Glossary - Arranged marriage

Arranged marriages are usually cultural or faith-based, where relatives (often parents or grandparents) make arrangements about who will marry whom, typically years or decades before the subject reaches the minimum required age for marriage.

When consent from the marrying parties is not respected, the arranged marriage is re-classified as an abusive forced marriage.  The pressures from relatives and members of the communities concerned can make this difficult for the victims to discern, especially since social pressures are often difficult for people to resist.

See also

• Forced marriage
• Monogamy
• Polyandry
• Polygamy
• Polygyny