Welcome to another audio episode of Environmental Conscience, the

Education Channel regarding our environmental problems and how to solve them.
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subscribe button. In this lecture, we are talking about the pros and cons of arranged
marriage. You can also find the related article to the lecture in the video
description if you want to study this topic in more detail.
Arranged marriages or marriages where not the couple, but rather their
parents or other family members decided that the marriage should take place.
Arranged marriages have been quite popular in the past, and even in our current
age. There are some countries in which the concept of arranged marriages is still
practiced today. There are several pros and cons of arranged marriages, which we
will examine in detail in this article.
Advantages of Arranged Marriages. People may match better since family
members or other professional matchmakers choose a partner for the bride. There
might be a higher chance that those people match with each other, since they might
share similar views on the world and might have the same goals in life. Therefore,
if experienced family members search for a suitable partner, the chances that the fit
between the marriage couple will be quite decent might increase higher level of
experience of parents. Since parents have much more life experience than their
kids, they might also be better able to decide which partner might fit for their girl
or their boy and which would not.
Therefore, it could make sense that parents get involved in the decision
process regarding potential life partners, since they often know their children quite
well and often know what's good for them. Or at least they think they do winking
face assurance of social status, arranged marriage often also have the advantage
that they can assure a high social status. For instance, in many countries, parents
try to find a partner for their son or their daughter, which has a high social status so
that their children can marry up and have a higher social status themselves, which
often also translates into a higher overall quality of life.
Financial security. There is also a financial aspect when it comes to
marriages. Many marriages, especially arranged marriages, are not done due to
love, but due to the fact that one partner wants to improve his or her wealth level.
This was the norm rather than the exception only one century ago and until now,
the financial component related to marriages is quite important.
Cultural similarities of partners. Another benefit from arranged marriages is
that partner often have quite similar backgrounds and cultural values. Most often,
parents choose partners for their kids that have similar cultural values so that they
will also fit well into the family. Similar values also make it more likely that the
marriage works out, since there might be less conflicts between the partners in the
long run, rational rather than emotional decision.
In general, arranged marriages always come from a rational standpoint, and
emotions do not play a role at all. This can be regarded as either positive or
negative. The positive thing about rational decisions regarding marriage is that all
the different aspects people are getting into are seen from an objective standpoint
and also all the dangers can be evaluated better. Therefore, arranged marriages
may also lead to better decisions into a better overall quality of life for the
respective partners compared to marriages that are based on love and emotions
rather than on hard facts.
Family connections are strengthened. Another upside of arranged marriages
is that the connection between different families can be strengthened quite a lot. In
many cultures, the connection between families are quite important in all areas of
daily life, and good connections to family members may also be beneficial when it
comes to future career prospects. Similar ethics arranged marriages make it also
more likely that people have the same ethics, since they often come from similar
cultural backgrounds and have been taught the same things when they were young.
Thus, due to those similar ethical perspectives, the chances for a marriage that
works out in the long run might be higher.
Religious fits. Arranged marriages may make it also more likely that people
fit on a religious level. Since parents will actively search for partners with similar
backgrounds, the religious fit can be assured. And therefore it might also be more
likely that partners get along with each other, since they might share the same
attitude towards religion in life in general.
Similar values in general, partners that met each other due to arranged
marriages are quite likely to share similar values, since their parents makes sure
that the value of the partner will fit to the family values in order to assure a
peaceful and harmonic coexistence. People may live in a happy bubble, even
though people who had been forced into arranged marriages will never have the
opportunity to actively date other partners, they may still live in a certain kind of
bubble, since they never experienced the fun of dating, they will also not know
what they are missing out on and therefore, those people might live in a kind of
happy bubble and might even be happier than without this arranged marriage
construct.
Avoidance of lovesickness. Another advantage of arranged marriages is that
people can also avoid feeling lovesickness. Many people around the world make it
quite broken due to a breakup with a partner and may suffer from serious
