedic times when it was regarded as a social and religious duty. Even today it is regarded by most Hindus as a sacrament, ordained and imperative which every normal man and woman should undergo.  The marriages of children are the grand events of a family's career. Parents have always considered the marriage of their children one of their most sacred duties. This attitude makes it difficult for parents to accept the new marriage patterns that are slowly evolving as a result of the modernising influence in the post independence period. The new ways of earning a living, the wider spread of education, the modern facilities of transport and communication, on the post independence eliminate of legislative action, increasing employment opportunities for women have all affected the traditional marriage patterns. Indian marriage pattern is being changed in several ways. The full importance of these shifts cannot yet be assessed. However, certain directions of change are clearly apparent.
• Age of marriage: The age of marriage of both Men and women has varied from time to time and region to region as well as with religion, caste and language differences. But the main consideration which determined the girl's age of marriage until recently was that she was supposed to marry before attaining puberty. The custom was mainly due to the high regard for the chastity of woman. Another reason for pre-puberty marriage and child marriage, Kapadia says was that it facilitated the transfer of the girl from the domination of the father to that of the husband. The subordination of women to men is a basic tenet of the traditional Hindu theory of marriage. Pre-puberty marriages began in the higher castes and were gradually taken over by the whole society.
• Though the Child Marriage Restriction act of 1929, amended in 1939, abolished child marriages by raising the marriageable age of boys and girls to 18 and 14 respectively, pre-puberty marriages still take place in rural India. On the other hand, well educated girls tend to marry at a later age. But twenty five years is now considered the limit and girls have difficulty in finding husbands after that age.
• Age at Marriage has gone up due to several structural factors:
  • unwillingness of young men to marry till they are settled in life;
  • preference for educated, particularly educated working girls;
  • difficulty of securing suitable young men for girls;
  • hypergamy & concomitant  constraints of wedding expenses, specially dowry.
• Choice of marriage partner: The choice of a marriage partner, as says Kapadia, may be considered from three different points of view, namely the field of selection, the party to selection and the criteria of selection. Preferential code, prohibiting restrictions, endogamy and exogamy explain the field, the party and the criteria in selection of marital partners. In addition to these rules which limit the field of selection, caste and religion are the principal traits that define the group within which a person is likely to marry. Indians, with a few exceptions, marry within their religious group. Despite the Special Marriage Act which gives a person freedom to marry outside his/her caste group, caste endogamy remains a hard fact of life. In some  quarters  intercaste  marriages  have  received  encouragement  duel occupational mobility, migration, education and common workplace for both men and women.
  
  Many Indians today seek romance in marriage
• The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 defines the degrees of prohibited relationships', which completely ignores rules of caste endogamy and clan exogamy. However, thelocal customs of various communities related to marriage among cross cousins have been held valid. Among Muslims, for example, marriage with a father's brother's daughter is more or less obligatory, Endogamous rules are also observed by the Muslims. The Shias and the Sunnis do not intermarry. Moreover, the various subgroups among the Sunnis (Sayyid, Sheikh, Mughal, Pathan, etc.) marry within their communities. In the choice of their mates there is a growing desire of educated young men and women to have more say and many have gained the right to see and talk, of course under supervision of their own and their prospective marriage partner’s parents. Generally speaking, freedom of choice in marriage is not yet a widely accepted pattern. Even when young people are given more freedom of choice, the parents do most of the arranging or at least must approve his/her choice. The initiative and negotiation of marriages are still largely where they traditionally have been, in the hands of parents and elder kinsmen.
• In addition to the above the dynamic forces of urbanization and industrialization have introduced new elements into the marriage picture; romantic love as a necessary prelude to marriage and the possibility of divorce. Romantic love as a basis for marriage is not unknown in India. In fact, it is often mentioned in the Epic literature, but is so exceptional that it is not in the customary expectations; few partners have a chance of meeting in a way in which they can form romantic attachments. Most parents are not pleased when sons or daughters want to ma basis for marry the people they fall in love with. The theme of romantic love as a basis for marriage is still not a part of the family mores of India today.
