Inherent Bias And Unrealistic Expectations: How Matrimony Platforms Highlight 'Progressive' India?

Over the years, several platforms have emerged catering to Indian society. The prominent ones include the various matrimonial sites. No sooner than people reach a certain age, our families do the needful by sharing all the necessary details for the world to see. As time passes by, many pages have customised themselves to engage a particular section of our country's populous.

An example of this is a platform called 'IIT IIM Shaadi.Com'. As the name suggests, it aims to match people hailing from the 'creme de la creme' of academic institutions around the country. Recently, filmmaker Karan Johar was featured in a video promoting the website that went viral on social media and garnered mixed reactions about its services.

'Alma Mater Matters'

The platform's tagline says 'Alma Mater Matters', emphasising getting people belonging to renowned institutions together. "The founder, Taksh Gupta, believes that the alumni of Premier Education institutions deservedly desire the companionship of the 'matching intellect', with similar experiences and expectations. The portal addresses the tailor-made needs of this segment," says the IIT IIM Shaadi.Com page.

While the name sounds restrictive, its categories welcome people from different career backgrounds. Some of the subjects include Engineering, Management, Mass Communication, Architecture, Law, Medicine, Fashion Design, Sociology and the like. The list also includes senior government officials, with the obvious caveat of studying at the best colleges in India.

Searching 'Suitable' Life-Partners

However, the IITIIM Shaadi platform is not the only one in the market. For time immemorial, matrimonial sites have categorised people based on region, religion and class. Elite Matrimony is one such example. The page exclusively caters to the 'rich' and 'influential' Indians that fall under an extravagant income bracket. Other platforms target people belonging to certain castes by creating a page just for the community members to find someone 'similar' to their background and lifestyle.

We Indians call ourselves progressive and liberal in many ways, but some shortcomings come to the fore. Such platforms are notorious for exposing people's inherent biases. The Matrimonial section in the newspaper elucidates the 'criteria' under which they are looking for a 'suitable' bride or groom. Most of them are filled with the usual descriptions that reek of colourism and fat-shaming ideals. The platform, as mentioned earlier, wants to match people with the 'same' intellect, which leaves many others who may not have attended the said institution.

Going through them for a person is a horrendous experience. Such biases pin unrealistic expectations on both men and women searching for their life partners. In turn, they feel that they are not worthy as they may not fit the bill.

Nonetheless, it is safe to say that the matrimony platforms only capitalise on such drawbacks. They customise themselves to help the families find the ideal spouse for their dear son or daughter. Similarly, the 'alma-mater' based matchmaking site further promotes the prejudice held by the Indian society that only aggravates the current problem without providing any necessary solution.

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