Choice Of Marriage Partner Research Articles

"Get Her for Me, for She Pleases Me Well:" Interpreting the Samson Marriage Narrative in Judges 14 in Light of Parental Role in Mate Selection in Nigeria

Judges 14 speaks to the Nigerian context on the role of parents in the marriage process. Unlike in the traditional African society where the choice of spouses was determined by parents and the family, in Nigeria today, parents have little involvement in their children's choice of marriage partner. Applying narrative reading and the descriptive approach, the article examines this text in light of the significance of parents' role in choosing marriage partners among Nigerian Christians. The study finds that due to the influence of Christianity and modernisation, Nigerian parents now play little role in the choice of their children's marriage partners and that this is one of the factors responsible for the rampant marriage failures in society. It concludes that to curb the high rate of marriage instability among Nigerian Christians, the church in Nigeria should review its marriage theology to emphasise the role of parents in mate selection, using the Samson story as a literary instrument.

From “Thoughts on March 8” to “Gap” and “The Sufferings of Liping”: Mate Selection and Marriage in Three Works by Yan’an Authors

Abstract During China’s war with Japan from 1937 to 1945, the Communist-controlled border regions in north China saw an influx of progressive, patriotic youth from other parts of the country, bringing these new arrivals into contact with officials and army officers in the Communist power structure. Marriage was one potential outcome of such interactions, but while offering certain advantages it was often seen as problematic, with questions raised about the motives and methods of the parties involved. Given its sensitive nature, the subject of mate choice could only briefly be explored in literary works before an ideological clampdown was imposed in the late spring and summer of 1942. This article examines the key works that addressed the issue at the time and details the criticisms that followed their publication. It begins with a close reading of the relevant passage in “Sanbajie you gan” (Thoughts on March 8), the famous essay by Ding Ling (1904-86), and goes on to consider two stories by younger Yan’an authors, Ma Jia (1910-2004) and Mo Ye (1918-86), who broached the topics of mate choice and marriage shortly before and after Ding Ling wrote her essay. Together these works, published during the relatively liberal period leading up to the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, reveal some critical fault lines within the revolutionary coalition. To this article is appended a full translation of Mo Ye’s story “Liping de fannao” (The sufferings of Liping), which vividly depicts a young woman’s struggle to reconcile her choice of marriage partner with her self-image as a progressive woman.

Information Needs of Rural Secondary School Students on HIV/AIDS in Katsina State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to determine information needs of rural secondary school students on HIV/AIDS in Katsina State. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed in selecting 180 students. Data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analysis was carried out using frequency counts, percentages, Chi square and Pearson product Moment Correlation. Results revealed that majority (54.4%) were within secondary school age of 16-20 years; non-boarded (67.8%), awarenrss (83.3%) and 43.9% have family size of 11-20. Radio (¯x=2.01), school authority (¯x=1.99), television (¯x= 1.61) and posters (¯x=1.57) were information sources though; school authority (¯x=2.62), radio (¯x=2.44), television (¯x=2.26) and posters (¯x=1.96) were the most preferred sources of awareness. Access to information sources was mostly constrained by lacks of power supply (¯x=1.54), television viewing centre in school (¯x=1.52), and contact with change agents (¯x=1.51) and poor coverage of HIV/AIDS news on newspapers/magazine/newsletters (¯x= 1.48). Majority (63.3% had high level of constraint. Also level of information needs was high to majority (67.2%). Symptoms (¯x=2.68), choice of marriage partners (¯x=2.66), availability of antiretroviral drugs (¯x=2.63) and sources of infection (¯x=2.62) were major areas of information needs. It is concluded that secondary school students’ information needs on HIV/AIDS in Katsina State is high. The distinct peculiarities of school as a culturally heterogeneous community should be studied and noted. In this sense, appropriate use of three major Nigerian languages: Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages are sin qua non in HIV/AIDS awareness creation in schools.

