Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:59:44.548Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Marriage Squeeze on High-Caste Rajasthani Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Michael S. Billig
Get access

Extract

Rajasthan, a large, arid state in northwestern India, is widely known to have an excess of males over females. When we consider how such a high sex ratio usually affects the relative availability of potential spouses (i.e., the marriage market), it seems logical that the scarcity of females would generate a “marriage squeeze”— an asymmetry in the availability of potential spouses—against males and thereby give females an advantage in the marriage market. It would be ironic if the “culture against females” (Miller 1981:15) that characterizes Rajasthan had the unexpected side effect of granting females the competitive edge in choosing spouses and forcing males into marriages based on compromise.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2: 50th Year of Publication 1941–1991 , May 1991 , pp. 341 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Agarwala, S. N. 1977. India's Population Problem, 3rd Edition. Bombay: Tata McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Akers, Donald S. 1967. “On Measuring the Marriage Squeeze.” Demography 4:907–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basu, Alaka Malwade. 1989. “Is Discrimination in Food Really Necessary for Explaining Sex Differentials in Childhood Mortality?” Population Studies 43:193–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berreman, Gerald D. 1973. Caste in the Modern World. Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press.Google Scholar
Béteille, André. 1969. Castes: Old and New. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.Google Scholar
Bhattacharjee, P. J. and Shastri, G. N.. 1976. Population in India: A Study of Inter-State Variations. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.Google Scholar
Billig, Michael S. 1987. “The Marriage Market In Two Indian States: A Study in Demographic Anthropology.” Ph.D. diss., Harvard University.Google Scholar
Billig, Michael S. 1992. “The Marriage Squeeze and the Rise of Groomprice in India's Kerala State.” In press, Journal of Comparative Family Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldwell, John C., Reddy, P. H., and Caldwell, Pat. 1983. “The Causes of Marriage Change in South India.” Population Studies 37:343–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplan, Lionel. 1984. “Bridegroom Price in Urban India: Class, Caste and ‘Dowry-Evil’ among Christians in Madras.” Man 19:216–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassen, Robert H. 1978. India: Population, Economy and Society. New York: Holmes and Meier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cave-Browne, John. 1857. Indian Infanticide: Its Origin, Progress and Suppression. London: W. H. Allen.Google Scholar
Chauhan, B. J. 1967. A Rajasthan Village. New Delhi: Associated Publishing.Google Scholar
Chen, Lincoln. 1982. “Where Have the Women Gone? Insights from Bangladesh on Low Sex Ratios of India's Population.” Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay). xvii, No. 10:364–72.Google Scholar
Das Gupta, Monica. 1987. “Selective Discrimination against Female Children in Rural Punjab, India.” Population and Development Review 13:77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Kingsley, and van den Oever, Pietronella. 1982. “Demographic Foundations of New Sex Roles.” Population and Development Review 8:495–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickemann, Mildred. 1975. “Demographic Consequences of Infanticide in Man.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 6:107–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickemann, Mildred. 1979. “The Ecology of Mating Systems in Hypergynous Dowry Societies.” Social Science Information 18:163–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
d'Souza, Stan. 1980. “Nuptiality Patterns and Fertility in South Asia.” In Nuptiality and Fertility, ed. Ruzicka, L.. Liege: IUSSP.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis. 1961. “Marriage in India: The Present State of the Question.” Contributions to Indian Sociology 5:74–95.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis. 1964. “Marriage in India: The Present State of the Question. Postscript to Part I–II Nayar and Newar.” Contributions to Indian Sociology 7:77–98.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis. 1966. “Marriage in India: The Present State of the Question. III-North India in Relation to South India.” Contributions to Indian Sociology 9:90–114.Google Scholar
Dumont, Louis. 1970. Homo Hierarchies London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.Google Scholar
Dyson, Tim, and Moore, Mick. 1983. “On Kinship Structure, Female Autonomy, and Demographic Behavior in India.” Population and Development Review 9:35–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, T. Scarlett. 1973. South India: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gahlot, J. J. 1981. Rajasthan: A Socio-Economic Study. Jodhpur: Rajasthan Sahitya Mandir.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc. 1984. Competing Equalities: Law and the Backward Classes in India. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
George, Aleyamma. 1975. “Population Growth and the Role of Women in India.” Demography India IV:108–27.Google Scholar
Goldman, Noreen, Westoff, C. F., and Hammerslough, C.. 1984. “Demography of the Marriage Market in the U.S.” Population Index 50:5–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goody, Jack. 1973. “Bridewealth and Dowry in Africa and Eurasia.” In Bridewealth and Dowry, eds. Goody, J. and Tambiah, S. J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goyal, R. P. 1988. Marriage Age in India. Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Gupta, Giri Raj. 1974. Marriage, Religion and Society: Patterns of Change in an Indian Village. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.Google Scholar
Guttentag, Marcia, and Secord, Paul F.. 1983. Too Many Women: The Sex Ratio Question. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Heer, David, and Grossbard-Shechtman, Amyra. 1981. “The Impact of the Female Marriage Squeeze and the Contraceptive Revolution on Sex Roles and the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States, 1960–1975.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 43:49–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, Charles, and Matras, Judah. 1971. “A New Look at the Marriage Market and Nuptiality Rates, 1915–1958.” Demography 8:549–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, Terence H. 1990. “Recent Trends in Sex Ratios at Birth in China.” Population and Development Review 16:63–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karve, Irawati. 1968. Kinship Organization in India. New York: Asia Publishing House.Google Scholar
