Arranged Or Forced Marriages Benefits and Losses

Thousands and thousands of women are forced into arranged marriages which go “quickly awry”—however, this is not limited to the Sikh Punjabi population of India. Arranged marriages were and still are a common practice in many places around the world. The fact that the case of Indians and Punjabis in particular keep being brought into light in the media, does not merit believing that this is the only community facing such problems. In fact, many of the marriages that are set in the Indian Punjabi (Sikh and Hindu) community, have the full consent from both sides—the bride and groom to be.
There have been a number of front page stories of women in India being forced to marry into a family from Canada to obtain Canadian citizenship. What we must notice is that this is true for all communities living in countries outside of the west. However, only stories related to India are publicized in the media because there is not a major backlash against such topics. Contrary to this, many journalists fear writing a story based on the oppression of young Muslim girls who are taken to Pakistan “for a family trip to visit”, and once they are there, they realize a boy was already chosen for them long beforehand, without them ever having the slightest idea. Such news is rarely brought to attention by Muslim minorities themselves, because they refuse to shed a negative light to issues in their community.