Marital Arrangements and Women’s Autonomy: The Narratives of Tibetan Women in Exile

There has been a shift from the previously dominant polyandrous marital arrangements to monogamous arrangements, upon exile, among the Tibetan refugees in India. This article attempts to examine the autonomy of Tibetan women in exile across polyandrous and monogamous marital arrangements through the lens of modernisation and feminist theoretical frameworks. A thematic narrative analysis of 30 Tibetan participants in both marital arrangements has helped in comparing women’s autonomy in the domains of inheritance and division of property, household decision-making and with respect to children’s education and occupation. Even though modernising forces partially explain the shift from polyandry to monogamy, the narratives of women belonging to both the monogamous and polyandrous families lend support to the feminist framework suggesting the role of internalisation of social norms and self-abnegation as negatively affecting their autonomy.