Child
marriage in India, according to the Indian law,
is a marriage where
either the woman is below age 18 or the man is below age 21. Most child
marriages involve underage women, many of whom are in poor socio-economic
conditions.
Yet, recent data indicates that in the last decade there has
been a significant decline in the prevalence of child marriage from 47 per cent
to 27 per cent of the proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married
before age 18 from 2005/2006 to 2015/2016. National and state averages,
however, mask realities at the district level, and despite the overall decline,
a few districts continue to have very high rates of child marriage. Indeed, India has the largest number of brides in
the world – one-third of the global total. (Child marriage rates among
women in a few districts of Rajasthan and Bihar, continue to be in the range of
47 per cent to 51 per cent).
There are many causes of
child marriage in India and multiple barriers to its elimination. Child
marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow
inferior to boys. In India, child
marriage is also driven by:
· Poverty:
Child marriage is more common among poorer households, with many families
marrying off their daughters to reduce their perceived economic burden. Girls
are often married off at a younger age because less dowry is expected for
younger brides.
· Betrothal:
Some girls are promised in marriage before they are born in order to “secure”
their future. Once they reach puberty, ceremonies take place and they are sent
to their husband’s home to commence married life.
· Level
of education: Many families consider girls to be parayadhan – someone else’s wealth. This
means that a girl’s productive capacities benefit her marital family, and
educating daughters is therefore seen as less of a priority than educating
sons, who are responsible for taking care of biological parents in old age.
· Household
labour: Girls are often married off at puberty when they
are deemed most ‘productive’ and can take care of children and conduct
housework. The labour of young brides is central to some rural economies. The
practice of attasatta sees two
extended families exchange girls through marriage so neither family is worse
off in terms of household labour.
· Traditional
customs: Customary laws based on religion are a major
barrier in ending child marriage in India. Social pressure to marry at puberty
can be enormous within certain castes.
· Gender
norms: There is generally a lower value attached to
daughters, and girls are expected to be adaptable, docile, hardworking and
talented wives. Child marriages are sometimes used to control female sexuality,
sanctify sex and ensure reproduction.
· Pre-marital
sex: Marriage is used to preserve the purity of girls
as soon as they reach puberty and, sometimes, to ensure that they are not
“corrupted” by men of lower castes. There is a high premium placed on
virginity, and as such it is sometimes considered more punya (holy) to marry off younger girls. Fathers sometimes lose
credibility within communities if their daughters have sex or get married
without their consent. Differentiation is made between jaangdaan (when a girl is so young she can sit on her father’s lap
during a marriage ceremony) and pattaldaan
(when she has attained puberty and can sit on a pedestal beside her father).
Violence
against girls: Some girls are married off due to fear of kharabmahaul – the corrupted external
environment – and reports of the rape of women in public spaces. However, a
2014 study found that child brides in India are at greater risk of sexual and
physical violence within their marital home.
HEEALS (Health, Education, Environment And Livelihood
Society), is an organization directly involved in girls education and health in
India. It is working on Water Sanitation, Menstrual Hygiene and Children
Education projects in seven states. Through spreading education on Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene and organizing WASH and MH workshop, HEEALS is working
to increase the attendance rates of girls in schools who drop out from school
due to child marriage. HEEALS works in marginalized communities, slum schools,
schools in unauthorised colonies, orphanages and refugee camps to increase the
attendance rates of pupils in schools who leave their studies, reduce the
number of diseases and deaths and improve the health of people across Indian
society.
-Caterina
WASH & Children Health Education
Coordinator
REFERENCES:
REFERENCES:
·
UNICEF India
Final report 2018
·
International Institute
for Population Sciences and Macro International, National Family Health Survey
(NFHS-4), 2015-16: State Fact Sheet for Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya, Maharashtra,
Odisha, Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, IIPS, Mumbai, 2016.
·
UNICEF-UNFPA, Global
Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, 2017, (accessed February 2018)
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