Marriage And Divorce In India

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Marriage in the traditional sense refers to the union between a man and woman such that children born to the women are the recognized offspring of both parents (Seligman) . The statement claims that marriage, particularly Hindu marriage is a more firmly established custom and practice in India as compared to other countries in the world with the figures cited highlighting the low divorce rate in India in relation to the United States. The perception that marriages in India are highly stable has been linked to the low divorce rate recorded and this can be attributed to the concept of arranged marriages and strong familial support for the couple. However, marriage is not necessarily a more stable institution in India than anywhere and the statement…show more content…
In India, single men and women face discrimination in many areas such as rental of housing. Worse still, single women in India are seen as objects of sexual prey, especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation and violence. Thus, married couples avoid divorce despite the marital problems they may face at home due to the stigma attached to divorce. Divorced women face a plethora of challenges such as severe economic problems should they have been homemakers during their marriage, and may resort to contracting illicit sexual relationships to support themselves financially. Children suffer in the process as well due to lack of guidance and financial means in some cases. Couples usually stay together in spite of the issues in their marriage, as divorce would result in unfavorable consequences in society. For example, the Bollywood film Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania portrays the discrimination faced by divorced women in India where main character, Kavya’s sister is divorced because of failure of her love marriage and she is constantly shunned and blamed by her family for the lack of success in her marriage. Some divorced women are even kicked out of the house as they are deemed…show more content…
This paints a flawed image of marriages as a highly stable institution in India. Holden (2008) argues that the scale of divorce amongst Hindus has been underestimated and customary divorce also gives recognition in the existing law. This shows how divorces in India are actually higher than they seem with the less affluent taking recourse to various forms of separation and customary procedures of divorce, while an incalculably larger number deserted their spouse altogether (Thompson 1991; Gillis 1985) Many couples do not get legally divorced and simply leave their spouses, never seeing their partners again. This results in the recorded number of divorces in India to be way less than reality, challenging the claim that marriage is a more stable institution in India than anywhere else in the world. Separation of couples take place in India much like in other countries of the world and the low divorce rate in India is a misrepresentation of the state of actual marriages in

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