Beyond the father and family A feminist ethnographic study on early marriage decision-making, women's empowerment, and gender equality in rural Pakistan

This study examines processes of early marriage decision-making processes within families and across different caste groups in rural Punjab, Pakistan, and analyses these dynamics in relation to state and non-state women’s empowerment and gender equality policies and programmes. The study draws on feminist standpoint theory, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Framework Theory and Bowen’s Family Systems Theory. Ethnographic methods were used to gather primary data over a period of nine months. In addition, relevant policy and legislative state-level documents and project documents of two non-state organizations working in the research village were analysed using feminist critical frame analysis.
My analysis reveals the central role played by paternal grandmothers in early marriage decision-making processes, but only to the extent that these met the approval of paternal grandfathers, fathers, and elder brothers of the intended bride. A bride’s mother only seemed to participate in marriage decision-making if they were financially independent or had grown-up and ‘earning’ sons. On occasion, the intended bride could participate in decisions ‘when’ to marry, while intended grooms could indicate their ‘readiness’ for marriage, thereby controlling not only decisions as to ‘when’ to marry but, at times, also ‘whom’ to marry.
I conclude by arguing that to develop more comprehensive understanding of early marriage decision-making processes, it is necessary to (i) look beyond the father, and beyond the family, and (ii) attend to shifts in women’s relative power as their position in the family changes. I offer a series of recommendations to better align state and non-state policies and interventions with early marriage decision-making processes.