Conference: "Marriage and Modernity in Comparative Perspective" (original) (raw)

The Marriage Mystery: Exploring Late Marriage in MENA

Al-Raida Journal, 1970

Recent trends in developing countries reveal that women are marrying at a later age. A 1996 study of early marriage in developing countries revealed that the Middle East and North Africa region had the greatest decline in the proportion married before age 20, with some countries experiencing as dramatic as a 35 to 41% declines. This article will show how the changing economic structure is impacting the dynamics of the marriage social contract in the Middle East. The basis of this work is to entice further research into exploring marriage as an important variable beyond fertility levels. In order to impact reform or policy on the demographic trend towards an increasing single, female population, perceptions and the roles of women other than mother and wife need to be examined. In addition, policy makers need to develop safety nets for women who are currently marginalized in the labor markets,. and are often seen as dependents on either fathers or husbands.

Special Issue: Emerging Dimensions of Marriage in Asia

Article published in Journal of Family Issues, Vol 0(0) I-22, , 2023

In the past 20 years, divorce has increased in Indonesia. Indonesian statistics show that divorces initiated by women exceed those by men. One issue that is often neglected is how socioeconomic differences also play a role in this matter. Drawing on our collaborative research on Muslim divorces in Indonesia, this paper focuses on the interplay between divorce strategies and socioeconomic differences among Muslim couples. Our in-depth interviews with 93 Muslim men and women and 19 judges from Islamic courts show that class differences shape distinctive dynamics of divorce among Muslim Indonesians. Couples from less educated, lower-income backgrounds accept marriage dissolution more easily, with women becoming much less tolerant of men's behaviors such as infliction of domestic violence, infidelity, and failure to provide financial support. Educated, middle-class urban couples divorce for similar reasons but tend to experience a lengthier process accompanied by complex layers of conflict. Many educated women's narratives emphasize their ability to support themselves through working, and a desire to be free of a bad marriage at any cost. Class and education thus contribute to significant differences in the experience and trajectories of divorce in Indonesia.

Halal" Intimacy: Love, Marriage and Polygamy in Contemporary Malaysia

2018

This thesis illustrates how love, legality, money, sex(uality) and sin direct Malays' marital strategies in the face of various social, moral, religious and structural pressures. Passionate love (cinta) is cherished and celebrated by Malays – that is, if it is indulged within marriage. Marriage serves as a license to engage in (otherwise illicit) sexual desires by rendering them "halal" or lawful in the eyes of Islam and Malay adat (traditions). A vigilant State-led Islamic Bureaucracy, which polices and punishes pre- or extramarital sexual liaisons between unmarried couples through strict moral surveillance, further ensures that access to physical intimacy remains a conjugal privilege. However, hindered by complex bureaucratic procedures for marriage and pressured by escalating passions, many of my Malay informants are compelled to seek cheaper, quicker, and discreet alternatives in neighboring Southern Thailand to "halal-ize" pre- or extramarital romances, ...

TRENDS IN DELAYED AND NON-MARRIAGE IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Asian Population Studies, 2007

The marriage pattern in Malaysia has changed dramatically since the 1940s. The general trend is one of increasing age at marriage and non-marriage. Between 1970 and 2000, the singulate mean age at marriage among men and women increased about three years each, from 25.5 years and 22.0 years to 28.8 years and 25.3 years, respectively. During the same period, the proportion of never married among those aged 30Á34 doubled from 12 per cent to 25 per cent among males and from 6 per cent to 12 per cent among females. This paper uses data from population censuses to examine the trends and correlates of delayed marriage for the three main ethnic groups in Peninsular Malaysia. Data from sample surveys are also used to shed some light on contemporary marriage behaviour. Malaysia has made great strides in socio-economic development that benefited all segments of society. However, the effects of socio-economic development on marriage postponement and non-marriage have been stronger for non-Malays than for Malays. This can probably be explained by socio-cultural and religious practices.

The pattern of female nuptiality in oman

Sultan Qaboos University medical journal

The purpose of this study was to examine Omani patterns of female nuptiality, including the timing of marriage and determinants of age at a woman's first marriage. The study utilised data from the 2000 Oman National Health Survey. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical methods, including logistic regression analysis, were used for data analysis. One of the most important aspects of the marriage pattern in Oman is the high prevalence of consanguineous marriages, as more than half (52%) of the total marriages in Oman are consanguineous. First cousin unions are the most common type of consanguineous unions, constituting 39% of all marriages and 75% of all consanguineous marriages. About 11% of the marriages are polygynous. Early and universal marriage is still highly prevalent in Oman. Three-quarters (75%) of married women respondents aged 20-44 years were married by age 20, with their median age at their first wedding being 16 years. However, women's average age u...

SHort marriages with the beloved boys: post-war sexuality in Muslim Aceh (Indonesia) 2015 “Beyond the patriarchal family: Female centered forms of life in Muslim societies” Laila Prager & Patrick Franke (eds.)

In my years of research in Aceh, I have met a great number of women striving to make a satisfactory life in times of civil conflict, first, and later, after the conflict ended and the destruction of Tsunami happened, in a climate of post-conflict, post-catastrophe reconstruction, within the implementation of an Islamic regional government. This article is about the social capital that matrifocality constitutes for some Acehnese women and the different meaning that such traditional attitude takes for those who were already adults and mothers during the conflict and those who were born at that time – their daughters. It is also about the way Islamic forms of marriage contribute to making matrifocality possible and even easy. I am going to talk about the poorest among ordinary villagers, largely uninterested by inheritance matters because they do not have properties. They practice Islam in an unengaged way. They have enough to eat but no or very little money and hardly a house or a piece of land to quarrell upon. In fact all but one of the “mothers” group have become the owner of a house only thanks to the tsunami reconstruction depending on international aid. Generally speaking, the “daughters” are too young to own anything. Unsurprisingly, the absence of a material, land-based aspect gives a special importance to their bodies. Sexuality, fertility, health, strength, beauty play a more determinant role in their life than if they had some relevant property.

Muslim Marriage and Contemporary Challenges

Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives, 2020

This chapter aims to retrace the historical evolution of Muslim marriage, as represented in Islamic legal texts and public discourses, from the advent of Islam to our contemporary age. To do so, it will provide a short overview of the normative references to marriage in Islamic scriptural texts (the Qur’an and the hadith compilations), covering instructions on who is marriageable to a Muslim, how to contract a valid marriage, and what legal consequences the spousal union entails for both partners. Then it will address the various ways in which pre-modern jurists and exegetes have interpreted the sacred sources. Finally, the chapter will offer an examination of the impact of colonialism and modernity on the conceptualization of marriage and the family in Muslim discourses, a survey of major reforms enacted throughout the twentieth century by the national states that emerged in post-colonial contexts, and an excursus on contemporary debates centering around the need for further reforms, or rather for dismantling the ones previously introduced