Marriage before the age of 18 might be formal or informal. It is a sort of gender-based violence that deprives kids of their childhood and violates their human rights. Additionally, child marriage hinders their education and increases their susceptibility to abuse, prejudice, and violence.
Child Marriage
Child marriage is a difficult topic. It has its roots in gender inequity and the idea that women and girls are less valuable than males and boys. Poverty, illiteracy, negative societal norms and practices, and insecurity make it worse.
Childhood is ended by a marriage. It has a harmful impact on children’s rights to protection, health, and education. These repercussions affect the girl directly, as well as her family and community. Early marriage and teenage childbirth for girls were common in Ancient Greece. Boys were also expected to get married in their teens. In the Roman Empire, males and girls were legally wed at 14 and 12 respectively. Marriages under the age of 16 were permitted in the Middle Ages under English civil rules that were derived from Roman laws.
According to the 1929 Act, it was illegal for boys and girls under the age of 18 to get married. The minimum age was raised in this Act’s 1978 amendment to 18 for girls and 21 for males. With the same minimum age restrictions, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006 replaced the 1929 Act.
Why do we need to end the child marriage amendment act?
There is abundant evidence from around the globe that child marriage has terrible effects on females. Married women are less likely to continue their education and are more likely to be poor. Domestic abuse victims are more likely to be married women than women who marry later in life.
According to the UNICEF 2022 profile, 99.8 million of the 226.3 million girls and women in India who were married before the age of 18 were under the age of 15. Child marriage ends childhood, according to a UNICEF program brief on “stopping child marriage and adolescent empowerment.”
Rates of child marriage are gradually declining worldwide. One in three women between the ages of 20 and 24 said they had been married as young children in the year 2000. This proportion was just under one in five in 2021. Rates of child marriage before the age of 15 decreased as well, from 11% in 2000 to 5% in 2021.
The 10 nations with the highest rates are all located in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where child marriage of girls is most prevalent. In terms of global prevalence, child marriage is most common in Niger. However, Bangladesh has the greatest percentage of underage brides.
The state of Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of child brides—36 million—in the country. Girls who reside in rural regions or come from lower-income families are more at risk, and those with little to no education make up a higher percentage of child brides.
Kerala is the only state where child marriage rates have risen in recent years, while Jharkhand has India’s highest rate of child marriage (14.1%). At 0.4%, Jammu & Kashmir was reportedly the only state with the lowest rate of child marriages in 2009.
In India, a bill to change the law on child marriage has been presented. The age at which a child may marry will increase from 18 to 21, affecting all groups regardless of caste or creed. Smriti Irani, the minister for women’s and children’s development, introduced this bill in the Lok Sabha. which suggested changes to the current child marriage legislation from 2006
According to Smriti Irani, this measure will benefit all groups and grant all women equal rights.
Facts
All women of all faiths should be granted equal rights to marry under the Hindu Marriage Act or the Muslim Personal Law. This law will empower women and enable them to concentrate on their professional lives and skill sets.
UNICEF estimates that at least 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 are Facts
All women of all faiths should be granted equal rights to marry under the Hindu Marriage Act or the Muslim Personal Law. This law will empower women and enable them to concentrate on their professional lives and skill sets.
According to UNICEF, India is the country with the most child brides in the world, with estimates stating that at least 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 get married there each year.
representing one-third of the total globe.
Approximately 16% of teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are now married. Given these facts, this bill will benefit women greatly.
Why is opposition growing?
This bill was supposed to be passed on the same day, but opposition arose to the procedure. The bill needs to pass a number of stages before it can become law. was set to skip because of the opposition’s demand, but instead, it went to the joint committee, standing committee, and discussion, all of which are important stages in the bill’s existence.
Benefit
I favor this measure because it essentially gives women more power. Today, we can see that in both urban and rural areas, parents begin to look for a suitable life partner for their daughter at the age of 18; as a result, women lack independence on their own and are occasionally the target of domestic violence. However, once women are empowered or mature, they will at least be mature enough to handle all kinds of responsibilities.
Additionally, this will aid in closing the generational divide.
It was set to skip because of the opposition’s demand, but instead, it went to the joint committee, standing committee, and discussion, all of which are important stages in the bill’s existence. I have always maintained that a country’s progress may be seen in the status of its women.
This change appears to be a blessing for women and could lead India toward growth while also lowering the incidence of domestic abuse.
Suggested Reads; Child Abuse Causes and Prevention, Vicious web of child labour
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