November 2005 
Year 12    No.112

Gender Justice


Our little girl

Child marriages in India – an overview

BY LENI CHAUDHURI

"3 lakh girls under 15 have given birth" The Times of India, May 13, 2005.

"Hands of woman probing child marriages nearly chopped off" Hindustan Times, May 12, 2005.

"Akshay Tritiya adds sheen to the bullion market" The Times of India, May 12, 2005.

These are headlines that appeared in some of India’s leading newspapers earlier this year but like other issues reported by the media they were soon forgotten. Today several thousand child marriages take place quietly in different parts of this country. Young girls are married even before they can understand what it is all about.

Historical perspective

Historically, child marriages were a fairly well accepted social norm in India. Culturally universal in India, young boys and girls are married by arrangement to persons of their parents’ choice while their opinion on the matter is seldom sought. Historical evidence shows that the situation in the Vedic age was far better, where marriages were contracted between adult individuals and most importantly, the girls had the right to choose their own partners. But from the 3rd century BC, Brahmanical culture and its overtly patriarchal philosophy reduced marriage to a rigorous institutionalised custom where girls were treated as mere objects. Young girls were married off without their consent to protect them from sexual exploitation. From the 5th century AD onwards it became customary to marry off girls as early as possible because it was considered a sin not to utilise the days after her menarche (first menstruation). The marriageable age for girls came down to six-eight years. Among Brahmin families it was customary to marry off sexually immature girls. This was further reinforced when Brahmanical lawgivers imposed strict religious and social sanctions on marrying girls who were above 10 years of age. In fact, a Brahmin who married a girl older than 10 years was considered a Sudra.

In the 17th century, child marriages were seen as the fallout of deep-rooted patriarchy in Indian society following religious and social sanctions claiming superiority of a male child and the subordinate status of a female. But it is distressing to note that child marriages in India are not yet a thing of the past. They are still prevalent in large numbers and encompass all sections of society. It is unfortunate that even after numerous reforms and reformers child marriages are still rampant in different parts of the country. A law to prevent child marriages was passed way back in 1929 but this too had a very limited impact.

Census records show that three lakh girls under the age of 15 not only get married but have also borne at least one child. According to official records, the median age at marriage in India is the lowest in the world. On an average, 38.4 per cent girls in the age group of 15-19 years still get married before turning 18 i.e. the legal age for marriage. This percentage is higher among the rural population i.e. 44.7 per cent, and 21.3 among the urban population. In the urban areas, the mean age at marriage for girls is 17 years while in the rural areas it is 14 years.

Reasons for child marriage

Why are child marriages still so prevalent despite several reform movements not to mention a law restraining the custom?

Ø Poverty related causes: It is a known fact that child marriages are more prevalent among households that are economically backward, educationally disadvantaged and culturally pre-modern and ritualistic. In such families girls are considered not as assets but as burdens the family has to carry until she ultimately goes to some other family. Parents want to get rid of this burden as soon as possible and marriage is seen as the most viable option for these families to rid themselves of the burden of a girl child. Poor families are desperate to get their daughters married off for two reasons – to seek economic security for their daughters and also to ease their burdens for they already have a tough time making ends meet. By marrying their daughters off they have one less mouth to feed.

Ø Patriarchal social order: Yet child marriages are quite common not only among the economically disadvantaged but also among upper class and upper caste families. Patriarchy has deep roots in Indian society and influences the entire Indian way of life. Gender differences and gender-based discrimination are an integral part of the patriarchal social order, which upholds the discrimination and subordination of women in the family structure. Women in Indian society are deprived of education, decision-making, employment and other issues related to their development. Since they are not provided with opportunities for growth, they remain economically and socially dependent on the male members of the family. Under these circumstances, child marriages occur between young girls and elderly men against their will.

Another factor of patriarchy that plays an important role in Indian families is that of female sexuality. Female sexuality and protection of the same is a matter of family pride. Where the family (read men) consider it their right to control the sexuality of female members of the family – making it a matter of prestige to control the virginity, chastity and purity of the girls in the family. Thus marriages at an early age are considered the easiest way out – where control of sexuality is transferred from the natal family to the marital family. Marriages are arranged as soon as the girl attains puberty so that she does not become sexually active while in her natal family and all sexual relations only take place within wedlock.

