Kashmiri brides seek husbands

Kashmiri women are hot!

Seventeen years of insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir have left a distinct mark not only on the region's politics, but also on its social and cultural fabric.

And it is most noticeable in a slow, but gradual, change in the life of Kashmiri women as new trends are emerging.

Also, during the long years of militancy, the Kashmir Valley has lost at least 60,000 people - most of them young men of marriageable age.

"The loss of this particular group has added to the problem as most women now can't find grooms," says Ms Syeda Afshana, who writes on women's rights issues.

Kashmiri brides seek grooms

In Kashmir's traditionally conservative Muslim society, a lot of stigma is attached to having an unmarried daughter of marriageable age and most families do not want to talk about it.

But single women in their late 20s and 30s have now become a visible group. In Kashmir University, single women in this age group pursuing higher studies say men now prefer to marry working women. And women with permanent jobs have an edge over others in the marriage market too. As a result, many women are going in for higher education to be able to better qualify for jobs.

A Kashmiri Muslim girl

But then sometimes highly-educated women in well-paying jobs deliberately delay marriage until they find a suitable match.

"Every woman wants to marry Mr Perfect," says Salma Farhad, editor of Kashmir's only women's magazine, She.

"Her wish list is long - the man should be good looking, highly educated, someone who enjoys high social status and who can provide for her financially," says Ms Farhad.

In the absence of development schemes in the state and the high unemployment rate among Kashmiri men, that is a tall order.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice