Child Marriage: Causes, Effects and Prevention - Essay Sample

Introduction

Child marriage refers to the formal or informal marriage of a child under 18 years. Child marriage mostly occurs for young girls who are married off to an older man or boy. Girls who are forced into marriage at a younger age tend to be denied the right to access education because they are married off at school-going age. These young brides under 18 years tend to experience domestic violence. This paper will provide a discussion on child marriage, focusing on the causes, effects, and preventive measures.

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In India, there are high percentages of child marriage. Regardless of setting the legal marriage age at 18 years. New brides are anticipated to demonstrate their fertility after marriage through the reproduction of a male firstborn child. Child brides are physically immature, and being their early pregnancy, they are at risk of dying while giving birth or develop childbirth complications. According to UNICEF's report, India has the most significant number of child marriages in the world (Lal, 2995). Child marriage has been in existence in India for decades, where young girls are married off before they mature mentally and physically. In many instances, child marriages are worse for girls than for boys because boys are usually older than the girls.

Causes of Child Marriage

Causes of child marriage are propelled by first, gender inequality where male children are perceived as being superior to the girl child. Women who are married off at a younger age tend to experience domestic violence because of the age difference between the partners in which the man is older than the wife hence resulting in family misunderstanding (Mahato 698). Generally, families tend to discriminate boys and girls when giving them an opportunity of acquiring education. Girls are perceived as a burden to the family and someone else property because, in the end, they will get married. While the boy is viewed as prospective economic family assets. Therefore, early marriages of girls seem to be the solution to avoiding educational expenditure.

Secondly, in India, child marriage is driven by betrothal, where a girl is promised to be married before they are born to secure a future. At the puberty level, the guana ceremony takes place, and this children's bride is send off to their husbands to begin marriage life( Mahato, 700). The betrothals occur for young boys and girls who are not aware of the activities taking place; thus, plans for betrothals are made without their consent.

Thirdly, gender norms, and traditional customs leads to young girls being married off to older men. Girls tend to have a low value attached to them since society expects them to be hardworking and docile. Thus child marriage is used as a means of controlling female sexuality. Customary laws in India, which are religion-based acts as a barrier to curbing child marriage.

The other cause of child marriage in India is to minimizing marriage expenditure. According to the Indian culture, the girl’s family pays the dowry to the man’s family because of this reason. When the bridegroom is highly educated, the amount of dowry required is higher. Hence, early marriage is perceived as the only solution in the reduction of marriage expenses because when a girl is educated, the husband’s family claims that she will be a dictator in the house.

Also, high rates of child marriage in India is to avoid giving the female a share of the ancestral property. Females are supposed to be given a share of the ancestry property. Early marriages for girls heirs deprive them of an opportunity to ask for ancestry share because they will be having their own families (Mahato 701). Additionally, a high level of poverty. Female children and women are denied equivalent access to resources if the family has a low social status. Low-income families ought to use child marriage as a scapegoat for the female child burden.

Effects of Child Marriage

Child marriage has a lot of effects. Foremost, the inability to manage and planning families. Research has shown that women who are married at a younger age tend to bear more children. The young mothers are incapable of controlling their children based adequately on nutrition, healthcare, as well as management of the household (Raj 932). Secondly, Indian culture prioritizes male children; thus, whenever a girl is married and does not sire a male child as the firstborn, she will be forced to conceive until when she will give birth to a male child.

Thirdly, child marriage may result in exposure to HIV infection. Young women are prone to contracting HIV as compared to their male counterparts because her vagina is not well aligned with protective cells. Married adolescent girls are at the risk of getting infected because their older spouses may engage in extramarital sexual affairs with other women.

Preventive Measures

To curb child marriage world leaders, lawmakers, individuals as well as parents need to challenge to empower girls and question norms that positions boys as superior beings than girls. India is on the fight to curb early, child and forced marriages according to its vision of 2030, which targets 5.3 sustainable development goals. First, the government has used cash incentives like Dhan Laxmi scheme and programs for teenage empowerment to motivate change in behavior associated with child marriage.

Secondly, girls should be provided with equal opportunities to pursue their education and give them a chance to live fully independent lives after completing their studies (Ghosh 60). Thirdly, there is a need to establish and implement laws and policies which are against child marriages, and stringent measures should be put in place for those who are found involving themselves in child marriage. Fines and imprisonment are some of the steps that can be applied to those lawbreakers.

Also, to end child marriage, the community, as well as the parents, need to be educated on the importance of girl child in the society. Additionally, child marriage can be eliminated through the provision of economic support and incentives to families. Lastly, through empowering girls with support networks, information as well as skills.

Conclusion

In conclusion, child marriage is one of the problems facing India .regardless of stating the marriage age as 18 years, young girls and boys tend to be married off at the younger generation, and child marriage tends to affect mostly the girls. The causes of childbirth include poverty, denial of the right to share ancestry property, reduction in marriage expenditure, and avoiding female education expenses. The effects of child marriage include vulnerability to HIV infection, incapability of managing and planning the household, early pregnancy, and health complications as well as frequent giving birth in search of a male child. Child marriage can be prevented through the establishment and implementation of policies, empowering girls, offering incentives and economic support, providing essential services to the girls, and creating awareness of the effects of child marriage on the community and families.

Works Cited

Ghosh, Biswajit. "Child marriage and its prevention: Role of adolescent girls." Indian Journal of Development Research and Social Action 7.1-2 (2011): 49-62.

Lal, B. Suresh. "Child marriage in India: factors and problems." International Journal of Science and Research 4.4 (2015): 2993-2998.

Mahato, Santosh K. "Causes and consequences of child marriage: A perspective." International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research 7.7 (2016): 697-702.

Raj, Anita. "When the mother is a child: the impact of child marriage on the health and human rights of girls." (2010): 931-935.