Raising marriage age won’t lead to women’s empowerment

News: Recently, the Union Cabinet has passed a proposal raising the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years — the same as men.

Why India should raise the legal age of marriage for women?

1. India is usually near the bottom of the international rankings on gender indicators. 2. India also has the largest absolute number of girls who marry below the age of 18.

Why raising the legal age of marriage for women does not lead to women’s empowerment?

Against Global consensus: Globally, the age of 18 is widely regarded as the age of adulthood. It is also viewed as an upper limit in terms of the physical and reproductive maturity of women, as well as the age of majority by child rights conventions to which India is a signatory. Thus, the proposed move will restrict the rights of already adult women.

Laws are meant to set minimum levels: The minimum age is a floor age, not a standard or desirable norm. Raising the age would create a debate on the minimum age at marriage vs the right age at marriage. This is an issue for legal experts to debate.

Raising the age will not ensure healthy mothers and children: If poor women remain poor and malnourished, raising their age of marriage will not ensure healthy motherhood. For example, National Family Health Survey (IV) data reveals that levels of anaemia show no change even at ages of marriage up to 25 years.

So, raising the age will punish the poorest sections of the population, since women from better-off groups tend to marry at higher ages.

Report of the multi-country study by World Bank: In 2017, World Bank estimated that “savings” of no less than $5 trillion would accrue if marriage before the age of 18 was eliminated. The savings are due to reductions in fertility and consequent reductions in public health investments due to fewer births.

The same study saw no significant gains from raised age of marriage for women’s decision-making, for lowering the levels of violence they face or helping them find employment.

What are the complex problems that need attention?

NFHS-4 shows that only 6.6% were marrying below the age of 15. In other words, the problem in India today is no longer child marriage but late adolescent marriage. But that too is declining according to the NFHS and Census report.

Educational attainments have improved enormously in recent years. But all major data sets mention that the decline in early marriages has been accompanied by a fall in women’s employment rates. In other words, the proportion of women not in paid work increases at higher ages of marriage.

What should be done to improve women’s empowerment?

Source: This post is based on the article ”Raising marriage age won’t lead to women’s empowerment” published in Indian Express on 21st December 2021.