Legal age of marriage for women

The Union Cabinet's decision to clear the bill which seeks to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 years to 21 years, is aimed at delaying the age of motherhood but is no solution to the larger problem of child marriage or illegal marriage. The government's failure to check illegal child marriage even when the current legal age for marriage of girls is kept at 18 years lends credence to the apprehension of those opposing the move that raising the age is going to make much difference. The government decision is based on the recommendation by a Task Force which it constituted last year to examine matters pertaining to the age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering maternal mortality rate, improvement of nutritional levels and related issues. The terms and reference of the Task Force included examining the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with health, medical well-being and nutritional status of mother and neonate/infant/child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter, key parameters like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB), Child Sex Ratio (CSR) etc. The Task Force was also asked to suggest measures for promoting higher education among women and suggest suitable legislative instruments and/or amendments in existing laws to support the recommendations. It was in 1978 when the legal age of marriage for women was increased from 15 years to 18 years by amending the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 also known as Sharda Act.

The prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which repealed the Sharda Act, defines "child marriage" to be a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child and fixed 21 years for men and 18 years for women as legally eligible age for marriage. The National Family Health Survey -Round 5 laid bare that even after four decades of raising the legal age of marriage, the percentage of women in rural India who are married before completion of 18 years is as high as 27%. The fact that urban India accounts for 14.7% of underage marriage points towards disparity among urban and rural women in access to health and education and disparity in household income. Ensuring quality higher education, health, employment, livelihood support and freedom from patriarchal control over marriage will enable women to make informed decisions to resist early marriage or forced marriage. It also empowers the women to make informed decisions on reproductive health, family planning and having fewer children. Viewing the decision of making the legal marriage age of women at par with men as empowerment of women is preposterous as it will not address the real issue. Often the girls in poor and marginalised families are married off early illegally because when it comes to choosing between male and female children for shouldering their cost of higher education, the patriarchal mindset makes them give preference to the male child. The girls who are unable to continue education under such a situation are seen as a financial burden by their parents in many marginalised households and they try to marry them at the earliest to reduce household budgets. Those who are in favour of raising the legal marriage of women rightly argue that delaying the age of motherhood will help address the problems of maternal and child health and bring down MMR and IMR. They also argue that it will allow the girl child to continue education which may hold true in the case of households that are well off but certainly not in respect of poor and marginalised families. Those opposing the decision argue that if the legal age is raised without ensuring the continuation of education and access to quality healthcare, it may end up criminalizing marginalized households indulging in early marriages of their daughters in violation of the legal provisions due to poor financial condition. The NFHS-5 data shows that districts in Assam reporting a high prevalence of child marriages, also have a low percentage of women with more than 10 years of schooling while districts with a higher percentage of women with 10 or more years of schooling have reported a decline in child marriage. Even if the amendments are made by the parliament to existing laws to give effect to the Union Cabinet's decision, enforcement will remain a challenge as can be gauged from Assam's experience. Official data show that of the total 26,395 villages in Assam, Village Level Child Protection Committees, which are crucial for protecting the girl child from early or forced marriage, have been constituted only in 1,831 villages. Choosing between raising the legal age of marriage for women and their education and healthcare and deciding the priority will continue to be gripped by the chicken and the egg dilemma. The government weighing all pros and cons before rushing with the proposed amendment will help avoid the pitfalls.