DIVORCING THE IDEA OF OUTDATED CHILD 

MARRIAGE PRACTICE IN RURAL INDIA 
By Kanika Sharma 
 

Introduction 
In  western  culture,  little  girls  dream  of  their  wedding  day.  Marriage  is  portrayed  as  an 
extraordinary  milestone  filled  with  nothing  but  happiness.  This  western perception is what 
it  should  be;  but  for  some  girls, this is far from the truth. Child brides are organized marital 
unions,  in  which  either  the  bride or groom is a child. Child marriages are a significant social 
issue  in  India.  By Indian legislation, it is considered a child marriage if the bride is under the 
age  of  eighteen  and/or  the  groom  is  under  the  age  of  twenty  one.​1  The  circumstances  of 
India’s  historical  practices  surrounding  arranged  marriage  and  child  marriage  set  a unique 
precedent,  explaining  why  such  outdated  customs  are  still  practiced in India. Due to issues 
of  poverty  and  lack  of  education,  early  marriage  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the only options 
for  young  girls.​2  Families  consequently  send  their  young  daughters  off  to  get  married  as  a 
way to secure the future of both the daughter and her family.  

Although  there  are  statistics  that  exist  about  child  marriage,  these  statistics  are  not 
accurate.  Since  child  marriage  is  illegal,  only  the  cases  documented  are  those  that  were 
reported  or  discovered.  The  statistics  used  in  the  paper  were  constructed  using  the 
available statistics. 

Problems with Child Marriage  

Child  Marriage  harms  the  well  being  of  young  girls  through the limitation of their freedom. 
They  are  restricted  from  basic  fundamental  rights,  including  education,  healthcare,  and 
safety.  With  limited  opportunities  to  proper  education  and  adequate  healthcare, victims of 

 
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child  marriage  are  trapped  in  the  poverty  cycle.  As  a  child  bride,  girls  are  more  likely  to 
become  pregnant  at  a  younger  age  and  are  more  likely  to  encounter  complications  within 
their pregnancy.​3 

Maternal Mortality Rates Around the World  

The data from the infographic above was retrieved from Unicef, and the diagram shows 
maternal mortality rates in various regions around the world. Maternal Mortality rates are 
highest in the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where child marriages are also 
most prominent. This further enforces how child marriages lead to complications with 
pregnancy, like maternal mortality rates. In countries where child marriage is high, there is 
a higher maternal mortality rate.  

Child marriage also relates to other illegal practices, including dowries and sex trafficking. 

 
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  Dowries  are  monetary sums or properties that the bride’s family gives to the groom on the 

day  of  the  marriage.​4  In  India,  the  dowry  price  is  lowest  when  the  bride  is  young.  Families 
consequently  marry  their  daughters  off  at  young  ages  in  order  to  save  money  on  the  cost 
of  the  dowry.  Dowries  increase  the  number  of  child  marriages,  and  enforce  an  ideology 
that perceives daughters are a burden.  

Current Attempts to Eliminate Child Marriage 

Although the number of child brides is decreasing over time and legislation like the Child 
Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 has been created, child marriage still continues to exist as a 
problem in rural India.​5​ The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 prohibits women to get 
married before the age of eighteen and prohibits men to get married before the age of 
twenty one.​6​ This legislation was updated in 2006. This updated version of the act enabled 
provisions to prohibiting child marriage by increasing protection to victims affected by child 
marriage. The 2006 laws also appoints a Child Marriage Prohibition Officer for every state. 
Despite the increased action to limit child marriages, they continue to exist in India.​7 The 
​

2006 Prohibition of Child Marriage Prevention Act criminalizes offenders of child marriage 
with a two year jail sentence or a fine.​8  

The current attempts to prohibit child marriage in India were mostly only created 
legislatively. This is ineffective, as violation of legislation is inevitable. It is impossible for 
government officials to monitor all instances of child marriage in a country with such a 
large population and other pertinent social issues that require governmental attention.   

Although  these  attempts are being taken, they lack proper the proper enforcement and the 

resources to make a difference. This is reflected in the continuation of this practice today.  

The  Indian  Childline  helpline  was  created  as  a  resource  that  victims  affected  by  child 
marriage  could  utilize  as  a  way  of  escaping  their  fate.​9  There  are  disadvantages  with  this 
helpline  as  the  majority  of  children  affected  by  child  marriages  are  from  the  rural  areas of 
India  and  consequently  do  not  have  access  to  phones.  It  is  a good initiative to reduce child 
marriage, but it is not effective considering its target audience.  

 
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Girls  Not  Brides  is  a  nonprofit  organization  that  targets  reducing  the  number  of  child 
marriages  in  India.​10  They  visit  rural areas of India in order to promote education about the 
effects  of  child  marriage.  This  has  contributed  to  the  decrease  in  child  marriages  in  India 
through campaigns like the “Oath to stopping child marriages.” ​11 

The  above  two  pie charts were constructed using statistics from Unicef. Approximately 27% 

of  women  were  married  before  the  age  of  18  between  the  years  of  2010  and  2017; 
Approximately  7%  of  women  were  married  before the age of 15 between the years of 2010 
and  2017.​12  According  to  Unicef,  India  has  the  highest  absolute  cases  of  child  marriage  in 
the world at 15,509,000.​13  

South Asian children are at the highest risk for arranged marriage due to the prevalence of 
this issue especially in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.​14​ The risk of child marriage is 

 
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decreasing over time, which reflects social progress. The risk, however, is still extremely 
high. Furthermore, it is concerning that the projected value for 2030 is still higher than the 
current risk in other continents. The Projected risk is significantly higher than 0%.  

