Radha, a 14-year-old girl, from a small village of Uttar Pradesh, with henna on her hands and veil over her head, sits beside the charcoal stove, preparing meals for her in-laws. Completely slogged, she, a child herself, is expecting after 7 months…

Sadly the number of girls like Radha who are forcefully married against their consent at a tender age, has increased manifold during the lockdown. According to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, during the pandemic period from March 2020 till June 2020, authorities received around 5,584 phone calls to prevent underage marriages across the nation. 

Historical context

Child marriage not only violates human rights but also has serious health repercussions for both the couple as well as their upcoming child. Moreso, it is overwhelming to point out that girls suffer disproportionately more due to the patriarchal constraint imposed by society. A significant number of children married under the age of 18 years are girls. In India, 27% of girls get married before the age of 18, while it is 21% in Kenya, 7.5% in  Indonesia, 6% in  Brazil, and in the United States, the figure stands at  8%.

Reasons behind child marriage in India:

Child marriage in India is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys. In India, child marriage is also driven by:

• Poverty: Child marriage is more common among poorer households, with many families marrying off their daughters to reduce their perceived economic burden. Girls are often married off at a younger age because less dowry is expected for younger brides.

• Betrothal: Some girls are promised in marriage before they are born to “secure” their future. Once they reach puberty, they are sent to their husband’s home to commence married life.

• Level of education: Often educating daughters is less preferred than educating sons, who are expected to be responsible for taking care of biological parents in old age. Hence during the pandemic, the poor families that could afford only one mobile device prefer to give it to their son than a daughter to continue her further education.

• Traditional customs: Customary laws based on religion are a major barrier in ending child marriage in India. Social pressure to marry at puberty can be enormous within certain castes.

• Gender norms: There is generally a lower value attached to daughters, and girls are expected to be adaptable, docile, hardworking, and talented wives. Child marriages are sometimes used to control female sexuality, sanctify sex, and ensure reproduction.

• Pre-marital sex: Marriage is used to preserve the purity of girls as soon as they reach puberty and, sometimes, to ensure that they are not “corrupted” by men of lower castes. There is a high premium placed on virginity, as it is perceived that the family would lose credibility within the community if their daughter has sex or get married without their consent. However, a 2014 study found that child brides in India are at greater risk of sexual and physical violence within their marital home.

Often parents also get their daughters married in the fear that she will fall in love with someone of her own choice in the absence of their male family counterparts. Given the lack of government-run hostels, safe access to schools, and adequate child protection schemes, marriage then becomes the only way out to ensure their safety and security.

Also like millions of internal migrant workers lost their jobs in recent months and returned home from cities, vying for limited work and struggling to provide for their families; this encouraged some men to capitalize on cheap weddings as a way to traffic girls for sex and labor. Especially because the lockdown has laid out restrictions on gatherings like marriages; hence this enabled them to reduce the average cost of marriage.

Effects:

Often a girl who is married as a child is more likely to experience domestic violence and bear the burden of children when she is still a child; as in the case of Radha. This adversely affects the physical and mental health of women. Often they suffer from symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which leads to self-harming tendency, mental trauma, and depression. Consequently, it undermines their self-confidence and results in low self-esteem. 

Child marriage violates girls’ human rights, robs them of their childhood, and has adverse effects on their health as well as the health of the children born to them. A girl who is married as a child is more likely to be out of school and not earn money and contribute to the community. She is more likely to experience domestic violence and become infected with HIV/AIDS. She is more likely to have children when she is still a child. There are more chances of her death due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

 The way forward

Government initiatives such as the ‘Dhan Laxmi scheme’, ‘Apni Beti Apna Dhan’ program (that provide financial incentive to households to keep their daughters in school), Kishori Shakti Yojana (adolescent’s empowerment program), and Rajasthan’s Strategy and Action Plan for the Prevention of Child Marriage in March 2017 to encourage behavioral change related to child marriage, are some of the steps that are quite appreciable. 

In many cases, through such efforts, the government authorities and NGOs have been able to stop these marriages, but still, the number of unrecorded marriages remains very high. The inability to access communication devices and lack of awareness make it additionally difficult for destitute girls to prevent themselves from forced marriage.  

Concluding remarks

Although in many cases, government authorities and NGOs had been able to stop these marriages, the number of unrecorded marriages may be very high. Also, the inability to access mobile phones, makes it additionally difficult for destitute girls to prevent or escape from a forced marriage. 

Thus to kill the demon of child labor the very first step that the government should adopt is to make education free and compulsory for all children till the age of at least 18 years instead of 14 years currently. In addition, the government should support continued school education even during times of a health crisis through online means like television or radio broadcasts. Along with that everyone’s access to such education should be ensured. Hence its budgetary allocation to sectors like education should not fall to zero and instead be proportional. This will reduce the dropout percentage and protect girls from being married at an early age.

The provision of midday meals through dry rations or depositing money into bank accounts during the lockdown will help in reducing the economic burden on families considering child marriage and thus help in avoiding the same. 

Governments and businesses should also fund civil society organizations and increase awareness about helplines through advertisements and other informal channels.

Efforts of NGOs, village and district-local officials should be coordinated in identifying and rescuing the victims. Also, community leaders and religious leaders can play an important role in influencing parents’ decisions, and they should be counseled not to marry their daughters at an early age. Orthodox-discriminatory practices like ‘Devadasi Tradition’ should be completely abolished.

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