Comments | anthropologist: India's 'bride buying' country

sugarimp in anthropologist

India's 'bride buying' country

Apr 09, 2006 01:15

By Renu Agal, BBC News, Mewat, Haryana
Anwari Khatoon came visiting a relative in the northern Indian state of Haryana eight months ago, but ended up getting married against her will to a local man with six children from a previous marriage.A man from her village in eastern Jharkhand state had accompanied the 22-year-old woman on her journey to ( Read more... )

human trafficking, gender issues, india, infanticide, south asia, gender selection

Comments 12

ms_maree April 8 2006, 23:18:55 UTC

Yeah. Forced marriage is an issue here in the UK, they keep talking about making it illegal, but then some Politicians are afraid that they will look they are they are attacking certain ethnic minorities.

It's a complex issue.

sugarimp April 8 2006, 23:23:38 UTC

Unlike the UK (which involves families), this is less an issue of forced marriages than of poverty and human trafficking- due to a gender ratio-skew, m'thinks. This sort of thing is happening in china as well, where women are being kidnapped and sold as brides and prostitutes.

ms_maree April 8 2006, 23:33:56 UTC

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I thank all the fates that I was born and brought up in the Western World. For all it's faults, and there are myriad, there are worst places to be a woman.

psykhokat April 9 2006, 11:09:39 UTC

Is forced marriage legal in the UK? In Norway, arranged marriages are legal, but not when they're forced. I think that in that way, you keep the respect for other ethnicities but still keep the legal system somewhat fair...

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ibid April 10 2006, 12:05:06 UTC

This is awful, but logical. Infanticide is largely a consequence of the dowry system as most parents simply cannot afford to marry off their daughters. I wonder if there will be a skew towards a bridewealth system in the future (not that it's much better than dowry).

sugarimp April 10 2006, 12:21:41 UTC

Maybe. But more likely women will be seen as commodity more so than they already are. This also means an increase in violence against women by frustrated men.

interesting. bluemamie April 10 2006, 15:31:58 UTC

what is a bridewealth system? i've never heard of that.

Re: interesting. sugarimp April 10 2006, 16:07:56 UTC

It's when the dowry is paid to the bride or her family instead (whereas in India, the bride pays to the groom's family).

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