Pakistan’s traditional matchmakers play a central role in moulding daughters into potential brides, but marriage apps are offering women a new route to finding a husband.
“When I saw my colleague happy after being married to someone she met online … I thought, since we have tried rishta aunties for four or five years, let’s try this too,” Ezza Nawaz, a textile designer in the city of Lahore in Pakistan, says.
“Rishta aunties” – traditional matchmakers – polish up women and present them to the families of potential suitors, in a country where dating is considered dishonourable.
But in the past few years, marriage apps for Muslims have emerged in Pakistan promising so-called love matches.
Some offer a “chaperon” option – which provides a weekly transcript of sent and received messages to a chosen relative, satisfying families wary of their son or daughter connecting with strangers.