Transcript Child Marriage in India

Child Marriage and
Gender Relations in
India
By Juliana Shulman
-Fourth Year in the College at the
University of Chicago
-Human Rights Intern
A little bit about India…
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Largest democracy in the world
Second most populous country in the world
Home to over one billion people
Hindi and English are the official languages, but
dozens more are spoken
The predominant religions are Hinduism, Islam,
Christianity Sikhism and Buddhism
Independent since 1947
Home to some of the most stunning historical sites
Extremely diverse--I will mostly be speaking about
one part of India known as Rajasthan
Facts about Rajasthan
• Over 79% of people live in small,
“underdeveloped” rural villages
• These villages often lack schools,
roads, running water, medical care,
reliable electricity, etc.
• Heavily reliant on the environment.
A migrant culture
• Less than 5% of women are literate
Facts about Rajasthan
• One-third of Indian adult
women are underweight
• Over 47% of Indian
children suffer from
malnutrition
• The risk of dying between
the ages of one and five is
43% higher for girls than
for boys
Child Marriage
Throughout the world…
• Child marriage--a marriage in which one of
the spouses (most often, the wife) is below
the age of eighteen when the marriage is
consummated
• Child marriage is common in India,
Indonesia, various countries in subSaharan Africa
• In India, traditionally, the girl is “given” to
her husband once she has her first period
and is ready to bear children--often, in
practice, she is given earlier
In India…
• Child marriage has been
illegal for decades, but it is
still extremely prevalent in
certain regions
• In Rajasthan, nearly 80%
of marriages are among
girls under the age of
fifteen
• Overall, almost 50% of
girls are married by age
eighteen
Marriage in India
• Arranged marriage
is still most
common, though
this may not be true
in the big cities
• Usually, the girls do
not see their
husband prior to
getting married
• Joint family
structure means
that the married
girls are forced to
leave their parents
at an early age
Why Do People Marry Their
Daughters Early?
Child marriage is often used
to cope with social
conditions (most Indian
men and women don’t
agree with the practice,
but do it out of necessity)
• Financial pressures of the
dowry
• Value of virginity
• Traditional gender norms
• Poverty
Value of Virginity
• It is believed that husbands
only want to marry virgins
• Parents fear that their
daughters will engage in
premarital sex, and this
would bring dishonor to the
family
• The earlier parents marry
their daughter, the more they
feel they ensure her virginity
Traditional Gender Norms
• Males are valued more in Indian
families than females
• Girls are “reared to be obedient,
self-sacrificing, modest, nurturant,
hardworking and homeloving”
• “American girls are given too
much independence. A girl should
marry young, before she has the
chance to develop independent
ideals”
• Marriage helps preserve the
hierarchy, especially if the
husband is much older
Traditional Gender Norms
• Woman’s primary role is to
produce sons (need an heir)
• A woman establishes her place
in her husband’s family through
reproduction
Traditional Gender Norms
• Sex-selective abortion is extremely
common
– 750 to 850 girls are born per 1000 boys
• Girls receive less health care
– For girls who are born, “birth is the only equal
opportunity they will ever get”
– Girls are 43% more likely than boys to die
before their 5th birthday
The Dowry
• The daughter’s family gives
money or a large gift to the
husband’s family
• Certain events mean that you
are not required to pay a
dowry, which encourages the
parents to marry their
daughters (despite a young
age) when these events occur
• If the daughter is younger, the
husband’s family may request
a smaller dowry because they
know that she is “pure”
Poverty
• With less money, one wants to
give the daughter away early,
because it is one less mouth to
feed
• Families do not want to invest in
the education or health of girls,
because it is a lost investment
• Instead, girls are trained to be
good wives until going to their
husbands
What are the consequences of
early marriage?
• High rates of HIV/AIDS
• High rates of early childbearing
– Maternal and infant mortality are high
• Lack of health care
• Lack of education
• Girls are deprived of a voice in their
marriage and their community
• Vicious cycle of poverty, low educational
attainment, high rates of disease, the
subordination of women, etc.
Health Consequences
• Women age fifteen to nineteen
are twice as likely to die in
childbirth, compared to women
in their twenties
• Girls who marry by age 15 often
have four children by the time
they reach their early 20s
• Infant mortality for children born
to mothers under 20, versus
those born to mothers 20-29, is
significant
• Often, the husband’s family does
not attend to the wife’s medical
needs
HIV/AIDS in India
• Relatively new
• Increasingly spreading from
urban to rural areas and from
“high-risk” to “general”
populations
• 2-3.6 million people in India
have HIV
• Some argue that it is has the
highest number of HIV cases in
the world
• Roughly 5% of people in
Rajasthan are believed to be
HIV positive
HIV/AIDS in India
• Knowledge of HIV is extremely
low, especially among women
– Less than 20% of married
women in Rajasthan had ever
heard of AIDS, compared to
65% for men
• Condom use is extremely low
– Partially because there is so
much pressure to bear
children
• Difficult to get tested or treated
in rural areas
– The time it takes to travel to
the city and get tested means
a day off from work and less
money
• Stigma
HIV/AIDS
• In many countries, married
adolescents are at a greater risk of
contracting HIV than their
unmarried peers
• Why?
– Education programs are often
irrelevant to married women
• Condom use and abstinence
programs don’t address married
women’s needs
– Husbands in migrant communities
must go away for long periods of
time
• Droughts exacerbate this
– Husband may be much older and
have many partners
– Girl’s body may be too immature for
sex
My Internship at Veerni Project
• Veerni means “heroine” or “woman of
strength” in Hindi
• Goal: To empower rural Rajasthani women
to lead healthy and productive lives
• Veerni has three main focuses:
– Education
– Health care and malnutrition
– Social awareness
My Internship at Veerni Project
• Veerni focuses on giving girls a better
chance in their communities
• Veerni’s programs include:
– A girls’ hostel that provides ninety village girls
with an uninterrupted secondary education in a
nurturing environment
– Literacy programs in six rural villages
– Sewing programs, to help women gain
economic independence
– Primary and reproductive health education
programs and clinics
– A malnutrition program
– Community meetings to discuss gender
disparities and the problems of child marriage
My Internship at Veerni Project
• What I did
– Research
– Wrote reports
– Went daily to provide reproductive healthcare to rural
women
– Developed health workshops for these communities
– Taught at the Veerni hostel
What You Can Do
• Write letters to the Veerni girls
• Spread awareness about the issues
• Support government bills that focus on
ending child marriage
• Donate books and school supplies to girls
in India
• Be socially aware
• Volunteer or intern at an organization