Child Marriage in India
Background:
- It is defined as a girl or boy being married before they are 18 and encompasses both legally recognised unions and informal arrangements where a young person lives with a partner as if they are married.
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 raises the legal marriage age for women from 18 to 21.
The number of child marriages in India is high:
- 25% of women between the ages of 18 and 29 got married before they were legally able to do so, according to data from the NFHS-5.
- Marginal decline: Since NFHS-4 (28%), the percentage has hardly changed.
- As would be predicted, prevalence is higher in rural India (28% versus 17%, respectively) than in urban India.
- West Bengal has the highest frequency (42%), followed by Bihar and Tripura (both at 40%).
Social Reasons:
- A prevalent myth about virginity is that a man must have a virgin wife and that having extramarital affairs with their daughter will reflect poorly on their family.
- Gender norms: Indian women, who frequently give birth to sons, are seen less favourably than males.
- Dowry: If a woman marries while she is younger, the guy might not require dowry because the bride is said to be pure and an incarnation of the goddess Laxmi.
- It is seen by families as a defence against sexual abuse.
Economic factors:
- The girl child is referred to be “paraya dhan,” or marital family property, and is seen as a financial burden on the family.
- The dower from the bride’s family will provide financial support to the groom and groom’s family, who come from less affluent backgrounds.
- Family members of the girl are aware that getting married will guarantee her future.
- More children are born as a result of child marriage, and having more children will lower the family’s debt.
Why it’s crucial to take a woman’s marital age into account:
- Numerous variables, such as reproductive rates, nutrition for mothers and children, sex ratios, and, to a lesser extent, women’s access to higher education and economic possibilities are influenced by age at marriage.
- Furthermore, it is claimed that other factors, such as poverty and access to healthcare, were much more effective levers for improving the physical and dietary wellbeing of mothers and children.
- The likelihood that a girl will finish her education is reduced by child marriage.
- In turn, the lack of educational opportunities dramatically facilitates child marriage.
Moving ahead:
- Raising the legal marriage age may not totally end child weddings because about one-fourth of Indian women between the ages of 18 and 29 married before the age of 18.
- Ensure that you complete at least 12 years of education: To ensure that women receive the bulk of the advantages, ensure that they complete at least 12 years of school.
- Bangladesh is presented as an example of how providing women with better access to modern skills that raise their employment and decrease child marriage can improve nutrition and health.
- Education requirements for programmes: Keep an eye out for programmes that ease the financial burden of marriage, but whose criteria for membership should place more emphasis on educational performance than just age.
