WOMEN MARRIAGE AGE AND EDUCATION – SOCCIAL ISSUE
News: Are
educated women likely to marry later?
What's in the news?
● In
February, when the Assam government launched a massive crackdown on child
marriage, social activists pointed out that the root of the problem, i.e.,
limited access to education among women, is not being sufficiently addressed.
Key takeaways:
● National Family Health
Survey (NFHS) data show that higher education
levels could play a greater role than wealth in delaying a woman’s marriage.
● For
example, the median marriage age of a woman who has completed over 11 years of
schooling is 23 compared to 17.6 for a woman with less than five years of
schooling.
What role does marriage play in Indian society?
Marriage
is the most significant institution. It plays the following roles in Indian
Society.
1. Primary Economic Security:
● Marriage
is a woman’s primary economic security. This is made up of many layers of
payments, like dowry, and what each family will bring to the marriage.
2. Social identity:
● A
woman who remains single continues to be an anomaly, because we have
near-universal marriage.
3. Sexual respectability:
● Those
who wish to have social respect have sexual relationships within marriage, the
option to have children.
● A
woman may decide at some point in life that she wants to have a child without
having a husband. In the Indian context, this is completely unacceptable.
4. Maintaining caste and community lines:
● Most
marriages are endogamous. This is
central to maintaining caste and community lines and hierarchy.
● Early
marriage may be seen as a way to ensure that women are married within their caste
and community and preserve cultural practices.
5. Irony between wealth of the family and early
marriage:
● To
maintain caste and community [lines], the match has to be carefully monitored.
● It
has to take place at a time when the young are not only emotionally attached to
the parents, but also dependent on them and hence obedient.
● The
marriage market is deeply segmented by caste, wealth, urban, rural, and gender.
6. Dowry:
● Dowry
also remains central. The wealthy can give dowry, but they don’t want to have
to give too much dowry.
● The
more educated a girl, the more the boy has to be educated too and the higher the
dowry.
7. Protection of girls:
● The
girl's family has the responsibility of protecting her sexually before
marriage. And that responsibility gets transferred to the boy’s family after
marriage.
Factors determining marriage age for women:
1. Education:
● Data
from NFHS-5 show that the more educated a woman, the higher her negotiating
power about when she wants to get married.
2. Wealth:
● Wealth
has only recently gained relevance as a controlling factor in deciding a
woman’s marital age.
● Among
older generations, even wealthier families married women at a younger age.
3. Caste:
● The
median marriage age among SC/ST/OBC women was below 20 even among younger
generations, while that of non-SC/ST/OBC women crossed 20.
4. Location:
● The
difference in the median marriage age between rural and urban women was wider
among younger generations.
● So,
the negotiating power of urban women has improved at a higher pace than that of
rural women.
Correlation of Education and Late marriages:
● National
Family Health Survey (NFHS) data show that higher education levels could play a
greater role than wealth in delaying a woman’s marriage.
● For
example, the median marriage age of a woman who has completed over 11 years of
schooling is 23 compared to 17.6 for a woman with less than five years of
schooling.
How does education delay marriage?
● Poverty
is the greatest determinant of early marriage. Education has a role to reduce
poverty through making women economically independent and supportive of her
family.
● Education
provides women with knowledge and skills
that lead to greater empowerment and the ability to make informed decisions
about their lives.
● Educated
women are more likely to participate in
the workforce, earn higher wages, and have better health outcomes.
● Access
to education can challenge traditional
gender norms and stereotypes, creating new opportunities for women and
girls.
● Education
can increase women’s bargaining power
within their families and communities, allowing them to negotiate for better
living conditions, higher earnings, and greater autonomy.
Issues in labour markets:
● The
female labor force participation rate is low
at 25%, and job losses have been especially harmful to women.
● Despite
increased access to education, there is a high proportion of educated but unemployed women.
● Women
who enter the corporate sector often face hostility or are unable to balance domestic expectations with work demands.
● The
conjugal contract between men and women remains largely unchanged, with women
assuming the majority of domestic burdens and men often having power over
family decisions.
Impact of Age of Marriage:
● Increasing
the age of marriage may not automatically lead to greater empowerment,
autonomy, or freedom for women.
● While
delaying marriage may provide women with more opportunities to pursue education and careers, there is still a
significant gender gap in employment and earnings.
● Low
and declining employment rates may also result in a greater burden on marriage
as a means of economic security.
Why do women in SC/ST/OBC communities get married at a
younger age than even those in rural India?
1. Socio-economic factors:
● Women
in SC/ST/OBC communities tend to get married at younger ages than even those in
rural areas due to a combination of
social and economic factors.
2. Sense of social disadvantage:
● Families
who belong to these groups experience a sense of social disadvantage in the
marriage market, but they are also often poor, with lower wealth quintiles
being disproportionately populated by SC, ST, and OBCs.
3. Caste and poverty:
● There
is a fair deal of correlation between caste and poverty in these communities,
with many lacking decent work and being
vulnerable to violence from those higher in the hierarchy.
4. Vulnerability:
● Girls
from these communities are even more vulnerable to such issues, with Dalit
girls being particularly susceptible to sexual predators as young upper-caste
men feel that they have a right of access.
5. Marriage as protection:
● Marriage
can be seen as a form of protection for girls from these communities, but the
issue of early marriage is complex and influenced by a range of factors.
The issue of child marriage in India is complex and
deeply rooted in societal norms, poverty, and caste systems.
Despite the progress in education and women’s empowerment, there are still
challenges. The issue of child marriage requires a comprehensive approach that
addresses the underlying societal and economic factors that perpetuate the
practice.