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Page 21
The superintendent of a state department for aid to widows made a study
of the vital statistics of 500 families chosen at random. She states
that "out of these 500 mothers 96, or 19.2 per cent, had conceived out
of wedlock--or rather before wedlock--judging by the date of marriage
and that of the first child's birth. All these women were hard working;
several of good standing in the neighborhood and the mothers of large
families of children." This group of homes represents by no means an
unstable segment of the community, since in most instances the couples
had lived together in reasonable harmony up to the time of the man's
death. But do the 96 represent forced marriages as ordinarily thought of
by the social worker? The study just quoted has no facts bearing upon
this point. The likelihood is that a large number of these marriages,
termed forced, were in reality not brought about by outside pressure at
all, but that the couple were intending to be married at the time the
pregnancy occurred and that the circumstances were condoned by public
opinion in the community where the marriage took place.
The Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, however, has made a study
of 89 forced marriages which were brought about in connection with
bastardy proceedings. In this study there is no attempt to differentiate
as to the _amount_ of unwillingness that had had to be overcome on the
part of either the man or the woman. Fifty-three of the women said that
the marriage had been entered into willingly on their part. Sixty of
them stated that they were well treated by their husbands, and only five
complained of abuse or unkindness. Out of the 89 marriages brought about
after proceedings were instituted 69 of the couples were still living
together from one to two years later, although 20, or nearly one in
five, had separated before the two-year period was over.[22]
A young woman with four small children was given advice by an
associated charities about her approaching confinement, and no
further inquiry was made at that time. She was living apart from her
husband, who was contributing a small amount regularly. The income
was inadequate and it was decided to push the matter further.
Efforts to verify the marriage failed. Finally, a tactful worker was
able to learn that the ceremony had not taken place until after the
birth of the first three children, that the couple had had sexual
relations since the woman was a girl of fifteen, and that her
relatives had never known the true state of affairs. The man's
mother finally interfered, and urged her son not to live with his
wife. After much careful work, and with the assistance of a
co-operating priest, a plan was worked out which brought the couple
together and induced them to move away from the region in which the
man's parents lived.
* * * * *
A probation department tells of a case where, although the man was
unwilling to marry, a court marriage was brought about; the man made
his payments promptly and observed the other conditions of his
probation faithfully. The woman, however, was indifferent to any
efforts to bring about a reconciliation. It was finally discovered
that she was immoral. The case culminated in the securing of a
divorce by the man, who was granted the custody of the children.
The same department submits a story where good results were obtained
in subsequently reconciling, after a desertion, a couple whose
marriage had been of the forced description. The probation
department arranged for the couple to live apart in the early stage
of probationary treatment. A careful study was made of each of the
individuals, and in their sincere attachment a basis was discovered
for re-establishment of the home under the supervision of the
probation officer. Five years later the man was found to be at work
at the same position originally obtained for him by the probation
officer, his salary had been increased, the family had grown in
number and were getting on extremely well.
Although the term "forced marriage" has come to have the meaning given
above, unions can be really forced where there has been no sex relation
before marriage. In one unhappy marriage which came finally to a court
of domestic relations, the wife was a weak and timid woman who married
her husband because of her fear that he would carry out his threat and
kill her and himself if she refused him. Another, an Italian girl, was
married at fourteen by her parents against her inclinations to a
well-to-do man, much older than she, who was a lodger in the family. As
she grew to womanhood their incompatibility increased; finally, after
four children had been born, the family was broken up and the children
committed to institutions.
There are compulsions and false motives, operating to bring about
marriages, which spring from within not without; and the discovery of
any motive for the marriage except mutual inclination has significance
to the case worker. Light was thrown on the troubles of one young couple
when the girl confessed that she had married a youth for whom she had no
particular affection, in order to "spite" her relatives and assert her
right to do as she chose. And the unfortunate young woman who married a
street evangelist in a fit of religious enthusiasm, and because of his
promise that they would travel about the world saving souls together,
had a married life both short and stormy. The so-called "slacker
marriages" of the few months preceding the first draft in 1917
illustrate this point. The wreckage of these marriages is already
drifting in increasing amount to the courts of domestic relations.
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