Klass, Morton. 1980. Caste: The Origins of the South Asian Social System. Philadelphia: ISHI Press.Google Scholar
Kolenda, Pauline. 1978. Caste in Contemporary India: Beyond Organic Solidarity. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Krishnan, P. 1986. “Interrelation between Fertility and Non-economic Characteristics.” In Fertility and Mortality, ed. Mahadevan, K.. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Lewis, Oscar. 1958. Village Life in Northern India. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Libbee, Michael J., and Sopher, D. E.. 1975. “Marriage Migration in Rural India.” In People on the Move: Studies on Internal Migration, ed. Kosinski, L. A. and Prothero, R. M.. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Mahadevan, K. 1986. Determinants of Religious and Caste Differentials in Fertility: A Village Study.” In Fertility and Mortality, ed. Mehadevan, K.. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Majumder, D. N. 1958. Caste and Communication in an Indian Village. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, David G. 1970. Society in India, Volumes I and II. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, David G. 1974. Human Fertility in India. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Marriott, McKim, ed. 1955. Village India: Studies in the Little Community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mathew, N. T. 1947. “Factors Influencing the Relative Proportion at Birth of the Two Sexes.” Sankhya Series A8:277–81.Google Scholar
Mayer, Adrian. 1960. Caste and Kinship in Central India. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Barbara D. 1981. The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Mitra, Asok. 1979. Implications of Declining Sex Ratio in India's Population. Bombay: Allied Publishers.Google Scholar
Muhsam, H. V. 1974. “The Marriage Squeeze.” Demography 11:291–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Academy of Sciences. 1984. Vital Rates in India: 1961–1981. Committee on Population and Demography, Report No. 24. Washington: NAS Press.Google Scholar
Pakrasi, K. B. 1968. “On Female Infanticide in India.” Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute 7:33–48.Google Scholar
Pakrasi, K. B., and Halder, A.. 1971. “Sex Ratios and Sex Sequences of Births in India.” Journal of Biosocial Sciences 3:377–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Panigrahi, Lalita. 1976. British Social Policy and Female Infanticide in India. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.Google Scholar
Raghuvanshi, Kalpana. 1983. Rural Women in Rajasthan. Jaipur: Kanchenjunga Publishers.Google Scholar
Ramachandran, K. V., and Deshpande, V. A.. 1964. “The Sex Ratio at Birth in India by Regions.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 42:84–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Registrar General of India. 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981. Census of India. New Delhi: Ministry of Home Affairs.Google Scholar
Rivers, W. H. R. 1921. “The Origin of Hypergamy.” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 7, part 1:9–24.Google Scholar
Ruzicka, Lado. 1984. “Mortality in India: Past Trends and Future Prospects.” In India's Demography, eds. Dyson, T. and Crook, N.. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press.Google Scholar
Schoen, Robert. 1983. “Measuring the Tightness of the Marriage Squeeze.” Demography 20:61–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schoen, Robert, and Baj, J.. 1985. “The Impact of the Marriage Squeeze in Five Western Countries.” Sociology and Social Research 70:8–19.Google Scholar
Shryock, Henry S., Siegel, J. S., and associates. 1976. The Methods and Materials of Demography. Condensed edition. N.Y.: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Singer, Milton. 1972. When a Great Tradition Modernizes: An Anthropological Approach To Indian Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Srinivas, M. N. 1952. Religion and Society Amoung the Coorgs of South India. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Srinivas, M. N. 1955. India's Villages. Calcutta: Government of West Bengal Press.Google Scholar
Srinivas, M. N. 1962. Caste in Modern India and Other Essays. London: Asia Publishing.Google Scholar
Srinivas, M. N. 1966. Social Change in Modern India. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Srinivas, M. N. 1984. Some Reflections on Dowry. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
The Statesman's Yearbook. 1990–91. Edited by Paxton, J.. N.Y.: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Tambiah, Stanley J. 1973. “Dowry and Bridewealth and Property Rights of Women in South Asia.” In Bridewealth and Dowry, eds. Goody, J. and Tambiah, S. J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tambiah, Stanley J. 1989. “Bridewealth and Dowry Revisited: The Position of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa and North India.” Current Anthropology 30:413–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tod, James. 1971. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan: Or the Central Western Rajput States of India. Delhi: Motilal Bandarsidass. (Reprint of 1920 edition).Google Scholar
Visaria, Leela. 1988. “Level, Trends and Determinants of Infant Mortality in India.” In Infant Mortality in India: Differentials and Determinants, eds. Jain, A. K. and Visaria, P.. New Delhi: Sage.Google Scholar
Visaria, Pravin. 1971. The Sex Ratio of the Population of India. Census Monograph Series No. 10. Registrar General. New Delhi: Government of India.Google Scholar
Visaria, Pravin, and Visaria, Leela. 1981. India's Population: Second and Growing.” Population Bulletin 36. Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau.Google Scholar
Wolf, Margery. 1985. Revolution Postponed: Women in Contemporary China. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zachariah, K. C., and Patel, Sulekha. 1984. Determinants of Fertility Decline in India: An Analysis. World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 699. Population and Development Series No. 24. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar