ABSTRACT: So yes, somehow you might have thought about connecting poverty to marriage to reduce poverty by connecting two individuals. Marriage is what is considered a sacred process of connecting two individuals. Can we use this to eradicate some problems which are sociological or economical? Is that even the right thing to happen? does failing marriage lead to poverty for any individual too? we will do a detailed analysis of the issue in this review article. So, here in this review article, we are going to review the conflicting idea of how marriage can reduce poverty and whether is helpful up to any extent or does it have any gracious side effects for particular individuals. Here we are going to review some articles discuss can marriage reduce poverty or not and we are going to give our own review and suggestions in the end regarding this subject. We will also have our focus on child marriage which happens due to poverty and how it impacts the individuals as well as the aspects of poverty. And if marriage does have anything to do with poverty the question is up to what extent?
KEYWORDS: Poverty, marriage, sociological, eradication
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to find the answer to some conflicting questions. We aim to find can poverty get reduced by the scheme of marriage. Another question we aim to find is whether child marriage has anything to do with poverty or not. Next, we will find out some public policies regarding the matter of discussion. Then we will try to finalize and decide if there is anything we can suggest after reviewing the articles or going in-depth about the matter.
SOURCES OF DATA: Secondary Data
LITERATURE REVIEW: According to Annie Lowrey in the article “can marriage cure poverty” in THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, lifting children and families from poverty there is a great way called marriage. According to the author, the economists have done their studies and have found out that if all the countries unmarried poor people including gay and lesbian people would be given a chance to marry poverty reduction will occur. He says that if both parent work then there is a less likely chance are there that the family will be poor and the children will have some behavioural conduct like mental problems or hunger due to poverty. He says that research shows that most of the children born out of single mothers are poor. The author also says that according to some researchers marriage is not the end of poverty but poverty is the barrier to a successful marriage. In another article by Stephanie Coontz, he says that children who grew up with married parents enjoy higher standards than those in households of single parents. Another research done in America says the same thing about marriage reducing poverty of the children and the household. In another article which has been written by Rebeca J. Rosen, it has been questioned that if marriage is the ticket out of poverty then why so many married people are poor? she says there are a lot of people struggling who are married, and, increasingly, unmarried, couples with children. She says married families with no income gainer tend to be the poorest of all.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION:
So, here we have taken the reference of four articles and what we saw is whether marriage can reduce poverty or not still is in debatable mode. First of all, we all know that the basis of marriage is adding two people together to share a common life. When two person gets to marry each other the income of these two people simply gets added which causes a poverty reduction. As we know the income is lesser is the effect of poverty. So here it’s a question of fact that isn’t it simply an equation of maths of the addition of income of two people rather than the magic of marriage? But then again the addition of two people which causes the addition of income and reduction of poverty only happens when two people get together and share a common life due to marriage. Some of us may argue that marriage is the meeting of minds and affection but if we see it from an economic point of view marriage is good for the child and the family. People marrying makes the economy of the household stronger when the funds increase. It has been shown in various research that children with both parents tend to have a good life not just because of the income of both parents but also due to moral support by both parents which helps the child to overcome difficulties more efficiently than a child who has only one parent. It helps the child with both parents to achieve success by going with the moral support of the parents and by that they can achieve something good which will help them to avoid the cruel line of poverty in future. So marriage if you directly connect it with finance will improve the condition of the economic condition of the family or if you look at it from another perspective it provides a great ambience for the betterment of the future of the family members which will lead to a great future of them eradicating the branches of poverty. Well if you just multiply the no of earning members in the family rather than getting one married, then the financial condition of the family will also increase as it would have been after marriage. So like some experts have said the magic lies in the addition of income and not in marriage. But yes when we talk about the marriage rights of the LGBTQ community it will be helpful from both sides, from the economic point of view as well as from the humane point of view if giving them a chance to be happy. Marriage helps in eradicating poverty in the family because the income of one more member helps to make the economy at ease but here we are also forgetting that the maintenance and budget of one more member are also getting added to that family, so its kinda balancing the economy and not totally being helpful to depth. And also the member who is getting married to another family has a family too who is losing another earning member (only if she is employed) to the family of the groom, and here if u see the economy might get into a lower position after losing an earning member of that particular family. similarly, if the family is losing a member and she is not employed by the family where she is going, their economic condition might worsen due to the addition of the maintenance of another member who is not an earning member. So if we see here the marriage doesn’t matter but the income does. If you are employed and you have income then doesn’t matter if you get married or not but your economy will stay intact, but if you are married but unemployed and the source of income is less then obviously the budget of the family will worsen and the poverty might strike harder than before. So here simple maths will come into play like the addition of income of two people rather than the addition of people through marriage. Doesn’t matter if you are married or not but if you are an employed member of the family you are at perks wherever you go. if you are the employed member of the family if you leave the family after marriage then marriage will cause a loss in income and poverty might strike if you are not employed income of then family and you leave the family after marriage then the families economic condition will improve by losing one non-incoming person of the family for which they had to add maintenance budgets like food and clothing, and to which family the member goes if she is employed the economy will grow of that family to which she goes and if she is not employed then the economy will be down by the addition of one extra member who has no income. So here it’s the simple addition of maths and not the addition of hearts. So here rather than focusing on marriage, I think researchers should focus on how to improve the employment of people.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion economists, researchers, as well as sociologists, should try to eradicate poverty by improving the economy of India and by providing lots of job opportunities to the individuals and the youth of our country rather than focusing on the magic of marriage. Because as we have seen above it is all about the addition of income, the more the income is lesser the poverty will be. Marriage has very less significance in itself. But still, there is a little of the magic of marriage there I dare say. After marriage, the extra family member tries to help the family with the housework even if they are not employed and the employed member gets the time and opportunity to do their work properly, and if the member is employed then there is nothing to say the income addition method we have discussed above has enough to say in this matter. And also the children living with both couples will be both mentally and physically healthy and will be something successful in the future which will help the family in eradicating the future. But then again even if the government of the researchers or the sociologist or the economist would want to emphasize the magic of marriage they can practically do nothing about it because they just can’t simply force people to get married and have kids. Isn’t it?
REFERENCES :
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/magazine/can-marriage-cure-poverty.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/marriage-poverty/473019/
https://sites.utexas.edu/contemporaryfamilies/2002/04/28/marriage-poverty-public-policy-brief/
https://marripedia.org/effects_of_marriage_on_child_poverty
She is currently studying at kiit school of law, studying B.A.LL.B.