NCAER - NATIONAL DATA INNOVATION CENTRE
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Is a wave of globalization, accompanied by increasing education and access to the internet, transforming India’s marriage system? Jayakody et al., (2008) has shown that the growing influence of inclusion of ideation and normative forces such as an increase in emphasis on individual prerogative, freedom, and equality is visible in decisions of marriage, fertility, and family structure. Advocates of the modernization perspective would argue that the family-centric mode of arranging marriages is giving way to increased choice. Growth in websites like Tinder and increased media coverage of love marriages lends support to this expectation. But how widespread are these practices?
Data on marriage choices seem to indicate that arranged marriage remains the predominant mode by which partners are chosen in the Indian context. A substantial portion of marriages continue to be parent-arranged with very few marriages being self-choice which are colloquially also known as ‘love marriages’ (Banerji & Deshpande, 2021). Data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) of 2011-12 show, that only about 5% of women report that they chose their spouses without any input from their families. Self-choice marriages are more common in North-East India (34%) followed by South India (slightly less than 10%) but are hardly seen in North India.
Nonetheless, with rising education, women have gained a little more say in who they marry. Even when marriages are arranged by the family, the bride’s opinions are considered in a substantial minority of the cases, particularly when they have a college education. While 95% of the women noted that their families were involved in selecting their husbands, 55% also said that they had some input in this decision. Among women with a college education, 77% had some input. But what does this input mean? IHDS 2011-12 shows that nearly 65% of women only met their husbands at or around marriage (see Figure 1). Data shows the percentage of women who have known their husbands before marriage for a longer period of time is merely 11% with 6% knowing him since childhood and 5% knowing him for more than a year. Whereas 9% and 15% of women had been acquainted with their husbands for less than a year and less than a month respectively. So how did they provide input?
But what does this input mean? IHDS 2011-12 shows that nearly 65% of women only met their husbands at or around marriage (see Figure 1). Data shows the percentage of women who have known their husbands before marriage for a longer period of time is merely 11% with 6% knowing him since childhood and 5% knowing him for more than a year. Whereas 9% and 15% of women had been acquainted with their husbands for less than a year and less than a month respectively. So how did they provide input?
Among women, the more educated they are, the greater their participation in the selection of husbands (see Figure 2). Data shows that 9% of women with college degrees select their husbands on their own whereas only 3% of women with no education do the same. In terms of parent-arranged marriages with the participation of the bride, the numbers are 77% for women with college degrees and 41% for women with no educational qualification.
The IHDS 2011-12 data show that for more educated women there is a higher chance of having some form of contact with their husbands before marriage. The highest percentage of women (79%) who did not have any form of contact with their husbands were the ones with no education whereas the lowest percentage (30%) was observed in the case of women with college degrees. In a similar context, 48% of women with college degrees met their husbands prior to marriage whereas it’s only 14% for women with no education.
Women who have a choice in partner selection are often more empowered in household decision-making after marriage whereas women who have a lower level of participation in spouse selection exhibit less autonomy in household decisions after marriage (Banerji & Deshpande, 2021). Hence, despite diverseness in the categories of marriage, marriage continues to remain a family affair where the woman still struggles to have a say in the events transpiring in marriage as well as in the post-marriage scenario.
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Bipasa Banerjee is a research associate at the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Her primary area of interests are Gender, health, and family dynamics. She has masters’ degrees in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and in Economics from University of Calcutta.