ARRANGED MARRIAGES AMONG INDIAN WOMEN IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In a fast changing, increasingly progressing and modernising society, traditional values often fade or even disappear as many, especially the young, are quick to discard traditional attitudes and values in favour of those often alien to their own culture. Women are often the vessels through which traditional values are upheld, and one institution in any culture that is deeply rooted in tradition is that of marriage. The existence and survival of the practice of arranged marriages is an indicator of tradition surviving in a changing society. The Indian community, in which such marriages are still practiced, is one that has managed to retain many of its traditional values and customs while other ethnic groups in Singapore have relatively abandoned their own. The study ls an exploration of the extent to which arranged marriages are still practiced within the Indian community, and the examination of the views and attitudes of Indian women provide a better understanding of the hold that tradition still exerts on the Indian community in the face of change.