India’s Legislative System  

Since  this  issue  brief  looks  at  the  issue  of  child  marriage  in  another  country,  it  is  critical to 
understand  the  legislative  process  in  India.  The  First  stage,  also  known as the first reading, 
is  the  stage  in  which  the  fundamental  purpose  of  the  bill  is  discussed.  A  select  committee 
decides  whether  this  bill  is  to  pass  onto  the  next  stage.  The  Second  Stage,  also  known  as 
the  Second  Reading is where the bill is examined in more detail. The third stage is the stage 
in  which  amendments  take  place.  During  this  stage,  each  of  the  individual  clauses  are 
subject  to  be  changed.  Every  clause  is  subject  to  vote  when  the  issue  is  contentious.  The 
individual clauses can be altered, removed, or remain unchanged.​15  

After  the  third  stage,  the  bill  must  be passed by a majority in order for the bill to be passed 

to  the  other  house  where  the  same steps are repeated. If accepted by the other house, the 
bill  is  sent  to  the  President.  After  receiving  approval  from  the  president,  the  bill  is  notified 
and  published  in  official  governmental  writing.  At  this  point,  the  bill  is  officially  an  Act  of 
Parliament.  The  president  has  the  authority  to  propose  changes  the  first  time  that  it  is 
brought to him or her, but not the second time.​16  

The  Solution  Lies  within  Social  Reform  Rather  Than  Governmental 

Legislation 
Legislation  that  prohibits  child  marriage  has  shown  to  be  ineffective  in  eliminating  the 
problem  completely.  Legislation  punishes  those  who  are caught for breaking the law, but it 
simply  incentives  people  to  do  so  secretly  in  order  to  avoid  getting  caught.  Although 
educational  attempts  have  been  put  into  place,  they  lack  proper  quality  due  to  poor 
funding.​17 The majority of people who get child marriages live in rural India with low income 
and  they  do  not  have  access  to  adequate  educational  facilities.  Child  marriages  are  also 

 
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therefore  motivated  by  dowries,  so  there  needs  to  be  more  education  around  dowries  as 
well as child marriage.​18 

Conclusion 
Perhaps  child  marriage  will  never  be  eliminated  in  India  due  to it being a historical cultural 
practice,  and  there  is  no  way  no monitor every single marriage. It is inevitable for someone 
to  break  the  Prohibition  of  Child  Marriage  Law.  Although  child  marriage  cannot  be 
eliminated  completely,  various  campaigns  can  contribute  to  reducing  the  number  of  child 
marriages.  Since  child  marriages  occur  most  frequently  in  rural  areas,  the  problem  with 
child  marriages  lies  within  poverty  and  lack  of  education. In order to reduce the number of 
child marriages, the following solutions should be implemented in India:  

(1) Increased  funding  toward  educational  programs:  An  increase  in  funding  will  better 
not  only  the  quality  of  educational  campaigns  regarding  the  harms  of  child 
marriage,  but  it  will  also  increase  the  quantity  of  educational  programs.  With  more 
educational  programs,  the  programs  can  explain  the  harms  of  child  marriage  in 
social,  economic,  and  ethical  perspectives.  In  a  social  context,  the  education  would 
focus  on the physical harm inflicted on child brides with sexual abuse, complications 
with  pregnancy  like  maternal  mortality  and  child  mortality.  In  the  economic 
perspective,  it  would  educate  people  on  how  child  marriages  prevent  young  girls 
from  contributing  to  the  economy  and  will  cause  poor  people  to  be  trapped  in  the 
poverty  cycle.  The  ethical  perspective  would  focus  on  how  child  marriages  rob 
children  of  their  childhood  and  affect  the  child  psychologically.  Educational 
programs  that  empower  females  should  be  implemented  in  order  to  prevent  the 
resent that is associated with having a daughter due to dowries.  
(2) Reduce  poverty  by  investing  into  infrastructure  and  economy:  Investments  into  the 
economy  of  developing nations is critical to ensuring economic development. With a 
decrease  in  poverty,  rural  families  will  feel  less  pressure  to  force  their  children  into 
marriage for monetary compensation.  

 
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Since  child  marriages  are  caused  by  lack  of  education  and  poverty,  taking  steps  to  solve 
these other problems will contribute to reducing the number of child marriages.    

 
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Endnotes 
1 India - Child Marriage Around The World, Girls Not Brides.  
2 Ibid 
3 What Is the Impact of Child Marriage, Girls Not Brides.  
4 Ayesha Minhaz. Saving India's child brides: Why focusing on prevention can't break the cycle of 
abuse, The News Minute, (Aug. 29 2017). 
5 Saumya Khandelwal. India's Forgotten Child Brides, National Geographic, (Apr. 20 2018).  
6 Ibid  
7 Ibid 
8 Ibid 
9 CHILDLINE India Foundation, Childline India.  
10 India - Child Marriage Around The World, Girls Not Brides. 
11 Ibid 
12 Child marriage, UNICEF, (Mar. 2018).  
13 Ibid 
14 Saumya Khandelwal. India's Forgotten Child Brides, National Geographic, (Apr. 20 2018). 
15 How are Laws made in India - A Simple Perspective, Easylaw: Interesting Articles, (Nov. 14 2012) 
16 Ibid 
17 Ayesha Minhaz. Saving India's child brides: Why focusing on prevention can't break the cycle of 
abuse, The News Minute, (Aug. 29 2017). 
18 Ibid  

Graphics  
1 Unicef, www.unicef.org 
2 Created by Kanika Sharma using Excel  
3 Created by Kanika Sharma using Excel 
4 Created by Kanika Sharma using Excel 

 
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