Marriage as an institution in Romania

First oI all, I have to say that, nowadays, marriage is not what it used to be in the past.
Although there are couples who value marriage, there is an important majority who has
Iorgotten what really means to be married, without taking in count the economic aspect.
Moreover, in the modern times, even the basic signiIication oI the marriage mutual love
between partners is almost gone; many people do not marry because they love a person, but
because they have diIIerent interests.
When it comes to Romania, the situation is not very diIIerent. When talking about
marriage in Romania, we have to make the distinction between the rural and urban society.
Because my grandparents are living in the countryside, I had the chance to notice some
diIIerences between city and village.
There, the people get married at an earlier age than in the city; this happens because the
studies there are oIten Iinished at the age oI 16, because the parents/grandparents acted that
way or because many young women get pregnant at early age. Besides this, the number oI
divorces is lower than in the city. That is because couples there manage to overcome Iights or
diIIerent misunderstandings. An important aspect about marriage in the rural area is domestic
violence; there, women do not separate Irom their husbands so easily, even though they suIIer
Irom their violence. Those women think that iI they will separate, then they will never marry
again because they will have a bad Iame in the community. Furthermore, in the village, the
partners are more dedicated to their Iamilies, especially women. They don`t have a carrier to
worry about, so they have all their time Ior the Iamily. The man is the one working hard Ior
the Iamily and is also, in most oI the cases, the person who takes the important decisions.
Unlike the city-wiIe, the village-wiIe accepts this without any objections because she thinks
the man knows better.
When it comes to the marriage in the city, things are a little bit diIIerent. Here, in the majority
oI cases, both men and women have the authority in taking decisions. The woman is
emancipated, has a carrier and, unlike the man in the village, is not a shame Ior the city-
husband to take care oI the children or to do housework. However, in the city more and more
couples are separating. The values oI marriage are less taken into consideration here and
many couples decide to divorce, even though they could solve their misunderstandings. They
don`t even care about the children they have; in the countryside children play an important
part in the marriage.
I have to say that here, unIortunately, domestic violence is also present. Moreover, I noticed
that this kind oI violence has a higher degree in the city; it even comes to murders, in most oI
the cases the husband killing the wiIe.
In conclusion, even though in Romania the marriage has a diIIerent meaning in the
rural and urban area, in both oI the cases there are good and bad parts. However, the marriage
is no longer what it used to be when our grand-grandparents were young; there is less respect
between the partners and the mentality has changed a lot, women being more selI-conIident.