Marriage

===Forced marriage===
{{Main|Forced marriage}}
[[File:Oskar Shmerling. Free love (Forced marriage). Molla Nasreddin.jpg|thumb|right|Criticism about the [[Azerbaijani people|Azeri]] society tradition from domestic violence to the social and political participation of women in the community]]
A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against their will. Forced marriages continue to be practiced in parts of the world, especially in [[South Asia]] and [[Africa]]. The line between forced marriage and consensual marriage may become blurred, because the social norms of these cultures dictate that one should never oppose the desire of one's parents/relatives in regard to the choice of a spouse; in such cultures, it is not necessary for violence, threats, intimidation etc. to occur, the person simply "consents" to the marriage even if they do not want it, out of the implied social pressure and duty. The customs of [[bride price]] and [[dowry]], that exist in parts of the world, can lead to buying and selling people into marriage.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_1.shtml#section_2 Ethics – Slavery: Modern slavery]. BBC. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session21/A-HRC-21-41_en.pdf Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Gulnara Shahinian]. United Nations. Human Rights Council Twenty-first session. 10 July 2012</ref>

In some societies, ranging from [[Central Asia]] to the [[Caucasus]] to Africa, the custom of [[bride kidnapping]] still exists, in which a woman is captured by a man and his friends. Sometimes this covers an [[elopement]], but sometimes it depends on [[sexual violence]]. In previous times, ''[[raptio]]'' was a larger-scale version of this, with groups of women captured by groups of men, sometimes in war; the most famous example is [[The Rape of the Sabine Women]], which provided the first citizens of Rome with their wives.

Other marriage partners are more or less imposed on an individual. For example, [[widow inheritance]] provides a widow with another man from her late husband's brothers.

In rural areas of India, [[child marriage]] is practiced, with parents often arranging the wedding, sometimes even before the child is born.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_child_marriage.htm |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070816221639/http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts_child_marriage.htm  |archive-date=16 August 2007 |title=Child Marriage Factsheet: State of World Population 2005 |publisher=UNFPA }}</ref> This practice was made illegal under the [[Child Marriage Restraint Act]] of 1929.