Child Marriage in India

To be defined at length in a later section, boor join is most simply, for our purposes, a marri develop in which the wife is below the age of eighteen at the time of consummation. The apply of peasant wedding party in campestral India is deeply rooted in heathenish evaluates and grounded in social structures. And despite laws that prohibit nipper marriage, the practice is still extremely frequent in many regions. Though the statistics atomic human body 18 contentious, it is estimated that in some parts of India, like the state of Rajasthan, nearly 80 sh be of the marriages be among girls under the age of fifteen (Gupta, 2005, p. ). In India overall, roughly 47. 6 percent of girls atomic number 18 espouse by the age of eighteen (The implications of early marriage, 2004).Despite international human rights efforts, the annihilation of chela marriage is greatly hindered by the intertwined social issues that oftentimes lead to and are then in turn reinforced by the practice. Various underlying social factors inform why child marriage exists, including traditional gender norms the value of virginity and parental concerns surrounding premarital sexual practice pressure of marriage proceeding (or dowries) and poverty (Amin, Chong, & Haberland, 2007).The social outcomes of child marriage are also signifi nookiet, and often devastate communities in which these practices aim place. Societies in which child marriage takes place have risqueer rates of early childbearing, unwanted pregnancies, paternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases (including human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS) and unsafe abortions.Additionally, adolescent girls placed in child marriages are often deprived of basic health care and health information, and achieve extremely low educational attainment (Mathur, Greene, & Malhotra, 2003, p. 11 Bruce, 2007 Amin, Chong, & Haberland, 2007). Apart from these health and societal consequences, such marriages also affect g irls individual get wind as social actors. Early marriage negatively affects girls social ne iirks, decision-making power, and ability to negotiate with partnersall of which do influence the health and well being of the individual (Bruce, 2007). In many ways, the social issues that emerge from the practice of child marriage also serve to reinforce itcreating a vicious cycle.This cyclical pattern is mediocre one(a) reason why the practice has yet to be eradicated despite international pressure and sound interventions. Each of the line of works that informs child marriage intersects in complex ways and the result is an incessant and engrossing conundrum that impacts all aspects of the social worlds in which it takes place, from the well-being of the individual girls to the economic, political, and cultural structures of general Indian society. What is most pressing near child marriages in India, however, is the relationship among child marriage and the increasingly severe Indi an human immunodeficiency virus epidemic.The rates of HIV in India are a topic of great debate between the Indian presidency and both Indian and International NGOs. Yet, at that place is a consensus that HIV, once an urban phenomenon in India that was primarily transmitted within tough populations is now gaining momentum in rural areas (Fears Over India, 2005). These trends are alarming and suggest that the cultural contexts in which these HIV rates are climbing need to be addressed.Additionally, recent research has found links between HIV and early marriage in communities crossways the globe. The studyity of sexually active girls age 15-19 in developing countries are married, and married adolescent girls extend to have higher rates of HIV infection than their sexually active, unmarried peers (The implications of early marriage, 2004, p. 1 Clark, Bruce, & Dude, 2006, p. 79). HIV/AIDS in India The Indian HIV/AIDS epidemic is relatively new, and, once limited to high-risk urban populations, HIV is rapidly emerging as a problem for general communities within Indian society (Fears Over India, 2005).HIV/AIDS is becoming widespread, and as it reaches new populations, it poses new problems. As child marriage is fundamentally a rural phenomenon in India, the particular plight of HIV in rural areas must be contended. Issues like how to educate and provide treatment for people in despicable, rural areas are emerging, and new cultural pockets of Indian society must be understood in order to to a greater extent effectively implement these programs. Though contentious, recent figures estimate that roughly 2-3. 6 million people in India are infected with HIV.This places India third worldwide for the numerate of HIV cases within a country. Overall, 0. 36% of Indias population is living with HIV. While this may seem low, given the vast population of India, the actual number of people who are HIV-positive is remarkably high (Overview of HIV/AIDS, 2008). And in Rajast han, the largely rural state in which the project give be conducted, it is believed that there is a prevalence of nearly 5%extremely high for India (AIDS in India, n/d). Many who work in the health sector claim that they are witnessing a rapid rise in infections to new populations.Sujatha Rao, director-general of the governments National AIDS swan Organisation, says doctors are increasingly seeing women infected by their preserves, a population typically not targeted by reproductive health programs (Vast Distances a Barrier, 2008 Santhya & Jejeebhoy, Early married couple, 2007). There is also evidence that knowledge of HIV is extremely low in the rural areas where the study will be conducted, particularly among women. The National Family health Survey reports that precisely 19% of ever-married rural Rajasthani women olden 15-49 had ever heard of AIDS, compared to 65% of their male counterpart. divagation from the gender discrepancy of knowledge across India, however, a rural/ urban dichotomy was especially pronounce among women (2005-2006 National Family-Rajasthan 2005-2006 National Family-India). This lack of knowledge unsurprisingly also appears to influence behavior. Among currently married rural women, aged 15-49, simply 38% purposed any modern method of family planning, compared to 55. 