Sumangali’s Slave Girls
Young Indian women are increasingly putting rural life behind them in search of better work opportunities in sprawling urban area. The booming textile industry absorbs many of these female workers, some barely into their teens. Many want nothing more than to marry and settle down, but lack dowry money. l This illegal but flourishing practice powers the so-called ‘sumangali’ system, in which ‘girl-women’ agree to indentured servitude in exchange for a marriage stipend.
Young Indian women are increasingly putting rural life behind them in search of better work opportunities in sprawling urban area. The booming textile industry absorbs many of these female workers, some barely into their teens. Many want nothing more than to marry and settle down, but lack dowry money. l This illegal but flourishing practice powers the so-called ‘sumangali’ system, in which ‘girl-women’ agree to indentured servitude in exchange for a marriage stipend.
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