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The Unfair Selection: A Study on Skin-Color Bias in Arranged Indian Marriages

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  • Itisha Nagar

Abstract

Underlying the growing popularity of skin-lightening or fairness cosmetics in India is one of the most baseless biases experienced and practiced. Yet, the overriding importance of skin-color especially in context of marriage has been largely unaddressed. This exploratory study examined the influence of skin-color on preference for potential marriage partner. A 2 × 2 (gender × skin-color) between-group experimental design was used. Mothers ( N = 108) of individuals of marriageable age group were presented with an option of five marital profiles containing education and work information only. The participants were shown profiles of either males or females depending on whether they had a son or a daughter. Once a profile was chosen, the participant was either shown a photograph of highly attractive fair girl/boy or a highly attractive dark girl/boy. The light-skinned and dark-skinned photograph was of the same person, except their skin tones were manipulated with the use of computer software. Participants were asked to rate how strongly would they recommend the girl/boy as potential bride/groom for their children. As expected, fair-skinned highly attractive people received higher ratings than dark-skinned highly attractive people. However, contrary to our expectations, ratings received for dark-skinned woman were not significantly lower than the ratings received for dark-skinned man. This study shows that the color of skin has the potential to even overpower traits such as general competency and physical attractiveness in both men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Itisha Nagar, 2018. "The Unfair Selection: A Study on Skin-Color Bias in Arranged Indian Marriages," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:8:y:2018:i:2:p:2158244018773149
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244018773149
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