Students with Hearing Impairment in Nigeria South-South Universities and Choice of Marriage Partners

Students with Hearing Impairment in Nigeria South-South Universities and Choice of Marriage Partners

Exploring Gender Differences in Choice of Marriage Partner Among Individuals with Visual Impairment

This paper explores choice of marriage partners among individuals with visual impairment in India. The importance of marriage and the desirability of characteristics and traits in the prospective marriage partners were investigated from 42 individuals with visual impairment in the age group of 18–35 years, in Mumbai, India. Non-probabilistic sampling was used to collect data using an online pre-coded questionnaire, where 35 characteristics of the prospective partner were rated on a 4-point scale, along with ranking 16 traits in order of preference. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis of data. Marriage was considered important for the sample. Family’s opinions were considered vital in marital decisions, but individual choice was important. Women preferred older partners as compared to men. More women, than men, considered visual impairment of partners an irrelevant determinant for partner selection. Statistically significant gender differences were found in the valuation of characteristics and traits with women valuing good financial prospects, chastity, good behavior towards parents, desire for home and children, and being teetotal, more than men. Men desired a physically attractive partner whereas women valued financial stability. Women valued the traits of easy going, good housekeeper and good earning capacity while men preferred a physically able spouse. There is potential for research on gendered marriage choices, specifically among various marginalized populations. Interaction of cultural practices and marriage preferences of individuals with disability could be further explored.

From patriarchal socialism to grassroots capitalism: The role of female entrepreneurs in the transition of North Korea

Since the collapse of North Korea's command economy in the 1990s, a large number of women have become entrepreneurs. This remarkable feature of North Korean marketisation cannot be adequately explained by female entrepreneur (FE) deficit premises, which highlight women's supposed shortcomings in what is considered a male enterprise. Based on in-depth interviews with female North Korean defectors, and viewing entrepreneurship as a catalyst for socio-cultural change, this paper questions how FEs emerged in North Korea and whether women's market participation influences gender relations, or attitudes toward the North Korean regime. There have been noticeable changes in gender roles, son preference and choice of marriage partners. Our findings suggest that female entrepreneurship has the potential to both challenge and support the North Korean system. This research significantly advances scholarship on gender and entrepreneurship by adopting a constructionist approach to gender and transcending the prevalence of descriptive analysis of gendered entrepreneurial practices.

FEMALE EDUCATION AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH CHANGES IN SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC BEHAVIOUR: EVIDENCE FROM INDIA.

Education is a crucial factor in influencing the pattern and timing of marriage for women, and the changes in levels of female literacy will also change the dynamics of family formation. India has experienced consistent improvement in levels of female literacy; therefore, this study examined the association of women's education with the changes in their demographic behaviour in the Indian context. The central idea of the paper is to examine the differences in age at marriage and first birth, choice of marriage partner and the number of children ever born based on educational attainment of women. In addition, the study examined incongruence in years of schooling and discontinuation from school, for children based on education of the mother. The study utilized data from the third round of District Level Household and Facility Survey. The sample constituted 344,164 ever-married women aged 35 years and above with surviving children aged 5-20 years. The results imply that women with higher education are more likely to marry late and have fewer children compared with less educated women. Accordingly, increase in education of women also increases the probability of marrying men with better education than themselves. The study further observed that education of wife has a greater association with the number of children ever born than the education of husband. At the same time, incongruence in years of schooling and drop-out from school are both high for children of uneducated women. The study also found that the children from urban areas are more likely to drop out than their rural counterparts. In addition to education of the mother, number and composition of children in the family and economic condition of the household are some other factors that influence the educational attainment of children.

Paul Ehrenfest’s final years

New access to his correspondence sheds light on the tragic life and death of one of the pioneers of modern physics.

