KARACHI:
A few days ago, in Sindh, the news of an MPA submitting a draft seeking to make marriage compulsory for women above the age of 18 caused an uproar on social media and rightfully so. According to the MPA, “[The bill] will bring wellbeing in the society.”
Such an absurd draft comes from our society’s deep-rooted obsession with marriage. We’ve been made to believe that marriage fixes all problems and that is clearly never the case. Instead, forceful marriages give rise to toxic and abusive households, high divorce rate and mental trauma for the people involved.
The institution of marriage must be respected. Marriage should be a mutual decision of the two people involved. No individual should be coerced into it, especially at such a young age. The last thing we need is the state forcing marriage onto its subjects.
Aisha Manzoor Baig
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2021.
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