WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES AND UNDERSTANDING MARRIAGE IN THE BALOCH SOCIETY
WOMEN’S PERSPECTIVES AND UNDERSTANDING MARRIAGE IN THE BALOCH SOCIETY
Keywords:
Baloch marriages; Conflict of laws; Women’s rights, Balochistan, PakistanAbstract
Marriage is unavoidable for most women of
reproductive age in rural Balochistan. The twenty women
from four villages informing this ethnographic sociological
study that examines contemporary perspectives and
understanding of the Balochi marriage explain why they
think that this social institution with its underpinning norms
and values has a cohesive function that unites and gives
strength to the tribal society, and the ‘female folk’. Their
first-person accounts offer a counter-narrative to the
dominant discourse of traditional marriage arrangements
that, more often than not, highlights the interference of
cultural traditions with women’s desire of self-affirmation
and self-fulfillment. We are not victims of the socio-cultural
norms that structure and organize our daily life, they seem to
suggest. These women may well be poor, illiterate, and out of
public view, as it has been remarked by international
observers, yet, their renderings open up an alternative line of
argument to discuss woman empowerment in this remote and
conflict-ridden area of South Asia. From a female point of
vantage, we elucidate the renewal of this traditional
institution that is at the heart of Balochi life. The views
assembled, analyzed and presented in this essay prompt us to
argue to give greater support to efforts in multi-jurisdictional
practices that seek balancing out conflict of laws arising
Women’s perspectives and understanding Marriage in the Baloch society
from clashes between tribal, religious and civil laws and
regulations.
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