NEW MARRIAGE LAW: A GOOD FIX OR A QUICK FIX
NEW MARRIAGE LAW: A GOOD FIX OR A QUICK FIX
What Is The New Marriage Law?
The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which seeks to raise the age of legal marriage for women from 18 to 21, will apply to all communities in the country and, once enacted, will supersede existing marriage and personal laws. The bill containing six sections was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister for Women & Child Development, Smriti Irani. With this, it aims to provide a uniform age of marriage across religions, irrespective of any law, custom, or practice. Introduced as a move to aid “women progress on all fronts including their physical, mental and reproductive health”, the debate around the bill has since been tied in knots, with questions being raised on whether it holds the potential to empower women or is just a quick fix to a multilayered problem.
History Of The Marriage Law In India
The legal age to marry in India has increased over the years but has consistently remained different for women and men. In 1929, when the law was first passed, the legal age to marry was set at 14 years for girls and 18 years for boys. This was later raised to 15 years and subsequently to 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys in 1978. The minimum age was set essentially to outlaw child marriages and prevent abuse of minors. This difference between the ages of marriage was based on outdated ideas that women mature earlier than men. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice examined the Prevention of Child Marriage Bill 2004 and supported the age differentiation, citing the "physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional aspects acknowledged by social thinkers".The age of 18 years was also considered “insufficient for a boy to attain the desired level of education and economic independence”.It had, however, urged the government to consider the views proposing a common age of 18 years for both women and men.
What are the issues with this bill?
Critics have pointed out a multitude of underlying issues: social stigma, escalating dowries, abject poverty, and lack of female education – that force women into an early marriage. Child and women’s rights activists, as well as population and family planning experts, have not favored increasing the age of marriage for women on the basis that such legislation would push a large portion of the population into illegal marriages. They have contended that even with the legal age of marriage for women being kept at 18 years, child marriages continue in India and a decrease in such marriages has not been because of the existing law but because of an increase in girls’ education and employment opportunities. They have said the law would end up being coercive, and in particular negatively impact marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, making them lawbreakers.
What Are The Positives Of The Bill
Even Though The Bill has its own negatives but somewhere it might be the first step towards a bigger change. Irrespective of all its cons it might help empower women all across India legally if enough awareness is created and they know that the law is with them till they are 21 and they can't be forced to get married. Another pro of this law is also that it enables men and women to be the same age when they married meaning, both of them will have the same chance to pursue what they what till they are 21 while not being restrained from marriage but it cannot happen in most of the cases due to various social norms and taboos.
A new problem arising
A new problem has arisen ever since the introduction of the bill. There has been an increase in no. of weddings that are happening in India. Girls in their late teens are being rushed into marriages by parents worried that the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021 will become law and they will have to either wait for their daughters to get hitched or face the wrath of the justice system. Some parents believe increasing the age women can get married would be a blow to tradition with potential adverse effects on their engaged daughters’ futures: they might elope with someone else or the groom might fall for a different girl. There is also concern the groom’s parents might increase the dowry amount. They are also worried about what they will do with their daughter being at home for so long. They are even willing to pay triple fees for a venue and are eagerly searching for potential suitors while reports of priests being rushed to officiate marriages are becoming common now.
Conclusion
In a patriarchal country where marriage is considered as a purpose of a girl's life, people want to marry off their girls as soon as they can. This law seems like a quick fix to a multilayered problem. Weather Number 21 will be another figure, incapable of solving the cruel cycle of underlying causes of marriages and ignoring existing socio-economic differences or will be the first step towards a bigger change of helping empower women.