- What are you going to get by studying?
- Leave your job and get married first!
- What do u mean career is important? Nothing is more important than marriage and taking care of your children!
I am sure that at some point every girl would have heard such kind of snide comments from her family members, and even from nosy relative or neighbors that majorly comprise the ‘society’. Society often tends to play a great role in facilitating the process of a woman wanting to stand up for herself or her rights. Many a times, people happen to take advantage of the polite and friendly nature of women, when on the other hand, they need to realize that they are required to take a stand for themselves and stand up for what she believes in and follows. It therefore is a humble request to each and every girl and woman out there to not tie the knot at an early age. Please fulfill all your dreams, follow your passion and make a career out of it, and live your life to the fullest before thinking of marriage. A happy and successful marriage will only be possible when you yourself as a female feel independent and successful. I, as a woman myself, strongly support the legal age of women getting increased to 21.
Pregnancy in their 20s or earlier is sometimes the outcome of an early marriage, which not only impacts a woman’s physical but also her mental health. According to research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry Open, two-thirds of women who become pregnant before the age of twenty-five experience despair, anxiety, and stress as a result of being unprepared for such obligations. In 2016, the infant mortality rate was 34 (per 1000 live births), according to Niti Ayog. In 2018, the under-five mortality rate in India was 36.57 (per 1000 live births), according to UNICEF. Early pregnancy rates will be high, resulting in high infant death rates. Women under the age of twenty-five have a higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth due to a lack of nourishment or medical facilities during delivery.
According to UNICEF, one in three child brides reside in India. Therefore, raising the marriage age would not solve the problem; instead, it will increase the number of child brides. Since the problem is particularly prevalent in rural sections of the country, where girls’ education is almost non-existent. The government should focus on measures to educate females; this would not only extend the marriage age but will also lead to India’s long-term growth.
The new proposal is that marriages before the legal age will now be considered ‘void’. Thus, women and girls will be exposed to sex within a marriage, which is socially acceptable but legally void, and will have no rights to reparation, social protection, or any other benefit because the marriage is considered to not have taken place.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to raise the marriage age for women from 18 to 21 years was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 21, 2021. The bill seeks to raise the legal marriageable age of women from 18 years to 21 years and bring it to par with men. The Minister while presenting the bill said, “The age of marriage should be uniformly applicable to all religions, caste, creed, over-riding any custom or law that seeks to discriminate against women.” The Minister said that the bill also seeks to override all existing laws, including any custom, usage, or practice governing the parties in relation to marriage. It seeks to amend seven personal laws – Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act and the Foreign Marriage Act, Indian Christian Marriage Act, Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, and the Special Marriage Act. It bill also prohibits child marriage, irrespective of any law, custom, usage, or practice governing the parties. The bill declares that the provisions of the Act shall have an overriding effect over every other law, custom, usage, or practice governing the parties.
- The measure intends to raise the marriageable age of women to 21 years in order to achieve gender equality in marriage ages for men and women. The bill declares that “Women are often put in a disadvantaged situation in relation to higher education, vocational training, acquisition of psychological maturity and skill-sets. Women’s marriage ages are predicted to rise, lowering maternal and newborn death rates and improving nutrition and sex ratios. The bill includes a grace period of two years from the date it receives presidential assent.
- The amendment bill also aims to redefine the definition of “kid” to “mean a person or female who has not reached 21 years of age”.
- It proposes amending seven personal laws: the Hindu Marriage Act, the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, the Foreign Marriage Act, the Indian Christian Marriage Act, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, and the Special Marriage Act.
- It also outlaws child marriage, regardless of whatever law, custom, use, or practice governs the parties. The bill declares that the Act’s provisions take precedence over any other law, custom, use, or practice governing the parties.