Strategies to Prevent Forced Marriage: Protecting Your Freedom and Choices

Forced marriage is a devastating experience faced by individuals across the world. It involves coercion and manipulation through physical and mental forces, with threats of violence or even death. This article provides valuable insights and strategies to protect your freedom and choices in the face of forced marriage.

Understanding Forced Marriages

Forced marriages are often seen in tribal and remote rural villages, where physical and emotional forces are used to compel individuals to enter into unions against their will. These marriages are not about two people freely choosing each other, but rather about controlling and manipulating individuals for the sake of family honor, financial gain, or social status. In contrast, a dedicated marriage, such as the story of Meerabai, is a deeply spiritual and personal union, often portrayed as a sacrifice or a symbolic union with a deity, rather than involving any forced elements.

Key Steps to Resist Forced Marriages

Knowing your rights and understanding that no one can force you into a marriage is crucial. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself from being coerced into a forced marriage:

1. Seek Emotional Support

Emotional support from friends, family, and professionals can provide the strength and resolve you need to resist forced marriages. Allies can offer moral support, legal advice, and practical assistance to prevent the marriage from going ahead.

2. Understand Your Legal Rights

Every country has laws protecting individuals from forced marriage. Familiarize yourself with these laws and understand how to seek protection through legal channels. You can also contact local authorities or organizations dedicated to ending forced marriage.

3. Document Prevalent Threats and Abuses

Keep a record of any threats, emotional abuse, or manipulation you face from family members. Documentation can be crucial when seeking intervention or legal action. Many organizations provide templates for documenting such incidents.

4. Seek Community Intervention

Community leaders, religious figures, and cultural organizations can play a significant role in preventing forced marriages. They can help mediate conflicts within the family and advocate for your rights. Reaching out to these groups can also offer a broader support network.

5. Prioritize Your Safety and Health

Your well-being is the most important consideration. If you feel unsafe or threatened, prioritize your safety by seeking refuge or relocation. Temporary or permanent separation from coercive families may be necessary to protect yourself.

Personal Stories and Advice

Consider the case of a friend, who faced emotional coercion from her mother to marry someone else and was threatened with self-harm if she did not comply. Her strength and resolve in standing up to the emotional manipulation allowed her to avoid a forced marriage. Another individual, who had been estranged from her relatives for 10 years, successfully broke free from a life of neglect and found success by leaving her family's oppressive influence behind.

Resources for Saving Your Marriage

For those struggling to maintain a marriage despite one-sided efforts, there are valuable resources available. A guide dubbed as a life-changing tool for couples has helped over 6,000 couples prevent divorces. This guide offers practical and actionable steps to improve relationships, even when you feel alone in your desire to save the marriage. Success stories from those who have used the guide attest to its effectiveness, such as a person who was seemingly losing their spouse’s love and saw a remarkable turnaround after following the guide.

To learn more about how to use this guide to prevent divorce and strengthen your relationship, visit