Srinagar, July 14 -- Although, it's tempting to dismiss this shift as materialism or social decline, it is anything but. Beneath the matchmakers filtering proposals by job titles and young men delaying marriage till the announcement of the results of various job interviews, lies a more uncomfortable truth: rampant unemployment.

In a place where the private sector is virtually non-existent and conflict has long stalled industrial growth, the government job is not just a job, it is the only viable source of livelihood. But with even those opportunities shrinking, the desperation is spreading.

For many young women, the odds are brutal. Educated and often overqualified, they watch proposal after proposal turn cold unless a job or family pro...