8% of their urban counterparts. More importantly, only 3. 1% of married rural women have used a condom (the only method in the analysis that would protect against HIV), compared to 13. 3% of urban married women.Furthermore, only 14. % of ever-married rural women (ages 15-49) knew that consistent condom use can reduce the changes of HIV/AIDS, in comparison to 61. 6% of their urban counterparts (2005-2006 National Family-Rajasthan 2005-2006 National Family-India). A recent New York quantify article reports that the rural problem of HIV is made more pronounced by the difficulties that HIV-positive people in rural communities face when attempting to get tested and tre ated. Many patients travel desire distances each month to receive government-sponsored antiretrovirals, but the cost and time required for such a journey is difficult for many to achieve.In consequence, many patients simply give up on treatment, an anathema in HIV therapy as it gives rise to medicine resistance. One doctor notes, Travel can affect drug compliance. Patients who dont get family support, women who may not like to travel along will full give up (Vast Distances a Barrier, 2008). electric shaver Marriage For the purposes of our handling, child marriage is identified as a marriage that takes place earlier exact age 18a exposition adhered to by UNICEF and other international organizations (Bruce, 2007).This definition is at odds with the definition provided by Indias recent legal profession of Child Marriage tone, which states that a child is a person who, if a male, has not completed twenty-one historic period of age, and if a female, has not complete eighteen y ears of age (The Prevention of Child Marriage Bill, 2004). While this discrepancy will be analyzed further below, given that eighteen is largely considered the age of consent, it is this standard to which our definition will be held. It should be noted that the betrothal of a marriage can happen at any time, and often will occur at birth.But that marriage is not defined as a child marriage unless the wife is given to her spousal family, and the marriage is consummated, before she reaches the age of eighteen. Furthermore, as most child marriages take place among girls who are minors, with male partners who are of age, whenever the marge child marriage is used in this project, it is referring to a marriage that involves a female child. Child marriage has not been ignored by Indian or international policymakers, yet enforcement of these laws has been virtually impossible.The Indian government is often portrayed as uncomfortable when dealing with personal laws within distinct communiti es that are not derived from grassroots movements (Burns, 1998 Yadav, 2006, p. 7). Despite this, laws have been on the books for over a decade. In 1994, a Marriage Bill was introduced which recommendedthe enactment of a uniform law relating to marriages and provided for the compulsory registration of marriages, with the aim of preventing child marriages and also polygamy in society. Yet, this law did not pass and in Rajasthan, to this day, there is no compulsory marriage registration (Yadav, 2006, p. 0).This jurisprudence has been preceded by various attempts to limit the practice and legislate the age at which girls are married. In the 1880s, discussions of the outset Age of Consent Bill began, and finally, in 1927, it was declared that marriages with a girl under twelve would be invalid. In 1929, India began to prohibit the practice of all child marriage by instituting the Child Marriage prohibition Act. In 1978, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was amended to prescribe eighte en and twenty-one years as the age of marriage for a girl and boy respectively (Yadav, 2006, p. 7).Due to the illegality of child marriage, the number of girls who are put into child marriage in Rajasthan is extremely difficult to know. And particularly due to differing definition employed by researches, no consensus yet exists among those who have tried to obtain a number. Researchers claim that, in Rajasthan, the number of girls married off before age eighteen is somewhere between 55. 5% and 80% and other researchers estimate that roughly 56% of Rajasthani marriages occur with girls under the age of fifteen (Yadav, 2006, pl. 10 Burns, 1998).Therefore, there is overwhelming evidence that child marriage is occurring in Rajasthan in large numbers, despite the laws against it. Why is child marriage occurring? What social, cultural, and economic contexts inform the persistence of this practice? Some assert that Rajasthani people either do not understand the law or simply ignore it (Yad av, 2006, p. 37). In a New York Times article outlining the practice of child marriage in Rajasthan, it was stated that Each year, formal warnings are post outside state government offices stating that child marriages are illegal, but they have little impact.In a discussion with a village elder in Rajasthan, the elder stated, Of course, we know that marrying children is against the law, but its only a paper law (Burns, 1998). Therefore, he suggests that the law is perceived as unimportant, allowing families to simply ignore it, and often without penalty. Additionally, cultural and social contexts still highly value this practice and Indian families often turn to child marriage to help cope with social conditions in disrepair. To approach this, I will first discuss the gender norms in India. How are women perceived? What are the practical implications of these norms?Secondly, I will discuss the value placed on virginity and understandings of premarital sex. Thirdly, I will discuss th e economic factors that continue to promote the practice. And