Marriage and Divorce for the Sake of Religion: The Marital Life of Cadari in Indonesia 1

AbstractThe religious transformation experienced bycadari(face-veiled women) in Indonesia belonging to two revivalist movements, Tablighi Jamāʿat and Salafism, has propelled them to change their habitus. The nature of their new pious habitus has shaped the life of these women including their marital life. The embodiment of this pious habitus can be seen in practices related to marriage ranging from choice of marriage partner, interactions with marriage partner, new marriage practices (arranged marriage, early marriage and mass marriage) and termination of marriage. All of these can be regarded as their efforts to construct a pious self and an ideal Islamic family,keluarga sakinah(harmonious family). Since religious doctrines are very important in the life of thecadari, religious homogamy is a crucial aspect in their decision to get married or divorced. While there are some studies on the importance of religious homogamy in sustaining marital satisfaction and stability, the experiences of women in such marriages has often been neglected. This article focuses on the importance of religious homogamy by listening to the experiences ofcadariwomen.

Women, Education and Work in Nigeria

This paper examines the implication of the growing educational opportunities for women in Nigeria. Although bias has existed from the traditional Nigerian society against women, recent events especially in education reveal a conquering of this deep-rooted prejudice. Enrollment figures particularly in the last ten years show a remarkable bridging of the gap between the genders. In other words, more and more women are acquiring tertiary education. However, it is the contention of this paper that, in view of the needs of development, education acquired becomes meaningful when utilized in the labour sector. Against this realization, this paper argues that the number of women who have acquired tertiary education is disproportionate to the number involved in the labour sector. Thus, a significant number of women with tertiary education do not get involved in the labour process in Nigeria. Therefore, there is under utilization of manpower and a negative return to investment in human resources. Such factors as the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian labour market, women attitudinal and psychological dispositions, choice of marriage partners by women among others are identified as responsible for the marginal participation of women in the formal labour sector. As a result, there is need for education to address the imperatives of development by liberating women from unfounded and baseless myths or stereotypes that keep them away from labour participation. Key words: education, work, women, Nigeria, employment, development

Weddings and War

In our comparison of marriage arrangements and wedding celebrations during the first and the second intifada in Palestine, we focus on “political marriages” wherein the political activism and affiliation of the marital partners are of considerable importance. During the first intifada, political engagement became a major consideration in choice of marriage partner in some settings, and conventional boundaries of religion and class were transgressed. Simultaneously, marriage celebrations were transformed, whereby a widespread culture of austerity and mourning made weddings far more simple and inexpensive, as well as signaling solidarity and resistance. In the second intifada, marriage arrangements and wedding celebrations are very different. The changed political climate, with the hope and popular participation of the first intifada turned into the despair and exclusions of the second, transformed political engagement from a positive into a largely negative qualification. The material side of marriage has again become more important, public displays of consumption acceptable, and celebrations more expensive. These shift s are shaped by the effects of the post-Oslo transition, as well as by the warlike conditions on the ground. Although these conditions, from Israeli army intrusions to physical barriers to marriage, are more insecure and dangerous than in the earlier intifada, they function largely as external threats to the shaping of wedding arrangements and ceremonies, rather than generating internal transformations. For Maha Mustaqlem Nassar (1954–2008) whose committed life inspired us.

Corresponding with the city: Self‐help literature in urban West Africa

Contemporary West African self‐help literature is preoccupied with the theme of marriage. The reader’s correct choice of marriage partner and subsequent happiness in the home are fundamental concerns of the genre. This article asks about the extent to which locally published self‐help literature – and popular literature more generally – is inseparable from urbanization in West Africa. Do these pamphlets arise as a direct consequence of urbanization in the late 20th century? What kind of “self” is produced to be “helped” in this literature? In addressing these questions, the article situates locally published self‐help literature in relation to recent theorizations of urbanization and popular culture in Africa, and in relation to the fierce current debate about the usefulness of “modernity” as a term to describe postcolonial urban cultures. Popular misogyny is also addressed, and the controlling role played by God in West African discussions of marriage and relationships. The article suggests that the authors of self‐help pamphlets in West Africa can be regarded as “urban correspondents”, corresponding with the city as its writers, its products and its cultural echoes.

