Where a high exposure to popular media has complicated the spousal preferences of singles in urban areas, the worsening economic downslide in the country has shifted rural matrimony too, as wary parents in search of prospective matches for their children, are now forgoing family ties in favour of educational status.
In rural Punjab, marriages were traditionally settled based on kinship ties, with immense importance placed on shared factors like caste and social strata, allowing intra-family or cousin marriages to dominate matrimony for decades.
However, the recent downturn in the country’s financial situation alongside an increase in the education level of women has altered the matrimonial requirements of families in the rural setting, who no longer prioritise personal affiliations, but instead demand an erudite and prosperous spouse for their children, especially their daughters, in order to guarantee some degree of security for their futures.
Rao Abdul Rehman, a villager from the outskirts of Lahore, grew up in a family where agnate unions were the norm. “All my siblings including me are wedded to our cousins, however the changing times have shifted our matrimonial requirements for our children.
Our daughters are well-educated, and I cannot yoke them into marriage to someone who is not intellectually compatible with them, even if they are a close cousin,” insisted Rehman, who firmly holds onto his decision despite the disapprobation he has to face from his family.
According to Hamidah Bibi, an established matchmaker from a village located on the outskirts of Lahore, the tradition of marrying a son or a daughter to someone within the family is virtually approaching its end. “These days very few parents ask for proposals from within their caste. Most, however, inquire primarily about the educational and employment status of a suitor, as opposed to investigating their ancestry,” informed Hamidah.
Sociologists are of the opinion that the gradual move away from intra-family marriages is indicative of a positive social progression since the fixing of marriages within the family, despite being a convenient deal, comes at a hefty cost for the couple and their future children.
“Although settling a marriage within the family reduces the financial burden on the girl’s parents and also evades the alienness of a new relationship for the bride and the groom, it entails inevitable pitfalls in the future,” claimed Dr Rubina Zakir, Director at the Department of Sociology at the University of Punjab.
In Dr Zakir’s opinion, families which practise cousin marriages usually wed off their daughters while they are still underage, hampering their academic prospects and increasing the risk of maternal and infant mortality.
“Moreover, the children born to consanguineous parents, are at a much higher risk of congenital hereditary diseases like thalassemia, heart disease, and diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, if cousin marriages are repeated through generations, then the age of developing a hereditary disease might also go down with each successive generation,” elucidated Dr Zakir.
“If a person in a consanguineous marriage developed heart disease or diabetes at the age of 50, then his children can develop the illnesses at the age of 40,” elaborated Dr Zakir.
“While the incidence of cousin marriages has gone down over the years, there is still a need to spread awareness among the rural population on the pitfalls of intra-family marriages, in order to prevent the development of incurable genetic diseases among future generations,” she added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2023.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