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Arranged marriages: A prisoner in the house



          Shackle, Samira, in his article “A Prisoner in the House” published in the magazine New Internationalist on November 2013, discuss about two Indian women, Jasminder and Mandeep and why they became slaves in a dark life in Britain because of arranged marriages. how badly their foreign spouses and family treated them and who help them.

No way out: every year, some 500
South Asian women are forced into domestic
slavery in Britain following an arranged marriage.
          First the author talked about 19 years old India girl Jasminder’s family background and her family think their daughter will have better life in Britain. Sometimes families must sell many home assets for the dowry.  So, the daughters feel they must go since their family has sacrificed so much.  But when they arrive in their new country, all is not like they think. All of the family people treat her as a slave and make fun of her, even over the next two years nothing change. Finally, the doctor’s staff at the hospital called the police. And the author also wrote about another girl, Mandeep.  She is also in this dark life.   Her in-laws make her work and do all the housekeeping and cooking.  And they make her live in the unheated garage in the wintertime. They treated her just like an animal.  Although those case got reported by police, it made the author more thinking. He wanted to know why those cases happened and why so many women were not way out the arrange marriage (see above the photo).  Shackle said “that most of these women do not know their rights.”.  Many arranged marriage women speak no or limited English and the fear the legal authorities.  “This makes it difficult to ask for help”. And Shackle also said “I am sure there are women who we do not even know about because they have never had the courage to leave home” because they are afraid of too many things which they do not know what will happen to them every day. At the end of article, due to additional training the British Home Office help many women to leave.  There are about 45,000 foreign spouses every year, but few women are affected by these type issues, Hopefully there will be better improvements in the future.

 In this whole article, some parts mirror my international marriage.  And some parts different since those women arrived Britain by an arranged marriage. Mine is from falling in love then marry. Their life background made their life more different. Their life is not by their choice.  Their family decide their future, not them.  Without a good educational background, it is hard to overcome their difficulties with wisdom.  Some rely on woman’s groups for help.  Being kind and loving are women's nature.  We have more courage is also very important. Sometimes speaking is easy, but sometimes doing is so hard.  Just like I told all my friends why successful man would go to another country to look for a bride. Arranged marriage is so dangerous and is stupid behavior. I hope more news coverage of these unfortunate cases let more people understand the impact of arranged marriages. If we can improve marital happiness index, it will reduce these unfortunate stories.




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