The Marriage Revolution in Late Antiquity: The Theodosian Code and Later Roman Marriage Law

Although much scholarly work has already been done on Roman marriage law, most of it deals with the classical era, and little has been done to explore the remarkably radical changes to marriage law in Roman law in late antiquity, that is, during the fourth and fifth centuries C.E. The Theodosian Code provides a unique and valuable source of information, despite the limitations evident in any legal text, on a wide range of legal issues pertaining to marriage: the necessity of marriage, the choice of marriage partner and consent to marriage, marriage payments, adultery and divorce, remarriage and inheritance, and even the marriages of slaves, soldiers, and clerics, and same-sex marriage. The extent of the changes revealed even demands new questions about the influence of Christian ideology on later Roman law.

The Case of the Ugly Suitor and Other Histories of Love, Gender, and Nation in Buenos Aires, 1776-1870 (review)

Reviewed by: The Case of the Ugly Suitor and Other Histories of Love, Gender, and Nation in Buenos Aires, 1776–1870 Julia Rodriguez The Case of the Ugly Suitor and Other Histories of Love, Gender, and Nation in Buenos Aires, 1776–1870. By Jeffrey M. Shumway. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Pp. 200. $29.95 (paper). Although the year 1810 marks the birth of the Argentine nation, historians continue to point out the persistence of colonial-era social attitudes, hierarchies, and relations well into the modern era. With regard to the legal realm, both in its ideological and its applied aspects, fertile scholarship is beginning to emerge among Latin Americanists that raises questions about changes and continuities in postcolonial law along with the effects on subjects of the nation-state, most interestingly on women, the poor, homosexuals and the intersexed, and other "subalterns." For instance, in Latin America the massive collection of laws known as the Siete Partidas (an enormous body of legal instructions periodically revised and renewed by the Spanish king) was left largely untouched by early-nineteenth-century revolutionaries and reformers. This new direction in Latin American historiography is significant, among other reasons, for its questioning of a triumphalist liberal view championed by mid- and late-nineteenth-century intellectuals and politicians and repeated by generations thereafter that saw a clean break between an enlightened modern period and a "backward" colonial past. The literature further shows that the emphasis on supposed change from previous eras was used to justify an ambitious set of reforms proposed, and carried out to varying extents, by dominant liberal political factions determined to advance their nations along what they perceived to be progressive lines. Jeffrey M. Shumway, in his engaging study of Argentine society in the years preceding and following independence, takes up an important component: the slow and uneven transition to modern attitudes about marriage and family life as reflected in certain types of legal cases. Covering a period of about a century, he documents how legal decisions reflected many social customs from earlier eras, among them "patriarchal power, morality, honor, and ideas about marriage," that carried over into the early national period (22). Shumway focuses in particular on developments in the capital [End Page 337] city of Buenos Aires, providing a subtle analysis of the changes as well as the continuities. In sum, Shumway describes for us the slow dawning of modern sensibilities about sex, love, marriage, and free will in matters of marriage and family among a variety of characters from all walks of life. Shumway states early on in The Ugly Suitor that his goal is to tell, through the lens of court trials around marriage and family matters, the "real stories about the everyday family life of men and women, parents and children, and lovers and friends" (2) in late colonial and early national Buenos Aires. He furthermore suggests that these stories do more than promise to amuse the reader, that "on another level they help illuminate the larger history of the developing Argentine nation as it emerged from the shadow of Spanish colonialism to take its place among the independent republics of the Americas" (5). After a chapter describing Buenos Aires and its late-eighteenth-century milieu, Shumway proceeds to recount, in five brief and lively chapters, the competing ideas about family structure, including attitudes toward parental authority and children's status; free will and individual rights, especially regarding marriage choice; racial hierarchy and interracial marriage; and gender roles. In each chapter he weaves stories, culled largely from court cases, to illustrate the stubborn tenacity of many ideas from the preindependence era and the slow transformation of others. Court records such as child custody cases and disensos, in which children contested parental authority over choice of marriage partner, form the bulk of sources for this book. Shumway also analyzes laws and legal decrees such as the Spanish-origin Siete Partidas and the Pragmatic on Marriage; legal dissertations from the University of Buenos Aires; and a variety of newspapers and publications from the period in question. That the majority of his source material comes from court trials makes sense, as Shumway seeks to find the...