• Divorce was not sanctioned in the Hindu concept of marriage; barring some lower castes which had a custom of divorce, Hindu marriage was indissoluble. Under Islamic law, only the husband enjoys the privilege to divorce. The Hindu Marriage Act (1955) provides for divorce or judicial separation if certain conditions are fulfilled. Divorce has however not yet gained general acceptance, though its role is increasing. Till December 2000, altogether 37 lakh divorce cases were pending at various courts across the country.
• Dowry
  The practice of making dowry payments is not new, especially among the higher jatis of north India. This traditionally and generally accepted association of dowry marriages with high social status has not been effaced by liberal reformism. Education and the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 have not mitigated practice. On the contrary, there has been an increase; of late in the practice of dowry marriages, largely through its adoption by upwardly  mobile jatis. Particularly among  the middle classes, there has been an increase in the monetary value of dowries; and the fiction that they are daughters' inheritances (Streedhan) rather than the purchase price for sons-in-law becomes palpable. The high costs of dowry fall heavily on families burdened by the biological lottery with a preponderance of daughters. The failure to meet the dowry often results in domestic violence. Indian women's groups have brought to light a number of hideous instances in which brides with discrepant dowries were brutalized an even murdered or driven to suicide by their married families.
• Weddings
  Some changes have occurred  in weddings. Not  only some of the elaborate rituals have been eliminated but the length of ceremonies have been shortened to a few days. Yet increased wedding expenses continue to burden many levels. Weddings, particularly in urban areas, no longer serve the function of reuniting the large kinship group and a means of keeping the larger family unit together. Yet weddings are still the occasion for public display of wealth and prestige and are still carried out traditionally.
• Assessment
  Marriage is a complicated process which involves many aspects of behaviour. The mores and folkways surrounding marriage are usually deeply set. IT is hard to expect fundamental and rapid deviation from the customary ways of behaviour. Despite the legal prohibition of such traditional practices as child marriage and betrothal, and bringing the legal minimum ages in line with internationally accepted standards, many marriages in rural India are contracted in adolescence. The right of the young adults to meet, engage in a courtship, and decide whom and when to marry has not yet gained general acceptance. Arranged marriages are still normal and girls are strictly chaperoned. Caste endogamy is generally observed. There exists strong social pressure against interfaith marriages. Though divorce is legalized it remains hard and shameful. Contrary to Hindu traditions most people favor the remarriage of widows but there are few takers. Tradition dies hard, as it has been said.

Household Dimensions of Family 

• A family may be large or small depending on the prevailing principles of organization of descent relations between the dependents of married persons. Thus, the family is based on the principles of kinship whose members usually share a common residence. They reside in a house/homestead; this residential unit is called the household. The members of a household have a set of relational ties amongst them. These ties are linked with the status held and the corroborating role complexes members of the family expected to constitute. The household (ghar) is a residential and domestic unit composed of one or more persons living under the same roof and eating food cooked in the same kitchen (hearth/chulah). It may so happen that not all the members of a family live in the same household all the time. Geographically distanced homes may be occupied by a few of the members of a given family. These members then reside in two or more households but they consider themselves as belonging to the same family. The household is a commensal and co-resident group/unit (with the provision for the phenomenon of single person household). Thus kin and residence rules distinguish between family and household.
• Family is a commonly used world and in a general sense it is well understood. It refers to a universal, permanent, and pervasive institution characterized by socially approved sexual access and reproduction, common residence, domestic services, and economic cooperation. But here troubles start. In ancient India, Niyoga permitted a woman sexual access to a person other than her husband later for the specific purpose of reproduction. The progenitor had later nothing to do with the woman of his progeny; the latter was incorporated into the lineage of the woman's husband and shared a common residence as well as domestic services with them. In the past, amongst Nayars several men could have access to a woman through the Tali rite and subsequent Sambandham unions. The Tali, a chain and locket worn round the neck, was tied by a man of appropriate ritual status on behalf of his sub-caste as a collectivity, which acquired sexual rights over the woman concerned. These rights were extended to any member of a higher caste who was attracted to and was found acceptable by her.
