Blog 2
7 September 2012
Love and Free Will Challenge Traditional Pakistani Family Ties
Meghan Davidson Ladly
5 September 2012
In
2003 it became legal for women to get married without the consent of
the woman’s guardian. This was one of the major changes that have
allowed Pakistani women to claim their independence.
I
believe this article is a great example of how globalization can have a
change on culture. Ladly explains that many of the Pakistani women are
choosing to not follow their cultural norms and accept the arrangement
of marriage. Rather these women are deciding to engage in what they call
a “free will marriage” this is the type of marriage Americans are
accustomed to, when partners pick each other. Mahnaz Rahman, the
resident director of the Aurat Foundation, a women’s rights organization
explains that the “girls of this modern age” are not afraid of the
dangerous repercussions that they face if they choose to “dishonor”
their family and have a free will marriage. Rahman says that “they are
taking steps because they can’t conform to the values of their parents.”
Landly interviewed Nursrat Mochi and her husband Abbas Bhatti to get an
inside perspective on what life can be like after free will marriage.
Mochi explained that her parents have sent people to kill her and her
husband so she is no longer able to care about them. Landly explains
that this is not an unusual happening after free will marriages. In 2011
the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported that 943 women were
murdered and of that 219 of them were because the women wanted to choose
their own spouse.
I
believe the law that was passed in 2003 coupled with preexisting
desires for change by Pakistani women and globalization has allowed these
women the opportunity to assert “their rights against the traditions of forced marriage
and parental authority”. Although arranged marriages were culturally
relative during the period they were accepted I believe the women of the culture now are
publicly disagreeing with its current relativity. It appears that these
women are in search for some of their human rights that they inherently
possess particularly in terms of marriage and happiness.
Mahnaz
Rahman suggests that the conflicts surrounding free will marriages “has
neither to do with law nor with religion,” but rather “it has to do
with culture. It has to do with lack of education.”
When
these women opt for a free will marriage they are “implicitly
challenging one of the most powerful institutions in Pakistani society:
the family”.
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