Civil Society Bodies Urge Govt To Not Increase Women's Minimum Age Of Marriage

Over 100 civil society bodies have urged the government to not increase women's  minimum age of marriage. They have claimed that the move "will not further gender equality, women's rights or empowerment of girls."

The civil society bodies in a joint statement raised the concern as to how increasing the minimum age of marriage is a step forward. They further added that increasing the marriageable age would deny many more women matrimonial status and rights.

The bodies also asked how will the decision help to criminalise families whose survival needs and insecurity compel them to marry early and also force them to enter the workforce early. They added the age of marriage through law will only criminalise early marriage and would not prevent it.

What You Should Know

• Civic society bodies have urged the government to not increase the minimum age of marriage for girls.
• The government has created a task force to look into the proposal to increase the marriageable age from 18 to 21 for girls.
• The task force is headed by MP Jaya Jaitly and Vinod Paul.

Civil societies and various child activists believe that by increasing the marriageable age for women from 18 to 21, the government is losing on the opportunity to focus on solving the primary issues that lead to child marriages in the first place.

Many activists have endorsed the statement by the civil society bodies. Those who have tried to bring the same concern over the table are Enakshi Ganguly, independent activist and co-founder of HAQ; Centre for Child Rights, Madhu Mehra, executive director at National Coalition Advocating for Adolescent Concerns (NCAAC), Mary E John, a senior fellow at Centre for Women's Development Studies and Kavita Ratna, Director-Advocacy at Concerned for Working Children, a child rights non-profit.

Kavita Ratna said, "If the root causes of child marriage are not addressed, then this law is actually going to harm us. One girl child even told me that female foeticide will increase because the parents will be more burdened by girl children if the marriageable age is increased. If they’re allowed to vote at 18, why can’t they decide if they want to get married?" The Wire reported.

Minimum Age Of Marriage

Earlier this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the budget, announced about constituting a task force to provide recommendations on the appropriate age for women to marry.

Later on, the occasion of Independence Day Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke about the task force and increase of marriageable age for girls from 18 to 21. From the ramparts of Red Fort, he said, "We have set-up a committee to reconsider the minimum age for marriage of our daughters. We will take appropriate decision after the committee submits its report.”

According to the government, this change in the age of marriage looks at empowering girls and young women. They believe that it would increase their access to education and improve the infant mortality rate.

A 10-member task force was notified on June 4. The task force is headed by MP Jaya Jaitly and NITI Aayog member Vinod Paul. They have till now tried to incorporate all voices including experts,academics, civil society organisations and most importantly, children and young people.

They have also heard the concerns of two young women who were chosen to represent the views of the young in front of the task force. Mamta Jangid, a teenager from Ajmer, Rajasthan asked the committee, if despite the legal age of 18, child marriages continue; how will they be stopped if the age is increased even more.

The report from the committee is still awaited.

Also Read:India Reviews Woman’s Legal Marriage Age In India. What Could Be Its Impact?

Sanskriti Tiwari is an intern with SheThePeole.TV