• Man who had Sambandham relations did not have any exclusive rights either as husband or as father, the woman could withdraw the    sexual access allowed to them at any time if she so wished. The right over her progeny was vested in her Tarawad (household of matrilineal kin). The Tali rite performed before the commencement of menstruation symbolized the state of marriage of a girl to a collectivity of men from appropriate castes. At childbirth someone of acceptable rank had to provide the delivery expenses. This provision of a ritual father and a legalized genitor conferred legitimacy on the offspring and spared the woman the ignominy of excommunication. In the sense that it provided legitimacy to the offspring, such a union could be called a marriage, but the two other features of the family common residence and economic cooperation (including domestic services) were absent. 
• The conjugal unit did not necessarily constitute a domestic groups or household. In the Lakshadweep islands  and in some matrilineal groups of central Kerala, the husband is no more than a nightly visitor entitled only to sexual access to the woman, but without any prescribed economic role or authority. In the Nayar Nambudiri  Sambandham,  the latter  could  not even interdine with his wife or children, not to speak of sharing any, domestic chores or economic activity. These exceptions have bothered anthropologists a great deal, and the debate on eh minimum definition of marriage (and, in consequence, of the family) has remained inconclusive. But that need not deter us: where a union has social approval that grants legitimacy to the offspring, it may be treated as marriage. Marriage and the family do not necessarily go together; the spouses can continue to belong to their respective matrilineal families. There is great diversity in the forms of family in Indian  society. These forms can be distinguished  on  several different basesdescent, residence, membership and number of mates.
• In most communities in India descent is traced in the father's line. This is called patrilineal descent. Mention has already been made of matrilineal societies like Garo, Khasi and Pahadi in the northeast, and Nayar, Mappilla, Lakshadweep islanders, and several tribal and nontribal groups in south India in which descent is traced in the mother's line. Besides these two main systems, there are also examples of cognatic communities- Anglo Indians and some tribal groups which have bilateral tendencies. They may take the name from the father, but in tracing descent they also take note of the mother's line. Alongside the words patrilineal and matrilineal, there is a tendency to use also patriarchal and matriarchal. The latter usage is loose and confusing. Patriarchy refers to male dominant structures and this indeed is the norm in a sizeable part of Indian society. But matriarchy (female dominant system) does not exist. Women in matrilineal groups are important but in several fields they are not the effective decision makers. Major management functions are vested in male members.
• There is considerable variation in the pattern of residence after marriage. When the wife moves to live in her husband's father's house (or grandfather's or uncle's house, in the event of the father not being there) the family type is patrilocal. Conversely, when the husband moves to live with his wife's mother's family, the family type is matrilocal.  Patrilocal residence is the most common in India, examples of matrilocal residence are found among the Khasi, the Nayar and several other matrilineal groups. In the number of tribal groups a neolocal residence (a new house for the newly wedded couple) is preferred, although it is more common for them to set up a new home after a period of stay in a partilocal or matrilocal setting. In Lakshadweep and central Kerala the approved pattern of residence is duolocal- the husband continuing to live in his mother's Tarawad and the wife in her mother's Tarawad.
• India is often described as a country of joint families. It social anthropological and sociological literature this term is less commonly used, a distinction is made between the nuclear and extended family- the latter signifying units commonly referred to as the joint family. A nuclear family means a married couple and their children. An extended family, on the other hand is a larger group composed of two, three or more generations of lineally related members, their spouses, and children. In matrilineal extended families the husbands of married women are not included. At given point of time the proportion of nuclear families is higher but most nuclear families grow into extended families and break up later into incomplete extended families or nuclear families: It is rare to find all, or even most, members of two or three generations living together. 
• There are evident limits to the number of persons sharing the same' house; domestic discord often leads to the setting up of separate units. The latter are referred to as domestic groups or households. A large extended family may live together and may also jointly carry out some economic pursuits, but it is likely to have separate domestic arrangements for its several nuclear units. They gradually come to have separate hearths (chulhas) and have independent arrangements for cooking and dining. A form of jointness is maintained where nuclear families live and work separately, but where there is no formal division of ancestral, property, all members congregate on occasions of marriage and death as well as important ceremonial occasions. Togetherness and solidarity within the family are much lauded virtues, but households are not without their politics and intractable problems.

