Mariages arrangés au Maroc?

Did your parents date each other before marriage?

Will you marry someone in order to comply with your parents’ desire?

Do you know someone who had been forced to marry someone else?

As you may have inferred, the topic that we chose is marriage but since it’s a very wide one, we decided to focus on something that has a big influence on the Moroccan society: Arranged marriages.

SOMMAIRE:

I. Introduction

II. Main ideas: Arranged marriages lead to:

1. A loveless life

2. A life without education

3. A life with violence and depression

4. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION:

What made us choose this topic is that little girls are forced into marriages which prevent its “victims” from having a normal childhood, and a complete education. Women are also forced to face a life where they are oppressed and physically or mentally abused. As for men, this kind of marriage is an easy escape from the social pressure caused by the relatives. In all of these cases, life is shared with a stranger who was imposed instead of chosen and this irrevocably leads to a loveless life where there is no room for education and plenty of violence and depression.

Education can be another “target” of arranged marriages since they lead to a life in which education is rare if not inexistent.

All human beings should have the right to get educated, develop their knowledge, and shape their personality to acquire more flexibility and confidence facing life's situations but unfortunately it is not always the case. In fact, in the countryside, little girls who get married at an early age don’t get to finish their studies or even start them. They are forced to enter an unknown world which most of the time has no exit; they have no idea about what is expected from them because of their lack of education. This illiteracy is illustrated by statistics in Nahed Toubia’s book called” The Arab woman: a glimpse on change and diversity”.

Men can also be uneducated which has huge consequences on couple’s life in a sense where women are considered as a “tool” necessary to have children. They are underestimated and considered as “inferior” individuals. They are good at nothing except taking care of the house by cooking, cleaning and conceiving children. Women in this case are oppressed and don’t have the right to disobey their husbands and that’s what “qui epouse qui?” of Mostafa Aboumalek talks about.

In addition, uneducated women are most of the time financially dependent of their husband, which gives him a total control on life’s flow. He may deprive his family of common necessities such as nutrition, clothing, and in case children are involved education. Wives, then, look for banal jobs such as sewing and cleaning others’ houses in order to satisfy their family needs.

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