finally, I will briefly discuss the major consequences of child marriage, which will move us into a discussion of the links between child marriage and HIV. Child marriage is deeply embedded in ideals round the spot of women and the status of girls in Indian culture (Gupta, 2005, p. 3). Understandings of the Indian family and a wifes role more in general give huge amounts of insight to the status of women.Within the context of a patrilocal family ideology, girls are reared to be obedient, selfsacrificing, modest, nurturant, hardworking and home loving. In an interview with Seymour in the 1960s, one Indian gentleman express, American girls are given too much independence. A girl should marry young, before she has the regain to develop independent ideals. By marrying girls young (and enhancing the disparity between her and her husbands age), the male-based hierarchy is stovepipe preserved (Seymour, 1999, p. 55). Male s are quite simply valued more in Indian families.They act as the head of the menage, the breadwinners and the decision makers. These values are imbued from an early age and as the transition to adulthood is mark with marriage, these gender norms become particularly pronounced (Segal, 1999, p. 216 Gupta, 2005, p. 1 Yadav, 2006, p. 1 Seymour, 1999, p. 97). A womans direct role in the home is to produce sons, as this will bring pay back to her family, and an heir for her husband. In a society that stresses patrilineal descent, to bear children, especially sons, is critical, and girls learn from an early age that this is their responsibility (Seymour, 1999, p. 7).gestation is additionally critical in order to establish the wife as a member of her husbands family. As Indian families take collective care of children, producing a new family member is severely prized and brings the newlywed status (Seymour, 1999, p. 99). How do women feel about their status and role in society? Seymou r writes that, Women are the moving pieces in an exchange system that creates extensive webs of kinship. Is this a hardship for them? Yes, for they must leave the shelter of their own family and join a different family. Do they find it oppressive?Sometimes, but not generally (Seymour, 1999, p. xvi). Though others argue that cultural dictation of female role and lack of continued financial and emotional support, predominantly from spouses and other family members, were influential factors in high rates of depression among women (Jambunathan, 1992). The low value of girls is also reflected in traditions of female infanticide and abortions of female children and research that shows that women are by and large neglected by Indian society, resulting in poor health care and a high number of preventable deaths (Miller, 1981, p. 8 Segal, 1999, p. 218-220).In one survey, 52% of Indians said that they would get a prenatal diagnosis to select a male, as unlike to 30% who would in Brazil, 29 % in Greece and 20% in Turkey (Segal, 1999, p. 219). These patterns have resulted in a worsening sex ratio in Rajasthan. It is estimated that between 750 to 850 girls are born per 1000 boys, a problem that not only reinforces these negative ideals about gender, but also could potentially be devastating to the length of service of Indian communities (Indian Census, 2001 Kristof, 1991).An Indian obstetrician interviewed for The Hindu stated that these days, it is extremely rare to see a family with two filles, and some families do not even have one. In communities like Rajasthan, people want to crap they are modern and that they do not discriminate between a girl and a boy. Yet, they will not hesitate to quietly go to the next village and get an ultrasound done (Thapar, 2007). And in a statement by UNICEF, the organization says that for most of the female fetuses that survive, birth is the only equal chance they will ever get (Segal, 1999, p. 20).Additionally, child marriage is gre atly informed by ideals of virginitya cultural notion that has huge impacts on the intersections between HIV/AIDS and child marriage. An unmarried, chaste girl symbolizes family honor and purity and is considered a sacred gift to bestow upon another family (Seymour, 1999, p. 55). To exacerbate the outcome of these ideals, myths supposedly burst that men can be cured of various diseases, including gonorrhea, mental illness, syphilis and HIV by having sex with a fresh girl, a virgin. Bhat, Send, & Pradhan, 2005, p. 17 Burns, 1998) But as much as cultural ideals are echoed in the practice, tradition has been reinforced by necessity (Burns, 1998). Poverty is often cited as one of the major factors contributing to child marriage (Bhat, Sen, & Pradhan, 2005, p. 15). Child marriage is more prevalent in poor household and in poor communities. Almost all countries in which more than 50 percent of girls are married before the age of 18 have GDP per capita under $2000 per year (Gupta, 2005, p . 3).For families in poverty, marrying a daughter early can mean lower dowry payments and one less mouth to feed (Bhat, Sen, & Pradhan, 2005, p. 16). An coronation in girls is seen as a lost investment because the girl leaves to join another home and her economic contributions are to that homeso the earlier she is married, the less of a loss the investment (Gupta, 2005, p. 3).What is devastating about the child marriage problem, beyond the human rights abuses, is the way in which it impacts both the individual and the community and the fashion in which the practice reinforces itself. Impoverished parents often believe that child marriage will protect their daughters. In fact, however, it results in lost development opportunities, limited life options, and poor health (Child marriage fact sheet, 2005). Child marriage continues to be immersed in a vicious cycle of poverty, low educational attainment, high incidences of disease, poor sex ratios, the subordination of women, and most s ignificantly, the inter-generational cycles of all of these (Bhat, Sen, & Pradhan, 2005, p. 21 Gupta, p. 1-2).