70 Years of Independence - Home to Child Brides
About half of India’s girls are married off before they become women.....
Child marriage is still widespread in India, which is home to a third of the world’s child brides. About half of Indian women were married before they turned 18. Moreover, one-tenth of them are married even before they are 13 and sadly, every second married adolescent girl has given birth to a child! More disturbingly, IndiaSpend analysis of recently released census data reveals that nearly 12 million Indian children were married before the age of 10 years, 84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim.
Child marriage is a violation of child rights, and has a negative impact on physical growth, health, mental and emotional development, and education opportunities. It also affects society as a whole since child marriage reinforces a cycle of poverty and perpetuates gender discrimination, illiteracy and malnutrition as well as high infant and maternal mortality rates. Child marriage impacts on almost all facets of reaching the Millennium Development Goals.
Both girls and boys are affected by child marriage, but girls are affected in much larger numbers and with greater intensity. Child marriage can be seen across the country but it is far higher in rural than in urban areas. Girl's from poorer families, scheduled castes and tribes, and with lower education levels are more likely to marry at a younger age.
Although there is widespread awareness of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and the illegality of child marriage, individually people feel that the traditions and norms are stronger than the law and the institutions and rarely report cases. On top of this, there is limited capacity among Govt. officials and lack of willingness to go against community decisions, since officials are themselves part of the community.
Although child marriage is declining (from 54% in 1992-93 to 33% today), the rate of decline is slow. Broad, multi-faceted strategies are needed to target different aspects of the problem, including deep-rooted social norms and behaviours, the perceived low value of girls, limited access to education, exposure to violence, restricted freedom of movement and economic vulnerability.
Read More:
The Wire - India Has 12 Million Married Children Under Age Ten
70 Years of Independence - Home to Child Brides
About half of India’s girls are married off before they become women.....
Child marriage is still widespread in India, which is home to a third of the world’s child brides. About half of Indian women were married before they turned 18. Moreover, one-tenth of them are married even before they are 13 and sadly, every second married adolescent girl has given birth to a child! More disturbingly, IndiaSpend analysis of recently released census data reveals that nearly 12 million Indian children were married before the age of 10 years, 84% of them Hindu and 11% Muslim.
Child marriage is a violation of child rights, and has a negative impact on physical growth, health, mental and emotional development, and education opportunities. It also affects society as a whole since child marriage reinforces a cycle of poverty and perpetuates gender discrimination, illiteracy and malnutrition as well as high infant and maternal mortality rates. Child marriage impacts on almost all facets of reaching the Millennium Development Goals.
Both girls and boys are affected by child marriage, but girls are affected in much larger numbers and with greater intensity. Child marriage can be seen across the country but it is far higher in rural than in urban areas. Girl's from poorer families, scheduled castes and tribes, and with lower education levels are more likely to marry at a younger age.
Although there is widespread awareness of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and the illegality of child marriage, individually people feel that the traditions and norms are stronger than the law and the institutions and rarely report cases. On top of this, there is limited capacity among Govt. officials and lack of willingness to go against community decisions, since officials are themselves part of the community.
Although child marriage is declining (from 54% in 1992-93 to 33% today), the rate of decline is slow. Broad, multi-faceted strategies are needed to target different aspects of the problem, including deep-rooted social norms and behaviours, the perceived low value of girls, limited access to education, exposure to violence, restricted freedom of movement and economic vulnerability.
Read More:
The Wire - India Has 12 Million Married Children Under Age Ten