TV programme addresses arranged marriages
Caroline:
March 28th, 2007
I watched an interesting programme the other week called “Arrange Me A Marriage” and was quite disappointed to discover that it was a one-off documentary and not a series. The programme set out to find a suitable husband for an English woman in her early 40s who had had a succession of relationships and was keen to settle down. Aneela Rahman, a Pakistani woman from Glasgow, set about finding a husband for Helen using the sorts of methods favoured by Asain parents when trying to arrange a marriage for their daughters. At the end of the day although Aneela found a man for Helen and they had a few dates it did not end in marriage and that I guess is the difference between playing at arranging a marriage and the reality that many young Asian women face when forced to marry against their will. It certainly made interesting viewing - I feel the BBC missed a trick there!
March 28th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I think it’s worth pointing out, however, that there is often a huge difference between an arranged marriage and a forced marriage. There are many people who are happy with the former and even meet their husband/wife beforehand (just the circumstances of the meeting were arranged), and they wouldn’t have it any other way. A forced marriage is against the will of the people marrying and a thousand times more serious.