01 July,2009 09:12 AM IST | | Vivek Sabnis
The Women Network organisation and Miloon Sarya Jani, a women-run magazine, are organising the first-ever marriage conference in Pune to address the issue of live-in relationships.
"The conference will try to discover how and why women suffer in a marriage, which ultimately leads to a divorce. We want to know if live-in relationships can avoid the trauma of divorce. We've invited couples living in, counsellors and marriage bureau officials to speak," said Mangala Samant, president, Women Network.
Samant, who recently wrote a book on live-in relationshipsu00a0Is There Any Alternative to Marriage? said that there are many misconceptions about marriage and live-in relationships. "We want to start a debate on this issue and know if live-in relationships are the need of the hour," added Samant.
Vidya Bal, noted feminist activist and editor of Miloon Sarya Jani, is saddened by the fact that many Pune
couples living in do not want to disclose their identities. "Their experience will certainly help us delve deeper into the roots of the issue of marriage," she said.
Kranti Agnihotri-Dabir, a marriage counsellor at Nari Samata Manch believes that women these days are emotionally stronger because they are more economically independent.
Nowadays, instead of going to the police station to complain of harassment, they prefer to go to a family court and sort out the issue among themselves, she said.