Patriarchy places ‘adjustment in the natal family’ as another condition for a girl who is getting married. It is thought that the girl will adjust better in the marital family when she is very young, so the younger she is the better will be her adjustment. This makes parents arrange for their daughters’ marriages when they are still immature and more likely to be moulded within the frame of their marital family.

Ø Other factors: Girls, particularly from poor households, are always susceptible to sexual violence. The ties of brotherhood and the desire to establish male sexual superiority is so great that young girls are often victims of gang rape and other forms of sexual violence. Incest is also very common in some societies. Under these circumstances child marriage is seen as the only way to provide protection to girls.

Consequences

Ø Child marriage is the worst form of human rights violation that any society is witness to. Young girls who are married at an early age are denied opportunities for education and skill development. They grow up as adults with no special skills, rendering them unfit to join the work force. This impairs them from economic self-reliance thus making them vulnerable and dependent on male members of the family.

Ø Early marriage prevents them from enjoying the rights of a child. The joys of play, peer interaction and leisure are all taken away from a married child.

Ø The worst form of human rights violation takes place when child brides are forced into sexual intercourse with their partners without any understanding of what it is all about.

Ø Marriage imposes a lot of conditions on the bride in which her age and social status play no role. Once a girl is married she is expected to take on responsibilities like other adults. She has to prove her fertility in the first year of marriage itself. If this doesn’t happen, families immediately prepare for a second marriage for their sons. This results in her bearing a child when she is a child herself. Bearing a child is not however the end of her problems. She is expected to bear an heir to the family name i.e. a male child. Delivering a girl child subjects her to further ill-treatment and discrimination.

Ø The child bride occupies an extremely vulnerable position within her marital family as well. Her age and lack of exposure rob her of all bargaining power. Her whole life is decided either by elders in the family or by her husband. These young girls are often victims of domestic violence. Sexual violence is also fairly common with child brides. Their vulnerable position in the marital family exposes them to sexual advances by male members of the family other than their husbands.

Ø Indian laws consider child sexual abuse a crime but are silent about the sexual abuse that a child bride suffers within marriage. Sexual coercion is quite common in marriages where the bride is expected to sexually serve the man, where she is not allowed the freedom of choice. Cultural expectations are also such that young women have to give in either due to lack of options and/or the inability to assert themselves.

Health consequences

The health of girls in India is but a reflection of their overall status in Indian society. Right from birth they are discriminated against. Female babies are breast-fed for a shorter duration and as they grow older, girls usually consume less protein than their male siblings. Seeking paid health care for the girl child is the family’s last priority. This makes her grow into an anaemic adult. She is then married into an alien set-up where her secondary status is further reinforced.

The condition of the child bride worsens with an early pregnancy. A girl requires four or five years of physical growth after she attains menarche. Between the 14th and the 18th year, a girl gains on an average six to eight kg in her body weight and five cm in height. If a girl is married soon after menarche and if the marriage is consummated immediately, it may lead to pregnancy. Such adolescent mothers have to compete for a three-fold nutrition demand – the demand and maintenance of their own tissues, for foetal growth and for their own future growth.

Marriage and mandatory sexual relations with her husband expose her to another kind of health hazard. Forced sex results in vaginal tears, bleeding, rupture and shock. Since they cannot negotiate safe sex with their partners they land up with an unwanted pregnancy. Poor physical health and lack of access to reproductive health care exposes them to unsafe abortions. Though medical termination of pregnancy is legalised in India, most adolescents are unaware of their right to MTP. Discreetly carried out abortions in unsafe conditions are a major health hazard for married adolescents.

Given the seriousness of the issue and the magnitude of the problem it must be accorded top priority by the government and by civil society. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 has been in existence for decades and yet child marriages are still rampant in India. People carry out child marriages even though they are illegal. India must urgently examine whether its laws on child marriage have been truly effective. We need perhaps to see the continued prevalence of child marriage as part of the larger social problem of gender discrimination – one that society must address.

(Leni Chaudhuri is senior research officer, Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes, CEHAT, Mumbai.).


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