Child Marriage in India

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In Rajasthan, India, child marriage is a tradition. But, the practice isn’t limited only to the one northwestern state; while child marriage is a global issue, India has the highest number of child brides in the world. While over the last decade, India has witnessed one of the largest declines in child marriage rates, it is estimated that 27% (down from 50%) of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday. Arvind Ojha with Urmul Trust and one of the founding members of Girls Not Brides talks to us about how child marriage specifically impacts young girls in India.

Child marriage can add to a myriad of negative outcomes for the girl and her family. Once girls are married, they are not expected to attend school anymore. Isolating them in a household away from their peers, education, and family can cause a girl to feel disempowered. With promises of dowry or having one less child to take care of at home, families often think that marrying their children will be a solution to poverty. In actuality, child marriage can often perpetuate cycles of poverty, as it leads girls to drop out of school and forgo their education and professional growth. India has an extremely high infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate, and child marriage can lend to that problem. Young girls are physically not capable of bearing children, and pregnancy and childbirth can cause dangerous complications. Child brides also face increased rates of domestic violence.

Bringing attention to the issue of child marriage means we can work towards a society that values and respects young girls so that their education, work opportunities, families, friends, and personal growth are the top priority. And while India has witnessed the largest decline in child marriage rates of over the last decade, there is still much work to be done.

Links from this episode

Girls Not Brides
Girls Not Brides Facebook
Girls Not Brides Twitter
Urmul Trust

Transcript

Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back a podcast on all things repro. I'm your host Jennie Wetter. In each episode, I'll be taking you to the front lines of the escalating fight over our sexual and reproductive health and rights at home and abroad. Each episode, I will be speaking with leaders who are fighting to protect our reproductive health and rights to ensure that no one's reproductive health depends on where they live. It's time for repros to fight back.

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Jennie: Hi all. Welcome to this week's episode of rePROs Fight Back. Before I get to the interview, which is going to be my third interview in a series of four interviews on child marriage, this one focusing on child marriage in India, I have a couple of quick housekeeping things. First, if you like our podcast, please help other people find it by subscribing, reading, and reviewing us, particularly on iTunes. It helps boost our visibility and allows other people to find it. So if you could rate, review and subscribe, that would be amazing. Thank you. Next, we are still running our giveaway for rePROs Fight Back swag. We want to know which sexual reproductive health and rights topics you find particularly important or engaging right now. So to do that, reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter at rePROs Fight Back and let us know which topics we have already covered that you have particularly enjoyed or which topics you would like to see us cover in the future. We will select 20 submissions at random and send out a bunch of great rePROs Fight Back swag. So again, reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter and let us know which topic we have already covered that you loved or topic that you would love to see us cover. I can't wait to see what you all suggest. With that housekeeping out of the way, let's move on to the interview.

Arvind: Yeah. Uh, my name is, uh, Arvind Ojha and I'm, uh, from Urmul Trust, which is working in the Rajasthan in the desert of India. Um, child marriage is a big problem, especially because I'm coming from Rajasthan and we consider it a big problem. And Eh, it became a tradition long back. And there are some auspicious days. Uh, we call it [inaudible] age. One day [inaudible] comes in around may or April or May. Okay. And there is another, uh, people born, Nema, the, these two dates are considered the auspicious day. And in these dates that people used to their daughters and children, and they considered that these are really very good days, and they will, Eh, get the seat in the heaven directly. So, so that's the... So earlier we were discussing that the child marriages is only the problem of Rajasthan but later we realize that no, it's a big problem of, uh, India. I was invited by the elders for Adis about meeting. They told me our meeting in 2011 and, and the elders called that meeting on the child marriage. And I was, uh, really surprised that it is not only India's problem, it is a global problem. So, so, and, and then we have seen the commitment of elders that was leaders that time we thought of uh, the strategies to and in child marriage from the [inaudible].

Jennie: That's great. You were there when it started.

Arvind: Yes. I'm feeling proud of that because I was there and I was among one of the people who, who decided for that anytime marriage from the globe and girls not bride. So in India the problem is a very, was a in some states of northern India, it is high prevalence like in Bihar and in Rajasthan… where prevalence is very high. But in the, Rajasthan is the largest state in geographically in publishing wise. So our number is more. That's the thing. Globally, if you compare India is with the maximum number of child marriage. Although the situation is improving now, uh, that age at marriage is improving, but it still is child marriage because, because the legal age for marriage is 18 years for some and 21 year for by maybe this, you don't believe that this is not fair, that uh, why there are two aids for children in some of our laws. Um, all children are up to 18 years, but only in this child marriage act they provided the age of four boys is 21. [Inaudible]. and I really thank to Girls not Brides for bringing this issue again.

