Arranged Marriage Has Support

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30978, 7 February 1966, Page 2

Arranged Marriage Has Support

Although arranged marriages were no longer the custom in Vietnam, many young people preferred their parents to arranged their marriages, Mr Trinh Khanh Tuoc, a Vietnamese student from Saigon now studying at the University of Canterbury, told a meeting of the Christchurch Area Group of the Pan Pacific and South East-asia Women’s Association on Thursday evening. “If you are not in love why go around looking for someone with whom to fall in love?” said Mr Trinh. Arranged marriages do give harmony. We have a saying that Western marriage is like setting a hot kettle on a cold stove. Eastern marriage is like setting a cold kettle on a hot stove. We are prepared to make it work and it does.” The reduction of the number of arranged marriages was one result of Western influence. Among the Vietnamese Western dress and meals were also common. In spite of these changes, the family was still the important factor in the lives of the people. Mr Trinh said several times that it was hoped the respect for the family and the family set-up itself would be retained.

“We have tightly-knit families. There is no social security and this makes people much more dependent on each other and welds the family closer together." In a war-torn country women’s emancipation had been of lesser importance. But monogamy had been established 20 or 30 years ago and over the last 10 years women had been given the vote, their right to jobs made clear, while a number of young women were in the General Assembly, said Mr Trinh. In Repressed State The native women of New Caledonia needed an organisation such as ours to help them climb from their depressed state, said Mrs M. Scott, speaking on a recent visit to New Caledonia. The Melanesians, who lived out of Noumea were still in a rather primitive state while the women were a depressed group. They had still to bow or crawl in the presence of men, said Mrs Scott. A congratulatory message on her election as the new Indian Prime Minister will be sent to Mrs Indira Gandhi by the Christchurch Area Group of the Pan Pacific and South East-asia Women’s Association, the meeting decided.