Why Child Marriage is happening in India?

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:

·         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.

·         https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/india/#stats-references

·         UNICEF-UNFPA, Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, 2017, (accessed February 2018)