The Practice of in-Family Exchange Marriages and the Changes Occurred in the Practice

A significant proportion of rural marriages in Pakistan have been the exchange marriages. Its prevalence is very common in Pakistan. It is a type of marriage where a family arranges the marriage of a pair of son and daughter with the pair of son and daughter of other family. Some common factors responsible for this practice include dispute settlement between tribes, concept of maintaining blood purity, poverty of families, economic support during difficult time and land holding. Violence, emotional stress among the people engaged in the marriages, child exploitation, drugs addictions of the children, psychological abuses, disorders like depression and suicide and honor killings have been the consequences of the phenomenon. In order to investigate the in-family exchange marriages, a quantitative study was conducted in Punjab province of Pakistan. A representative sample of 1300 respondents were included in the study. Data were collected through questionnaire. The major findings of the study indicate that exchange marriage has been practiced by the literate people in significant proportion as a part of tradition which negates the notion that educated people usually change the traditional practices that do not have beneficial effects on the society. The study has also revealed the pattern of in-family exchange marriages and found that inside the family, exchange marriages have their prevalence in the paternal uncle’s house.