Will India’s plan to raise legal age of marriage for women bring real change?
- The Indian government has decided to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 in a push to ensure that girls complete their education
- While experts say the move will bring social and economic benefits for women, critics argue laws alone are not enough to fix entrenched problems and achieve equality
India has decided to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 – the same as men – in a push to ensure that girls complete their education and climb up the economic ladder.
On Wednesday, the national cabinet approved the recommendation of a committee, which had collected feedback on the issue from young Indians across the country.
The move to revise the legal age of marriage for girls for the first time in 40 years came after human development data showed that early union leads to a truncated education, teenage pregnancies and malnutrition. It also forces women into homebound life.
According to the National Family Health Survey 2019-21, as many as 23 per cent of Indian girls were married before they turned 18.
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“To save our daughters from malnutrition, it is necessary that they are married at the right age,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last year when he announced his intention to change the legal age.
The government will now introduce a bill in parliament to amend the existing law.
While experts say the decision will bring social and economic benefits for girls, some are sceptical about the plan.
Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh wrote in a report earlier this year that raising the age will reduce India’s maternal mortality rate.
“Financially, opportunities will be opened up for women to pursue higher education and careers and become financially empowered.”
Priti Mahara, director (policy research and advocacy) of Child Rights and You, a New Delhi-based NGO, said the impact of early marriage on girls was lifelong.
“A girl is more likely to be out of school, not capable of earning and contributing to her family and the community,” Mahara said.
“She is more likely to have children when she is still a child, and not ready – both physically and mentally – to become a mother.”
Mahara also said there are more chances of young girls dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This contributes to higher infant and maternal mortality rates as well.
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Critics argue the initiative is just another example of what India does best: passing laws with a flourish while failing to tackle the social and cultural reality that created the problem in the first place.
They point to the stringent anti-dowry laws which have become largely toothless against an entrenched custom. Some families marry off girls before the age of 18 due to economic pressures and existing legislations have relatively failed to act as a deterrent.
In rural India, families also face societal compulsions to get girls married by 18.
Prem Kumar from Dhanachuli in northern India said people in his village rebuked him for “failing” to get his 18-year-old daughter married.
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Kumar, who works as a cook at a home stay, has been too preoccupied with family illnesses to find a groom.
“They criticise me for taking too long and frighten me by saying she will get into a relationship with some boy and bring shame to my family and the whole village,” he said.
In most parts of the country, the moment a girl attains puberty, society dictates that she be married lest she indulges in premarital sex, which is a taboo subject. This is the crucial cultural factor that critics say the new law cannot wish away.
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Observers say although the proposal could see more young women pursuing higher education, any tangible outcome would depend on the financial wherewithal of their parents who traditionally pay for tuition.
But the reality, according to a report by the Right to Education Forum, is 40 per cent of girls aged 15-18 do not attend school.
“This is pie in the sky,” said Asha Srivastava, a teacher at a rural school in northern Rajasthan’s Dundlod.
“Can we first get young girls into school before we dream about girls pursuing higher education?”