emotional pain. Yet through arranged marriages, this problem will be gone, since
there will not be the opportunity to search for a partner and therefore the possibility
for lovesickness is also eliminated. No stress to find a partner. Finding a suitable
partner might also be quite a challenge for many people all over the world. Our
expectations are often quite high and we will therefore often experience
disappointments during the dating process.
In contrast with an arranged marriage, there is no stress to find and to vet a
partner since your parents or other matchmakers will do the job for you.
Disadvantages of arranged marriages. Love is often not a factor. As we have
seen before, arranged marriages can have some advantages. Yet there are several
crucial problems related to forced marriages. One downside of arranged marriages
is that love will most often be not a factor at all. Maybe partners may get along
with each other. However, they will likely never have any kind of feeling for each
other. This can be considered as quite sad since many people marry, since they
have strong feelings for each other and really enjoy their time together in arranged
marriages will not account for this important factor at all. There may be no fit at all
between partners, even though there will likely not be love involved at all. People
might still get along with each other. Yet in many arranged marriages, not even
this will be the case. Most often, this kind of bonding will turn out to be a real
mess, and partners will often have disputes. After a certain while, some partner
will often just resign and just fit into the wishes and demands of the other partner
in order to avoid serious trouble.
Potential higher divorce rates. Depending on the country and on the
individual circumstances, arranged marriages might also lead to higher divorce
rates. Even if this is not the case, some partners may simply escape their marriage
by traveling to foreign countries with hopes for a better life in order to get out of
their misery. Moreover, even if people stay in arranged marriages, many of them
might not be happy at all. Separation may be difficult. It will often also be quite
difficult to get out of an arranged marriage, since families are often bonded, quite
tied together. And if you want to leave a marriage, you will also have to cut all
cords to all your family members. This might be too painful for many partners, and
therefore they often decide to stay in a marriage rather than to end it, since they
simply fear the consequences that would be applied by divorce. In many cultures,
divorce is also against religious beliefs, and people who break up may have to fear
from serious punishment. Spouses may not trust each other since they actually do
not know each other before the marriage takes place. There might also be a
significant lack of trust between partners in a marriage. Hence, if partners do not
trust each other, it might be quite difficult to maintain a working marriage. Since
mistrust can destroy bonds between partners, people may be quite unhappy. In
general, people who are forced into arranged marriages may be much unhappier
compared to people who were able to choose their partner by themselves, since
they might feel like all the freedom of choice had been taken away from them and
they never had any influence on this important life decision.
Family problems. Since partners are not able to choose whom they want to
marry. Arranged marriages often also lead to serious family problems. Quite often
there is stress on a daily basis between partners, which may turn into serious
disputes in the long run. Yet people might be too afraid to break up and to start a
new life with a different partner and might still stay in their misery due to this high
level of fear. No room for personal choices. Personal choice regarding such
important topics like marriage are considered to be a human right in many regions
of our planet for an important reason. Yet in countries where arranged marriages
are the norm, there is no room for personal choice and this important human right
is often entirely taken away from people. Husband and wife may have no say. In
fact, in arranged marriages, partners often have no say at all when it comes to
choosing their future wife or husband. Instead, they often have to solely rely on
matchmakers or on family members to make this important. Choice for them, even
if they are not attracted to their future partner at all, people might simply have no
choice other than to agree to the marriage in order to avoid serious trouble with
their family members may promote gender inequality. Another downside of
arranged marriages is that they might also significantly contribute to gender
inequality.
Women often have much fewer rights compared to men in those arranged
marriages, and therefore they might literally get trapped in those arranged pair
bonding situations. This may also lead to a state where women will not be allowed
to get any sort of education in their lives may turn out into a mess due to that, since
they will always be dependent on their husbands, which is never a good idea since
it leads to an imbalance of power in a relationship, people often don't know what
they are getting into, even though many people think that complying with the rules
of getting into an arranged marriage is the right thing to do, since they are told to
do so by their family and friends. Those marriages tend to turn out into nightmares
and people may realize too late what they have gotten into. Therefore, people may
