All about India

According to UNICEF's "State of the World's Children 2009" report, 47% of India's women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18, with 56% in rural areas (Coonrod, 1998).The report also showed that 40% of the world's child marriages occur in India. This situation occurs because of a few reasons.

Firstly, the dowry tradition places a burden on the women's families financially. Hence, families tend to matchmake their daughter at a younger age as the calculated dowry is usually much lower due to the education level of the husband that is taken into account. To learn more about the dowry system as a cause of gender discrimination against women, click here. In addition, marrying off girls at an early age ensures that they marry as virgins, thus protecting the girls' and their families' honour as the act of losing one's virginity before marriage is thought to be shameful and would affect one's family's social status.

Secondly, the presence of child marriages is due to the historical raping of unmarried girls during the invasions of Northern India about 1,000 years ago (Coonrod, 1998). In order to protect their children from possible abuse, family members began to marry off their daughter at young ages. Over time, this act developed to become a social norm and is adopted now even as the invasions have long ended. To learn more about violence against women in India, click here.

Last but not least, child marriages are popular with Indian families due to their religious beliefs. Most of the people living in India are religious believers, and Hindus make up the majority. According to religious history, it was said that the goddess Parvati had decided to marry god Shiva when she was only eight. Hence people who believe in Hinduism believe that it is right for them to follow in the footsteps of Parvati and marry their daughters off early.

 

As a result of early marriages, girls between 15 and 19 are twice as likely to die of pregnancy-related reasons as compared to girls between 20 and 24 (Srivastava and Rao, 2006). Child wives are also inclined to experience domestic violence, marital rape, deprivation of food, and lack of access to information, healthcare, and education. Thus, the vicious cycle of illiteracy and abuse is likely to be continued and passed on to their own daughters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006

According to this act, child marriages that took place before or after this act can be made void by the person who was a child at the time of marriage. Also, if a male adult above 18 contracts a child marriage, he shall be punishable with two years imprisonment and/or a fine with may extend to Rs. 1 lakh. The same punishment will be given to person who performs, conducts or directs a child marriage. Although this is a step in decreasing the number of future child marriages, it will not be useful as a tool to decrease the current number of child marriages on its own. This policy needs to be conducted in tandem with the empowerment of women so that they will be able to speak up about child marriages that they were made to undergo to seek the justice they deserve.