Wow arguments - we marry as it's the "norm" it's part of our religion and it's a respectful thing to do, in terms of our culture and respecting parents wishes.
(the above is in no particular order)
Women cannot survive without men - hmm not sure if this is true. I understand men provide a "protection" aspect, you feel safer walking down a dark alley with your dad, then you would alone. Etc. But not being able survive without a husband - my Aunty who brought me up, (aka mum) is doing just fine thanks. And - my grandmother - was doing fine too after my grandfather left. Sorry hareem I am trying give positive examples.
Marriage is a situation where you could end up with gold (the person not literally) or rusting metal (so to speak!) and believe me you'd rather be alone than have tetanus! (if you don't get that... Then hey!)
Sometimes having a husband - can be equivalent of having none at all. So it's not always true, women can survive. And why? Because as humans we survive due to Allah thallah. Vou vaselleeh banaathaa hei, maard nehee.
As for western women enduring more crap, what a boxed up view. And someone else saying - the west has lack religion, what generalisations!
Aaj kaal sab crap kathee hei, west aur east. in from the most thorny bush does a rose arise. There is good and bad in every culture, religion, creed and nation. Who are you to judge - who is more sinful and who is not?
I am deeply offended on behalf of us "western" women.
Re: Why marriages are not working in the new generation?!
i don't know about UK, but here in America we had a stage(10 yrs ago) where parents would take thier kids back to pakistan to be married. and most of these marriages ended up in divorces. now we have this era where 90% of marriages r self arranged by the kids. i am not saying love marriage, cause now people r smart and r makeing decisions on compatibility rather than puppy love. most of marriages r taking place between college mates. if there r divorces here in America its between the arranged married couples. this is all my observation from my community. anyways the other thing could be that now women r more educated, compared to even last decade. and with education comes more confidence and less tolerance for unfairness. also independence.
Re: Why marriages are not working in the new generation?!
our older generations had word 'compromise' and 'sab ko khush rakhna.' drilled into their minds. Divorce was a big stigma for either of the couple. So even if the married life was super crappy..the pretending to be khush part worked.
So it isn't that marriages have stopped working. People now turn to out of family marriages more often and the arranged rishtas at times turn out to be a total horror story. Love marriages also fail because of increased expectations and lack of flexibility from each person's side.