Otherwise we have lost this issue. Uh, we will not talking. And there was one incident that I just done in early eighties, if women from the village who was appointed by the state for making, creating awareness among the people, a father, all the bad traditions, uh, and child marriages was one, she stopped one child marriage and, but she has to face, she wasn't gang raped by the, the bodies of those bodies who were affected. So after that, people were not talking on her ears, but, um, ideally thank, uh, to Girls not Brides who brought in the issue again from the globally, from the tall and uh, because I was there in this meeting and then, then the second meeting was in Delhi. I was there in Delhi also. And uh, I've seen them strategy planning and implementation of that strategy. I'm in so many a coalition, so many, uh, [inaudible] I know, but I have never seen a successful solicit strategy implementing that in very, very effective manner in time and uh, vitality and number.

So now it becomes really a issue. Um, I was there in gold summit London, so I seen that how all world leaders started talking on child marriage developed countries are ready to fund for child marriages. And usually the, when we ask, because I'm from NGO, we had a grassroot NGO, we are working. And when I ask any funder or funding agency or Development Agency for funds for child marriage, those are go, no, no, no, no. We want providers funds for child marriage. We can provide you fund for child brides. And, and other names. Uh, but not so that was the, uh, scene bit. But now, uh, I think that the is people and funders are now started talking. I will share one incidents. Oh four, 2011, after coming back from [inaudible] meeting, uh, I met the chief minister who is this like Prime Minister of state and Chief Minister of state.

He, I shared with him. I shared that I met arch bishop Desmond Tutu and, he asked me what is there, don't you have any law in your country? I responded him, no. So we have law that goes earlier. We don't have law. We have a very old law of 1929. But uh, we don't have then now 2006, we have a very effective law child, marriage, privation, act 2006. So I said, no sir, we have a law now then don't you have any administration [inaudible] too to ask me. I said, no. We have administration. We have good officials. So senior officials, civil services, that means you don't have political will. That was the statement from arch Bishop Desmond Tutu and I sure this a statement in the same manner to the chief minister of and the state. Uh, and I requested herself in, in your leadership how we can say that we don't have political will.

So he was really felt it. And, and, and from the very next day there was some big, uh, advertisement about, uh, child marriages. Uh, so I was so happy and I'm really proud to say that and I just done, um, I'm because of linkage with the Girls not Brides, uh, I bring the issue and I raised the issue with the state government and then it state government initiated problem doesn't end there. Some people at the top bureaucracy or the top, um, parliamentarian they were okay. But, uh, in India or in any country, I think real implementers are [inaudible] or the villages or the districts. Yeah. And, and, and, and at district level officials diverse. Really. I'm not too very serious about any of this. And the when, when we stopped some [inaudible] complained them that there's the, some girl is going married and if she complained us. So this is why you on making it issue, they are poor people.

So, so the, and that attitude of sympathy right with the family is really, it was not good because, because they were just considering the money which is going in arranging or sediment rising the child matters because generally in our area people are the families that are in two marriage, three marriage together and in that one is a and a man maybe in the age, but two other girls are not in the age a proper property is so, so that is the problem. And um, and, and another thing they said, we have to pay dowry. Uh, so it is a costly affairs and, and poor people can't afford it. That's right there. But we, we studied that. Of course, this is a common understanding, a common perception of the people that because of poverty, families do child marriages. In one of our study, we found that because the girl early in the age, she is not mature enough to live her life, future life, better live high rate of malnourishment, high rate trough anemia in adults and girls become the problem when they married and they have sex and they become pregnant.

So if you see from the health angle, the major problem of India is the highest infant mortality rate, highest maternal mortality rate. So if you go in the root cause against, we'll find the root causes, the maximum is around 37%. Marriages are uh, of those girls who are not capable of bearing a child pregnancies. So, so that is the issue and we are raising it. We also raise this issue over with the families that okay, you, what do you did about the cost at one time when new, but see how much cause you incurred. Some, some, some lose their daughters, some guard sick, some lose the children. So what is this? And you have to spend more and more money in getting those. So, so that's the issue. Now the causes of the child marriage in India is one of, I decide that poverty years, it is, uh, but now we are asking governments, it is not the solution of poverty to marry a girl.

Right. It is not the consolidation because it, she might suffer in the other family in laws, they are also, they would, we also about poor people. So, so how you, so the solution is that government must provide livelihoods and if weight is too poor, so they have to run certain schemes which can provide on priority to below poverty line families. So that, that, that is one second. We should bring in all the out of school girls in school because as soon as the girl drop out from the school and in our area after four to standard or 50th standard, they won't go, uh, the drop boys used to go. And nowadays the problem is that the next school, the elementary school is maybe in some other area. And in, in our reason, uh, we are in desert and desert distances are the problem. So, so, so people or the families doesn't allow, uh, their girls to go out alone.

