Child Marriage in India
Child Marriage in India
If you have any questions regarding this information, feel free to email Juliana Shulman at:
JShulman@uchicago.edu
To be defined at length in a later section, child marriage is most simply, for our purposes, a marriage in which the wife is below the age of eighteen at the time of consummation. The practice of child marriage in rural India is deeply rooted in cultural values and grounded in social structures. And despite laws that prohibit child marriage, the practice is still extremely prevalent in many regions. Though the statistics are contentious, it is estimated that in some parts of India, like the state of Rajasthan, nearly
80 percent of the marriages are among girls under the age of fifteen” (Gupta, 2005, p. 2).
In India overall, roughly 47.6 percent of girls are married by the age of eighteen (The implications of early marriage, 2004).
Despite international human rights efforts, the eradication of child marriage is greatly hindered by the intertwined social issues that often lead to and are then in turn reinforced by the practice. Various underlying social factors inform why child marriage exists, including: traditional gender norms; the value of virginity and parental concerns surrounding premarital sex; pressure of marriage transactions (or dowries); and poverty
(Amin, Chong, & Haberland, 2007). The social outcomes of child marriage are also significant, and often devastate communities in which these practices take place.
Societies in which child marriage takes place have higher rates of early childbearing, unwanted pregnancies, maternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases
(including HIV/AIDS) and unsafe abortions. Additionally, adolescent girls placed in child marriages are often deprived of basic health care and health information, and achieve extremely low educational attainment (Mathur, Greene, & Malhotra, 2003, p. 4-
11; Bruce, 2007; Amin, Chong, & Haberland, 2007). Apart from these
If you have any questions regarding this information, feel free to email Juliana Shulman at:
JShulman@uchicago.edu
To be defined at length in a later section, child marriage is most simply, for our purposes, a marriage in which the wife is below the age of eighteen at the time of consummation. The practice of child marriage in rural India is deeply rooted in cultural values and grounded in social structures. And despite laws that prohibit child marriage, the practice is still extremely prevalent in many regions. Though the statistics are contentious, it is estimated that in some parts of India, like the state of Rajasthan, nearly
80 percent of the marriages are among girls under the age of fifteen” (Gupta, 2005, p. 2).
In India overall, roughly 47.6 percent of girls are married by the age of eighteen (The implications of early marriage, 2004).
Despite international human rights efforts, the eradication of child marriage is greatly hindered by the intertwined social issues that often lead to and are then in turn reinforced by the practice. Various underlying social factors inform why child marriage exists, including: traditional gender norms; the value of virginity and parental concerns surrounding premarital sex; pressure of marriage transactions (or dowries); and poverty
(Amin, Chong, & Haberland, 2007). The social outcomes of child marriage are also significant, and often devastate communities in which these practices take place.
Societies in which child marriage takes place have higher rates of early childbearing, unwanted pregnancies, maternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases
(including HIV/AIDS) and unsafe abortions. Additionally, adolescent girls placed in child marriages are often deprived of basic health care and health information, and achieve extremely low educational attainment (Mathur, Greene, & Malhotra, 2003, p. 4-
11; Bruce, 2007; Amin, Chong, & Haberland, 2007). Apart from these
Cited: AIDS in India. (n.d.). Azad India Foundation. Retrieved June 7, 2008, from http://azadindia.org/social-issues/aids-in-india.html Amin, S., Chong, E., & Haberland, N. (2007, September). Programs to address child marriage: Framing the problem (Brief no Bruce, J. (2007, September). Child marriage in the context of the HIV epidemic (Brief no. 11). Fears over India rural HIV rate. (2005, November 30). BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4486568.stm Gupta, G. R. (2005, September 14). Forum on child marriage in developing countries. Forum presented at U.S The implications of early marriage for HIV/AIDS policy. (2004). New York: Population Council. Indian Census. (2001). Retrieved from Office of the Registrar General, India Web site: Jejeebhoy, S. J., & Halli, S. S. (2005). Marriage patterns in rural India: Influence of sociocultural context Kristof, N. D. (1991, November 5). Stark data on women: 100 million are missing. Mensch, B. S., Singh, S., & Casterline, J. B. (2005). Trends in timing of first marriage among men and women in the developing world Miller, B. D. (1981). The endangered sex: Neglect of female children in rural North India. Nour, N. M. (2006, November). Health Consequences of Child Marriage in Africa (Volume 12 No O 'Neil, J., Orchard, T., Swarankar, R. C., Blanchard, J. F., Gurav, K., & Moses, S. (2004). Overview of HIV/AIDS in India. (2008, April 23). Retrieved June 6, 2008, from AVERT Website: http://www.avert.org/aidsindia.htm The Prevention of Child Marriage Bill, 2004, LVI of 2004 § N/A. Santhya, K. G., & Jejeebhoy, S. J. (2007). Early marriage and HIV/AIDS: Risk factors among young women in India Segal, U. A. (1999). Family violence: A focus in India. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4(2), 213-231. Thapar, S. (2007, March 19). Save the girl child. The Hindu. Retrieved from http://www.countercurrents.org/gen-thapar190307.htm Vast distances a barrier to combating HIV/AIDS in India. (2008, June 2). New York Times.