According to the United Nations Children's Fund, 25 million children got married under the age of 18. India accounts for 40% of child marriage followed by Nepal. Children get married as early as they're able to talk in villages. It is part of a tradition in the region of Rajhastan. On the one hand, girls get married to men who are much older than them, and on the other hand, both parties get married at an early age. In such regions, it is not a surprise that children get married at the age of 5; as a matter of fact a 12 year old girl can get married to a 22 year old man. While child marriage in India is prohibited, authorities are unfortunately unable to prevent it. In India, a civil marriage is not mandatory. Religion is the dominant thought, and it is all that matters if you decide to get married. There are only 5 officials in charge of preventing child marriage in Rajhastan, a state with a population of over 60m inhabitants.
How is this practice justified by families? One of the main reason is that parents are not able to support their children financially and hence decide to get their daughters married at an early age. This simply means that these young girls are now dependent on their husbands. Once the girl settles into her husband's family, she becomes in charge of domestic work such as cooking, cleaning, farming etc. She also has to be at the full disposal of her mother-in-law. In villages, a marriage costs a whole year worth of salary. The parents then put pressure on these girls to become pregnant. Not only does it put the life of these girls at risk, but it also contributes in increasing our population. It is common in such areas, to see a 15 year old girl with 3 kids.
Child marriage is a phenomena that leads to a vicious cycle : lack of education, lack of independence, no usage of contraceptives etc. India needs a social change and it's high time our government steps up its pursuit in fighting against such acts. A social reform is needed where education needs to be promoted in such regions. Less than a year ago in Pakistan, a six-month old child got married to a 25 year old man.
People in rural areas pray to have a son. A daughter represents a huge financial responsibility as parents have to provide dowry to the family their daughter gets married to. A son brings dowry to his family, hence enrichment. In order to stop child abortion, India has implemented a ban on sex determination, as the number of girls in India to the number of boys is plummeting.
Well written Vish.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting. Its very similar to many of the cultural practices in South Africa except here when a man asks for a woman's hand in marriage, he has to pay a fee known as lobola. Perhaps you should consider writing a comparative piece... Could be interesting (posted by Khathu btw)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. To make India change the mentalities of his own citizens i think you'll need to organize a bit the society. And that's not very simple to do because it is extremely imbricated with the development of the country. You should try to imagine the steps that India could cross depending on her economic situation and make realistic (as possible as you can) propositions correlated to this no in order of improving the social way of life. Well it 's a huge and very probabilistic task :)) Good luck and maythe force be with you!!
ReplyDeleteClem