also not be aware of the true consequences of those arranged marriages, which may
lead to serious issues later on in their lives. Dating period may be missing in a
couple's life. Many of us also really enjoy dating many different people until we
find the partner that best fits our preferences. However, it is only possible to decide
who fits for us if we get experienced in dating. Therefore, if this experience is
missing, plenty of fun is taking out of all of it. And also the chances for a misfit
will become much higher.
Emotional stress. Marrying and spending your life with the wrong partner
may also imply plenty of emotional stress. I could not even imagine living with a
partner I don't like too much and spending my entire life with such a person would
make me feel quite sad. This might also turn into plenty of emotional stress and
other issues. In the long run, lower life expectancy. People in forced marriages
might also suffer from a significantly lower life expectancy. It has been proven by
many studies that people who enjoy living with a partner will have significantly
higher life expectancy than people who are miserable with their partners or who
have no partner at all. Therefore, arranged marriages may also do people no favor
in terms of overall life expectancy can find a level of freedom. Freedom is a
valuable human right and the confinement of freedom through arranged marriages
that should be considered to be quite problematic. In fact, in my opinion,
everything that takes away our freedom should be considered to be intolerable.
And only in a few rare cases, this confinement in freedom can be justified.
Therefore, since forced marriages take away the freedom of people, they should
never be the norm.
Child marriages. Another issue with arranged marriages is that child
marriages become much more likely. Children get often married at a quite young
age and will have no chance at all to escape this construct. In turn, being a child for
a certain period of time is simply taken away from those children, which may
result in plenty of emotional problems in the long run.
Mental issues. There will also be plenty of mental issues related to arranged
marriage, even though it cannot be measured by studies. Since many people in
forced marriages are simply too afraid to report their mental conditions in their
misery to the outside world, it is estimated a high fraction of people in arranged
marriages suffer from significant depression and other mental problems, since they
are often simply not able to deal with the fact that they basically have to waste
their life solely to comply with the wishes of their families.
Do arranged marriages make sense? Even though arranged marriages might
have made sense centuries ago, in order to secure the survival of a family, forced
marriages should be considered to be a rather outdated social construct. And in
most cases, those arranged marriages do more harm than good in our current state
of the world. Therefore, it would be great if families all over the world abandon
this social norm and let their children decide whom they want to marry in order to
increase the overall level of happiness.
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 Love marriage: The partners know each other so well and hence will have a
comprehensive understanding of the other person.
Arranged marriage: In most arranged marriages, the partners know little
about the other person. Hence they might find it difficult to get along with each
other after the marriage at least for some time.
Love marriage: It is for sure that the partners will continue to love each other
after marriage since they unite in marriage only because of their love for each
other.
Arranged marriage: In some cases of arranged marriages, the partners might
not find the other person compatible with them. Hence it is likely that they might
not love each other at all condemning that the choice of their life partner had
ruined their life.

Love marriage: The partners are fully responsible to make their life
decisions and the stand to take during conflicts. Hence they are not in a position to
blame others for any losses or gains.
Arranged marriage: The families of the marrying couple come together into
a new relationship. The elders in the family take an active part in making some
decisions at least till the time they are comfortably settled with each other.

Love marriage: In some love marriages the couple come away from their
families in order to find their independent life as a couple. Hence they are fully
deprived of the chance to get the much needed guidance and advice from their
elders.
Arranged marriages: In most love marriages, the families of the bride and
groom get to know each other and guide the couple with their experience and
suggestions.

Love marriage: In many orthodox circles, love marriage is not approved

even today. A lot of people see marriage as the status symbol and a way to
ascertain the family respect. Hence in most cases, the marriage partners might have
to go against the wishes and interests of the family.
Arranged marriage: Happen after being approved by the family members.
Relationships are further strengthened and there is no need to overtake the wishes
and interests of the elders. Hence family bonds are not broken due to marriage.
 Whether it is love marriage or arranged marriage, mutual understanding,
cooperation and good will are essential to foster the goals of marriage. Marriage
demands the active participation of both the partners in striving for harmony and
success in family life. If this is ensured, any of these two kinds of marriages can
succeed.