Family types may, also be classified on the basis of the number of mates.

• In monogamy an individual can have only one spouse at a time. Before the passing of the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 widows were not permitted to remarry in several upper Hindu Jatis; for them it was straight monogamy, as against the serial monogamy current in Western societies and now through legislation in many other societies including Indian. Polygamy can be subdivided into two types: polygyny, in which a husband can have two or more wives and into which a woman can have two or more husbands.
• Polygyny was widely practiced in India among the tribes, Hindus, and Muslims. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 has sought to adopt monogamy as a rule among Hindus, but from Census data is appears that polygyny is still prevalent on a limited scale. The Scheduled Tribes are permitted to follow their customary law. Muslim personal law, being a sensitive issue, has not been touched in India; it permits polygyny, although several Muslim counties (including Pakistan) have passed legislation intended to eliminate the abuse of polygyny. However, all Muslim men do not marry four wives the incidence of polygyny among Muslims in India in 193140 was 7.29 percent, in 194150 it was 7.06 percent, and in 195160 it was 4.31 percent. Comparable figures for Hindus during this time frame were 6.79, 7.15 and 5.06 percent. These figures are based on the survey of nearly 1,00,000 marriages. They show a definite decline in polygynous marriages and thus of polygynous families.
• Polyandry is confined to some small pockets. In the north it is practised by the Khasa (Jaunsaris) of U.P. and the people of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. Having been declared Scheduled Tribes they do not come war the purview  of the  Hindu  law  prohibiting bigamy. They practise fraternal or Adelphic polyandry. Among them, when the eldest brother marries a woman all the younger brothers simultaneously become her husbands. More than one woman can be married to the brothers. Such a situation can be regarded as group marriage. Among the Todas of south India, the husbands of a woman need not be brothers. This is known as non fraternal polyandry such union inevitably raise the question, of paternity. 
• The problem is solved by the bow and arrow ceremony. In this ceremony one of the husbands of the woman generally performs this rite, but if she conceives before marriage, or for some reason any of her husband is unable to perform it, anyone from an appropriate group (i.e., one into which she can be married) may perform the ceremony. At first pregnancy, the man performing the rite takes her, along with some relatives, to a nearby forest. A square socket is made by them in the trunk of a tree and a small lighted lamp is kept in it. The man makes a set of small wooden bow and arrows and gives them to the woman, who lifts them gently and touches them to her forehead. Then she fixedly gazes at the lighted lamp until its flame is extinguished. The man then prepares a meal, both eat and spend the night together. 
• They return to their village the next day. The husband  who performs this ceremony when the woman  becomes pregnant, becomes the father of that child. He will be regarded as the father of all subsequent children even those born after his death unless the ceremony is performed by another husband. Thus, among the Toda social paternity  is rated as more important than biological paternity. Polyandry is believed to have been practiced by the Nayar of Kerala, but that was at least over a hundred years ago. An important landed Jati n north India is believed to have traces of polyandry, the younger brothers of a man being allowed sexual access to his wife. 
• From some accounts one gathers that this favour may be claimed even by the husband's elder brothers if a woman is widowed, she is claimed as a wife by one of the younger brothers under the Karewa custom and if there is no younger brother, then by an elder brother. A father-in-law can stake his claim also some even going to court to establish their right. This view however, is hotly contested and the existence' of the practice is being denied for reasons of social prestige. Among the educated classes of this Jati this practice is being discontinued, but to the shock of some educated brides their younger brothers-in-law do make traditional demands.
• Interpersonal relations within the family are often explained in terms of norms that should apply to certain categories of relations, such as between the father mother and son; between brothers and sisters; between sisters, the mothe r-in-law and daughter-in-law; between husband and wife, and between brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. These norms spell out the ideal and provide guidelines for appropriate behaviour. But there is considerable variation in their observance. No two sons are cast in the same mould and no tow households are alike. Daughtersin-law, because of their different socialization, bring with them different sets of attitudes and behaviour patterns. This is recognized and efforts are made to accommodate the differences.