MODERNITY AND EARLY MARRIAGE IN IRAN: A VIEW FROM WITHIN

past few decades have witnessed important changes in the patterns of marriage in the Middle East and North Africa. These changes are well documented by specialists from various disciplines and from diverse perspectives (see Hopkins 2003; Singerman and Hoodfar 1996; Tucker 1993; Moghadam 1993; Afshar 1993; Abbasi-Shavazi, McDonald, Chavoshi 2003). They stem from a multitude of reasons moulded by modernity and globalisation, which include inter alia rapid urbanisation and physical mobility; better access to education, especially for girls; the transformation of the relationships between the generations and genders; the shift from extended to nuclear family and the loss of larger family networks; the emergence of new opportunities and aspirations in the choice of marriage partners; changes in the marriage and divorce laws, giving women new rights; a considerable increase in the rate of divorce; and finally the inclusion and participation of women in the labour market. The extent of the change, however, varies not only from country to country but in different areas within each country. In spite of the great diversity in marriage patterns in the region, marriage itself remains fundamental to the social identity of all women, regardless of their achievements in other spheres of life, and pressure on women to marry persists. A recent study by Dejong et al. (2005) reviewing the sexual and reproductive health situation of young people in the Arab countries and Iran emphasises that marriage remains central to any discussion in the region of the sexual and reproductive health of young people because of the universal valuation of marriage and the taboos and religious sanctions against pre-marital and extra-marital sex-

Family reproduction and stem-family system: From Pyrenean valleys to Norwegian farms

The article presents a comparative study of two stem-family European systems: on the one hand, the well-known central Pyrenean family as found in the Barony of Esparros, and, on the other hand, the one prevalent in highland farms of South-East Norway. In the two communities, the continuity of the “house” was maintained over generations through non-egalitarian practices of transmission to a privileged heir or heiress. Other siblings received compensations or stayed at home unmarried. Comparing long-term mechanisms of the Norwegian odal farm and of the Pyrenean house permits identification of similar strategies of co-residence and more-or-less controlled family reproduction through choice of marriage partner and regulated fertility. These mountainous rural communities developed efficient responses to preindustrial and early-industrial demographic changes, facing and absorbing demographic growth and transition. They had to open to new markets, new techniques of production and exploitation of natural environment – particularly the forest – and adapt to social and legislative change. In both agro-pastoral systems, population pressure created a large group of landless or semi-landless families-cottars, day labourers or servants-whose reproduction strategies (age at marriage and fertility rates) diverged from those of the owners of land.

Gender and Health Analysis of Sexual Behaviour in South-Western Nigeria

This paper reports the main results of a series of interviews conducted among the Yoruba of south-western Nigeria. Fifty men and fifty women differing in socio-demographic backgrounds were studied. The study revealed that during their first sexual experience, Yoruba girls are at risk of contacting sexually transmitted diseases and of having unplanned pregnancies because of the traditional control measures and lack of adequate sex education even among those from non-traditional backgrounds. Choice of marriage partner is influenced by the kin, which encourages early marriage and multiple sexual relationships through polygyny. Yoruba men do not like contraceptives and the women suffer more of the consequences of sexual relationships than men. Sexual decision-making in Yoruba culture is characterised by certain specific problems of structural and cultural origins such as separate lifestyle of men and women, seeing the discussion of sexuality as a taboo, male dominance, and the perceived side effects of contraceptives. There is need for expanded sexual and reproductive health education strategies targeted at both males and females in this community especially among the adolescent group.

