CAUSES OF LATE MARRIAGES IN PAKISTAN: A SURVEY BASED ANALYSIS
Amina Tabassum,  and Zafar Iqbal 
ABSTRACT
Early marriages in Islamic Republic of Pakistan are gradually being replaced by marriages in comparatively later stages of life. This trend of marrying late in life can have both positive and negative social consequences. On the negative side, late marriages can serve as a barrier for spouses to conceive children and form families because of the medical issues, females usually feel alienated for being single at a certain age and face depression, and males often face threats to their personal integrity and character akin to females for marrying late. On the positive side, late marriages give hopes to both the genders that age does not stop them from getting married and finding soul mate in life. There is enough literature which advocates the merits of getting married at a proper age (22-30) from biological social, and medical point of view, however there is scarcity of literature on the social causes of late marriages in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to investigate the key factors which cause delays in female marriages using survey data of 156 households of urban area. The collected data has been analyzed in SPSS estimation software. The findings of the study revealed that late marriages are a result of; cast system, difference in male-female education, lack of access to basic necessities, attainment of higher education by females, marriage cost, lack of Islamic knowledge, higher expectations of women on finding their partner, social media and fraud cases of marriage bureau. The study suggested that this issue can be resolved by creating awareness among the masses towards equal rights, respect for gender, and mutual wellbeing of individuals of the society.
KEY WORDS: late marriages, social dilemma, social expectations, lack of knowledge