• The underlying principles behind the norms of age, sex, and distance in kinship scale are important. It is expected that deference be shown to age. In patrilineal groups women are expected to give precedence to men. Distance in the kinship scale has to be observed. A woman is expected to avoid close contact with her husband's father, uncles and elder brothers. In traditional north Indian homes, she has to cover her face in their presence; if ever she has to speak to them she is expected to use as few words as possible and her manner suitably subdued. Uncles of one's age and even younger, are accorded recognition of their superior kinship status. But privileged familiarity is permitted between certain categories of relations. For example, in north India there is a recognized joking relationship between a man and his wife's younger sister and woman and her husband's younger brothers. It has to be noted that as time passes the warmth of some relations cools off. Distance in space also alters the nature of interaction between relations; form is often maintained but the sense of closeness goes.
• A number of factors have affected the solidarity of the family and the quality of relationships  within  modern  times.  Education,  non-traditional  occupations, disparities in income, and spatial distance are the more important factors impinging upon relationships and pushing, them in the direction of change. The culture of live in'.' coupling, the single woman phenomenon, and unwed mothers has not yet come to India in a big way, but at least the urban family is undergoing, a transformation.
• Notwithstanding changes of considerable magnitude overtime, the family continues to perform some important functions. Through it, membership replaced and the physical maintenance of society is ensured. It regulates reproduction and provides the minimum conditions of survival; such n nutrition, shelter, and care of the sick. It provides for the socialization of the young; within its setting they internalize the norms of society and learn to conform to appropriate forms of behaviour. It also controls deviant forms of behaviour among its members, especially of the young. The family provides the necessary emotional support, affection, appreciation, and encouragement. Above all, it is an important economic unit. It used to be a unit both of production and consumption. While the urban family is tending to become a unit only of consumption as it depends on its income from Work outside, in India as a whole, the family still remains an important unit also of production. These salient functions contribute to the permanence of the family as a unit of social organization.

Patriarchy, Entitlement And Sexual Division of  Labour 

• The term 'patriarchy', literally means 'rule of the father' (or patriarch) but has been adopted by feminists to refer to male domination over women in all its forms physical, political, psychological and ideological. In particular, it refers to the social 'and political structures, cultural institutions and social forces which keep women oppressed and powerless in male dominated societies.
• Patriarchy can be traced back to the Bible, to the assumption that God is male and to the Book of Genesis where, after Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, God condemned her and all womankind to subordination to men, 'in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee': Every known society is ruled by men and, although examples of female equality can be cited (e.g. the Tchambuli tribe of New Guinea), there is no known example of female rule, or matriarchy.
• Feminist writers, however totally reject the idea that patriarchy is either inevitable or natural. They have instead developed  a variety of theories to show that patriarchy is manmade a physical and ideological force used by men to keep women in their place in the background of society and historically invisible. The notion of patriarchy has provided feminism with a core concept for identifying explaining and ultimately changing sexual inequality and oppression and for inspiring women to be female in the fullest and freest sense of the word. Within the feminist movement, however a wide and diverse range of theories have emerged, each identifying different causes and so different solutions to patriarchy.
• India is a great paradox. It is a country where women have been worshipped and crucified at the same time. Our scriptures regard women as the goddesses, the incarnation of compassion provider of food and destroyer of evil. But in practice women had to be content with a subservient role within the house for centuries. There may be exception but, by and large, the social mindset has been that of discrimination against women. Right from the birth for a majority of Indian women; life itself has been a long hurdle race, both within and outside the family.
• The gender disparities persist with uncompromising tenacity, more so in rural areas and among the disadvantaged communities. These disparities are nutrition and health care, education, age at .marriage, access to recreation. However, in equality between women and, men can take many 'different forms like mortality inequality, natal inequality, basic facility inequality, special opportunity inequality professional inequality; household inequality caste class inequality etc.
• The structure of India society is essentially patriarchal, where the male child is considered as the legitimate heir and the carrier of family name and genes. In rural India, a male child is welcome addition to family, as he means enhanced workforce and reduced work load in agricultural activities. Sons also receive extra attention and care by the parents who cherish hope of relying on them during old age. On the other hand prevalence of how and ostentatious marriage ceremonies work to the detriment of the girl child. Non compliance of rigid social norms often carries a social stigma while compliance places heavy financial burden on family often leading to a debt trap. So, for many, bringing up a daughter is like catering to a plant in another courtyard. The net result is relegation of girls to domestic chores and upbringing young sibling.
  A cartoon highlighting the patriarchal nature of Indian society
• Moreover to avoid payment of heavy amount of dowry at a later stage, people in rural area often resort to childhood marriage. Marriage at such a tender stage places heavy mental as well as physical burden on girls retarding their natural growth.
• Women's development is directly related to national development. A large number of programmes have been initiated for women's development. These programmes lay emphasis on providing equal opportunities to women by removing gender bias, empowering women and creating self reliance. Some of the measures adopted by govt. of India noteworthy of mentioning are 
  • Swayam Siddha 
  • Swadhara 
  • Swashakti 
  • STEP for women 
  • Balika Samridhi Yojana 
  • Rashtriya Mahilakosh 
  • Mahila Samakhya 
  • Indira Mahila Yojana 
  • Mahila Samridhi Yojana 
  • Giving 33% reservation to women in PRI in the 73rd & 74th amendment Act etc.
• All these programmes revolve round the central notion of adopting a holistic approach to women's development encompassing health, education and employment. Education is the best panacea for eradicating the hardship of women and empowering them. Women's education leads to reduction of family size, greater attention of mother towards health; education and character building of their children, greater participation of women in labour market, greater participation of women in labour market, greater per capita income and better quality of human capital. Educating a girl child means providing her an opportunity to acquire information that can be utilised immediately to raise not only her social status but also her self esteem.
  The December 2012 Delhi Gang rape of Nirbhaya (‘fearless’) sparked massive public outrage across India: Mother of the victim addressing a public rally.
• It has been felt that inadequate machinery for detection of crime, poor and ill equipped investigation agency, lacunae in certain legal provision and lack of community support are responsible for crime against women. Formation of self help group and awareness among women can tackle this problem.
• Though political empowerment of women in Panchayati raj is a statutory provision, still the 81st constitutional amendment bill regarding reservation of women in state assembly and national parliament has not been passed. There can be no true democracy no true people participation in governance and development, without equal participation of women and men in all spheres of life and at different levels of decision making.
• In India voluntary organizations have mushroomed in towns and villages highlighting women's issues, giving legal aid, health training, doing developmental activities- creating an image of tremendous growth and proliferation of women's movement.
• The newer trends in feminism emphasising the politics of difference or extolling feminity have also influenced the essence of  feminism.  With  these politics of plurality certain the tarn questions emerge. For instance, would profession of modelling or participation in beauty pageants be an expression of independence and entry into feminist space or falling victim to a consumerist culture that turns women into sex objects? Would 33% reservation for women in elected bodies, women in police force, army, bureaucracy, and judiciary be expression of women's empowerment or merely an assimilation of women into exploitative state machinery?
• Apart from giving due emphasis on the education of the girl child, a multi pronged strategy need to be adopted to tackle and solve her problems. Massive awareness drives need to be launched and community participation in them ensured. Now many States in India have launched welfare schemes in the form of monetary incentives. At the birth of the girl child; the states invests some money by her name in various govt. money growth schemes. Many states have made education free for girls upto university level.
• The year 2001 has been celebrated all over India as the year of women's empowerment. The govt. of India has changed its approach from welfare to development to empowerment of women. Unless an active approach coupled with mass awareness programme is persued women of the 21st century would continue to live in darkness. It can be concluded that a concerted efforts by all of us is required to get rid of the malady of gender disparity which is affecting our society today. We have to overcome age old barriers of silence, isolation and discrimination by making serious and sincere efforts. We have a wish to do it, what we really need is a will to succeed.