Assimilation and intermarriage for U.S. immigrant groups, 1880–1990

Marriage outside one's ethnic or racial group constitutes the ultimate test of assimilation. In this research, we offer a new test of theories of assimilation by examining the choice of marriage partners among Mexican Americans, several European immigrant groups, and natives. Data from the 1880 to 1990 Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples (IPUMS) are employed, augmented by additional identification procedures developed for the Hispanic population. Assimilation measured by intermarriage rates varies by ethnic origin with striking affinity in historical patterns for Italians and Mexicans. Density and location of ethnic settlement, sex ratios, and generational mix played a role. Continued immigration marks certain groups, such as Mexicans, as structurally distinct.

Transforming the Gospel of Domesticity: Luhya Girls and the Friends Africa Mission, 1917-1926

Efforts to transform the lives of colonized and girls were integral to Christian missionary efforts throughout the world. This study of the attempts by a Quaker mission, in what is now Western Province, Kenya, to remake African wom- anhood indicates the limited success missionaries had in this effort. As with most evangelical missions, women's work for women involved domesticating African and girls. According to one missionary, the purpose of the Girls' Boarding School (GBS) was to teach girls to be better wives and mothers. This goal, how- ever, was subverted by both the missionaries and the schoolgirls. While the cur- riculum was designed to teach girls to submit to male authority, the female mis- sionary in charge of the school refused to do so herself. Furthermore, the school- girls manipulated missionaries and mission institutions to delay marriage and to control their choice of marriage partners. Graduates also used the skills learned at the GBS to cross gender and class boundaries, and contributed to the restructuring of Luhya society. Thus, while missionaries undoubtedly caused many dramatic changes in the lives of Luhya and girls and in Luhya culture, we see that they were manifestly unsuccessful in controlling the nature of these changes.

The Two Faces of Smallpox: A Disease and Its Prevention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Sweden

Reviewed by: The Two Faces of Smallpox: A Disease and Its Prevention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Sweden Donald A. Henderson Peter Sköld. The Two Faces of Smallpox: A Disease and Its Prevention in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Sweden. Demographic Data Base, Umeå University, Report no. 12. Umeå, Sweden: Umeå University, 1996. 654 pp. Ill. $69.95 (paperbound). This book, as the author explains, is intended to portray the eighteenth-century face of smallpox, then the most feared of all diseases, and a second face typifying the nineteenth century, when smallpox mortality declined precipitously as vaccination came to be widely applied. Based on the all-too-limited data available, smallpox mortality rates began to decline in the mid-to-late 1700s in those parts of Europe where variolation began to be practiced, and then plummeted dramatically when, in the early 1800s, vaccination was introduced. However, there exists little detailed information about smallpox epidemiology, and few quantitative measurements of the impact of inoculation and vaccination, because of the incompleteness of national mortality and morbidity data before the mid-eighteenth century. Sweden is the exception in having reasonably complete data on smallpox deaths since 1747, as well as some information as to the numbers inoculated and vaccinated. Peter Sköld has clearly made a formidable effort to compile and analyze the available information from Sweden. In a book of more than 650 pages, he presents his findings in a veritable tidal wave of tables and maps, including some unusual parameters such as the relationships between smallpox immunity and fecundity and fertility, and the choice of marriage partner by immunity status. Despite the massive quantity of data presented, I found little here that was really new or particularly interesting. Unfortunately, Sköld has little to offer regarding the influence of inoculation on smallpox deaths because very few inoculations appear to have been performed in Sweden. Case-fatality rates over time would have been of the greatest interest, but information on cases and deaths is available only for the period 1862–74. Vaccine-efficacy data are similarly lacking because the data needed for such estimates were simply not collected. We are thus left with a formidably long book with more tables and maps than we can begin to digest. It is suggestive of a thesis at the end of a first draft. One would hope that the author might distill from this a more succinct version of perhaps 100–150 pages that would focus on the more important data, trends, and relationships. It is quite possible that buried under the massive data sets there are important insights that even this especially motivated reader may have missed. Donald A. Henderson Johns Hopkins University Copyright © 1999 The Johns Hopkins University Press