Child Marriage is any formal marriage or informal union where one or both of the parties are under 18 years of age. Child marriage is a human rights violation.
India has the highest number of child brides in the world. It is estimated that 47% of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday. The rates of child marriage vary between states and are as high as 69% and 65% in Bihar and Rajasthan. (1)
Child marriage, though a punishable offence, is still widely prevalent all over the world. India, in accordance with the aforementioned statistics, has the highest amount of child marriages in the world. “Bal Vivah” or child marriage is believed to have begun in the medieval ages of India. Some scholars claim that it was started after a Muslim invasion, prompting families to marry off their daughters early in order to protect them. Others suggest that the practise was common all around the world before the 19th century.
The countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage are concentrated in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to population size, the largest amount of child brides reside in South Asia. More than half of the girls in Bangladesh, Mali, Mozambique, and Niger are married before the age of 18. According to statistics found on NCPRG, India falls in the category of ‘ Top 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage’ with 47% and is 10th in line.
“At its heart, child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and the belief that girls and women are somehow inferior to boys and men.”
The most cardinal factors leading to child marriages are poverty, gender inequality, dowry, traditional ideas, and beliefs or lack of education.
Poverty seems never-ending. Families that can manage only one meagre meal a day, try to sell off their daughters to earn some money, or just to decrease the number of mouths to feed. By marrying off their daughters, parents can cut back on family expenses; They have one less mouth to feed, clothe, etc.
Women are, in almost all cases, given stereotyped gender roles such as cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the house. Rarely are women considered the breadwinners of the family. Due to this, they are considered an additional burden on the family. They are considered the property of the father before marriage and the husband’s, after it. Marrying daughters at a young age is seen as a way to ease the economic burden on their family by transferring this ‘burden’ onto the husband’s family.
Child marriage can also be driven by patriarchal beliefs and values, and the need to control a woman’s sexuality. For instance; what a girl wears, where she should be allowed to go, and who she should be allowed to see or marry.
Families closely guard their daughters’ sexuality and virginity in order to protect the family honour. Girls who have relationships or become pregnant outside of marriage are shamed for bringing dishonour to their families. (2)
Some traditions promoting child marriage continue to exist just for the sake of it. In many places, child marriage is a traditional practice that happens solely because it has happened for generations. These traditions go unquestioned because they have been a part of the community’s identity and social norm for ages. But as Graca Machel, widow of Nelson Mandela, says, traditions are made by people – and people can unmake them. (3)
Dowry has been illegal for over 5 decades, but embezzlement continues to exist. Since the price for dowry increase with the girl’s age, families tend to marry off girls as soon as possible to pay the lowest amount. The dowry amount increases with the girl’s age and education level. Hence, the “incentive” of the system of dowry perpetuates child marriage. (4)
Isn’t it ironic? They sell off their daughters, but they’re the very ones who have to pay for it.
A lot of health issues are attached to child marriage. Girls are imperilled by the prospect of early pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and emotional and physical trauma. They are neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives or mothers. Child brides are at greater risk of going through complications in pregnancy and childbirth or contracting HIV. Such young girls are often victims of domestic violence and marital rape. The families of these girls, ignorantly live under the notion that marriage protects girls from sexual violence. But it is nothing but false hope and unfamiliarity.
Child marriage effectively ends a girl’s childhood, curtails her education, minimizes her economic opportunities, increases her risk of domestic violence, and puts her at risk for early, frequent, and very high-risk pregnancies. (5)
If girls are educated and know right from wrong, they will be less likely to fall victim to child marriages. Primary and secondary education will ensure access to employment and they will have a better scope of supporting themselves. If girls are taught better, they will be aware of their human rights. Moreover, parents should also be educated in these fields. Child marriage is still a taboo subject in remote areas. Talking about it, and eradicating the parents’ fallacy that marriage will protect the girls will be a stepping stone. The men in villages should be advised too, about the ill effects of child marriage. If the boys and men refuse to marry children, there would be no child marriage.
By getting men to reject the practices that subordinate women and girls and subject them to violence, we can get to the root of child marriage.
-Wanjala Wafula
Social organisations all over the world have been actively participating and creating movements to end child marriages. Prevention programmes in India have also been present. Apni Beti, Apna Dhan (ABAD), which translates to “My daughter, My wealth,” is one of India’s first conditional cash transfer programmes dedicated to delaying young marriages across the nation. In 1994, the Indian government implemented this programme in the state of Haryana. (6)
Child marriage, is, simply put, wrong and immoral. Subjecting girls that have not even reached adolescence to this kind of pressure and responsibility is atrocious, to say nothing of the torture their bodies go through. Child marriage should be stopped, before it consumes more innocent children, and ruins their life.
Most people simply don’t know the extent of the problem. An estimated 25,000 child marriages occur every day. That’s mind-boggling, so much so that, to many people, it becomes abstract, unreal.
Gavin Weston – Author of Harmattan
References
http://www.girlsnotbrides.org
American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and al., Child, Early and Forced Marriage and the Control of Sexuality and Reproduction, 201
Save the Children UK, Rights of Passage, 2003
www.care.org
Though Illegal, Child Marriage Is Popular in Part of India, The New York Times (May 11, 1998)