Arranged marriage in Iran

Arranged marriage is a delicate question, often asked by travelers when visiting Iran, but a very cliché and often irrelevant topic for many Iranians.

Arranged marriages exist but represent only a small percentage of marriages in Iran.

Marriage is a kind of passage to adulthood and is essential if man want to position ourselves in society.
It is still a real institution.

But a problem arises thus: how do young people meet in Iran?
As co-education is prohibited at school from an early age, boys and girls evolve separately. There is therefore a glaring lack of contact.
The problems generated by this lack of diversity, this lack of knowledge of people of the opposite sex, cause a high number of divorces in Iranian society, one of the main challenges of which is the transition from a traditional society to a society modern.

Currently most marriages are based on personal choice.
Young people have the opportunity to meet and get to know each other in different forms: at the university which is a mixed space, through social networks which are widely used, through friends on the occasion of an outing or a party, in the street during a “dor-dor” where the boys flirt with the girls during a weekend drive.
Girls and boys, each in a different car, try their luck by driving around at night, to find a partner. The more luxurious the car, the higher the chances of success.
This causes heavy traffic at night on the main boulevards of the cities.
This “dor-dor” is one of the main hobbies of young people from the wealthy and middle classes, to get to know each other and start a relationship that could possibly lead to a marriage!
Window down, a phone number exchange at a red light, from the boys ‘car to the girls’ car parked next door, a nice smile from some and a flirtatious attitude from the others and off we go …

..a date at the cafe and an invitation to dinner, if the magic of love operates … if not, we do another round!