Increasing marriage age for girls may only strengthen patriarchy

BY INVITATION

Increasing marriage age for girls may only strengthen patriarchy

FLAVIA AGNES

19.12.2021

Several women’s organisations across the country have opposed the government’s move to increase the age of marriage of girls from 18 to 21 years, which has been ironically touted as a measure of women’s empowerment.

On August 15, 2020, during his Independence Day Speech, the Prime Minister had announced the government’s intention to raise marriage age, and that a committee had been formed and a task force to examine the situation had already been notified by the Centre. “The government is constantly concerned about the health of daughters and sisters” and “to save the daughters from malnutrition, it is necessary that they are married at the right age,” the PM had added. According to the government, this move will empower girls and young women, increase their access to education and reduce both infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR).

Several grassroot women’s organisations in Gujarat had opposed this move, submitting a memorandum to the state government in September 2020. “When we think of a legal framework that builds towards women’s empowerment, marriage or age of marriage should not be its primary focus. This narrows the scope of change dramatically — making it about the act of marriage and not the disabling circumstances that early marriage is a symptom of,” stated the memorandum.

Similarly, ‘Young Voices: National Working Group’ formed in response to the task force, comprising 96 civil society organisations, in its report published on July 25, 2020, had also opposed this move. The report brought out after surveying about 2,500 adolescents across 15 states stated, “…Increasing the age of marriage will either harm or have no impact by itself unless the root causes of women’s disempowerment are addressed.”

As civil society organisations have pointed out, we cannot overlook the fact that this law will unfold within a society that is deeply entrenched in patriarchy and that it will be used primarily by parents to control the autonomy of young girls and to penalise them for their sexual choices, with the active collusion of state functionaries such as the police and welfare officers.

There is also a concern that if a girl married at 18 or 19 faces matrimonial problems, and approaches the court for redress, her husband may plead that the marriage is not valid, and she is devoid of rights. This is a cause of grave concern. To remedy this, it is necessary to have a clear direction within the statute that a woman in an under-age marriage will not lose her matrimonial rights or rights of inheritance, in the event she becomes a widow.

The age of marriage was increased from 16 to 18 in 1978 in order to provide better opportunities for women’s education and improve their health. However, the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS 5 2019–’21) has brought out the dismal fact that 40 years later, we still have an alarming rate of child marriages at 23%. This points to the failure on the part of the government to reach its target of providing opportunities for girls in backward and poverty-stricken areas or better access to healthcare. It has also not changed conservative and anti-women attitudes towards women. So, what is the basis on which the government claims that increasing the age of marriage from 18 to 21 will empower women? On the contrary, it may, in fact, increase the number of under-age marriages exponentially and expose many more young adults to criminal charges.

The task force itself had asked the government to increase access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas, skill and business training and sex education in schools. Unless they are implemented, the law will not be effective, the report of the task force states, indicating these measures ought to be the pre-conditions to increasing the marriage age of girls.

A large number of girls from poverty-stricken communities become school dropouts. In addition, there is a large segment of girls who have never been to school. Poverty is a major contributory factor here. The lockdown has only worsened the situation. These pressing problems stare us in the face. We need focussed programmes and necessary budgetary allocations to ensure that every child receives basic education. Only when a girl is in school, will under-age marriages reduce.

Enacting a statute does not impose a financial burden on the government. Creating the infrastructure to provide easy access to education and health care does. It appears that the government has paid only lip service to the cause of women’s empowerment by increasing the marriage age.

Flavia Agnes is an advocate and co-founder of Majlis, which offers legal services to women