India’s Color Complex: One Day’s Worth of Matrimonials

zoomed in image of two people holding hands and wearing traditional clothing

Authors: T. Jerome Utley Jr. & William Darity Jr.

Abstract: Lighter skin complexions may function as a form of capital, particularly for women, in marriage markets. The existence of a preference for light skin for marital partners is an index of the presence of colorism or color bias in a given society. This paper reports on a detailed examination of marital advertisements that appeared in India’s Sunday Times on a single day in March 2013. It asks how often skin shade is mentioned in the advertisements placed among those seeking grooms and those seeking brides, how those mentions are distributed by the reported age of the prospective marital partner, and the type of language used to describe the individual’s complexion. The study finds that skin shade is described far more often in advertisements placed by prospective brides or their families than prospective grooms or their families, and, whenever complexion is mentioned, the possession of lighter skin shades.

Key Findings

  • Skin shade is described far more often in advertisements placed by prospective brides or their families than prospective grooms or their families.
  • Men’s advertisements only specified their bride’s complexion less than 20 % of the time; women announced their complexion approximately 40 % of the time.
  • Advertisements focused disproportionately on the physical attributes of women and their capacity to function as homemakers (through use of the adjective “homely”); advertisements for men focused primarily on education and occupation.
  • In total, it appears color capital is more essential for women than men, causing women to have a heightened sensitivity to skin shade because it influences their marriageability.
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