Uh, so that is another problem. And they ask because to not to go to school and really lies that those girls are more vulnerable, good dropout from the schools. That is really a, um, I, we found and because as the girl is sitting in the house, all the elder women or men just think of her and say, oh, just marry her and get free of your liability. When I say liability means the, and in that issue of child marriage a cause is insecurity. They, they, they, they are clearly openly saying that, oh, we can't believe in this society. We are not sending her to school because we don't believe you should go there or not. Or, um, so in security is really, and the another big cause and they married. So we also ask them, is the girl in luggage? She said, she's not in luggage.

She's not some asset. You are just transferring somebody. She's, she's human being. She's your daughter. Her mother gave birth. She was worried when, and she got sick. Uh, you, you went to doctors, you run every, so you, you just nurtured her and you cared her, uh, very valid. But now suddenly after, um, try to be years or 13 years, you are thinking of a security and you are just, um, shifting your liability to somebody else. So this is then the problem, uh, v these they shoot, uh, with the government that is, schools must be very attractive and school, no girl should be out of his school. Although I don't believe that what education is, schools are giving.

Jennie: Yeah, it definitely matters.

Arvind: But, but I'm bringing her in school means for some time she was out of sight and out of worry. So that is the issue. In fact, in our, our area and the schooling is a big problem for the girls. So what we did, the Urmul Trust, my organization, which I belong to, we haven't started a residential educational camps. We called them Bali Guy Shiva, goes to education tribute camps. And we kept them those girls for six to seven months and we started educating them. And in six months, you won't believe that can the six or seven months. They learn that the link level of those girls become a up to in six, the standard. And our focus was also not only on education, but for the, for the parents. They go parents, we say no, she can educate, she can get this certificate. But our hidden agenda was to make her ready for a better life.So that, that, that is one that end up, and this was, uh, that in, in that, uh, uh, reason, uh, we have this discrimination, uh, discrimination with boys and disclosure.

So if, um, that are lower costs, they can't eat with the upper causes. So, so that doesn't really here making a difficult society. So we thought that if we can bring all the girls together, they live together. So this preparation of bringing them together, they're playing together, that eating together. Initially for one month it had really become a problem. But later on when they started mingling with each other, the forget everything. And I believe that this hidden agenda of bringing them together will create a better future when they become decision makers. Maybe not the very next day when they leave the camp or the education system and went back to their family, they will suffer again. But the seed is in their heart. So later on, uh, and we have, we have published this as some books, some records.

So that also proved that so that the one option which we um, innovated, uh, for those girls. Now we are also trying best to bring all those girls in the schools. They are also started there was started some alternative schooling systems, uh, like residential schools for uh, girls. So that is a happening. There were more trust of my organization is a wide range organization. So we are working on health, we are working on education, we're working, um, on environment, working on water and sanitation and women's empowerment. So a lot of, but these all are all connected. All connected. Yes. Because we are also working with the mother. So working with the father and we have created the youth groups, uh, children's group, adolescent girls group. So they are all really doing valid and now girls from over our camps now coming out away and they are really going in police then they become teachers. They have got elected as the, uh, local governance leaders. So it's, it's a good, uh, that it change in last 15 years. We can see and now our focus is on the child marriage and that is really is going well

Jennie:…and solving child marriage will help solve a lot of those other problems that you work on by addressing child marriage. It will also help with the maternal health…

Arvind: Oh, in fact it's all integrated. Yeah. And um, I must say that, uh, now, uh, in, in last few years, India and the UN agencies working in India and other NGOs, they are, uh, they, they have initiated work on child manage. We just, uh, we just good. We just, uh, really, but scale is very high. Yeah. The problem is very recently UNICEF report has uh, is saying that girls married in, in, in, in India has gone down, gone down means from 37% to 29, but it is still high. Yeah. If I down 30% girls are getting married before age. That means all the problems which are connected either the HIV, the infant mortality, maternal mortality, malnourishment, uh, and also um, the migration are coming and um, trafficking is, it's all related with it because in the population we are, we are at home. We are maximum numbers of us so.

Jennie: Well thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate it. It's been great to hear about what is going on in India.

Arvind: Yeah. And yeah, it really, we are trying and we are all also initiated now because so many civil society, organizations are working in different places. They are piloting something that innovating some ways but need of time. And the challenge is to cover entire population that is really important. And for that we initiated with the support from Girls Not Brides, a local coalition among the different civil societies. That type of coalitions are, India is a big nation. So we decided that we will make some estate coalition first and later on we'll go for the national because states are also largest seats. So that's the end. And we, we have focused on the priority states first. Uh, like an I just tine charter can be hard or the, they are the largest in states. So we are doing that and I ideally thankful to Girls Not Brides who really made this issue now in front of every government. Um, next year we are having elections in India. So now we have decided that we will make it agenda for the election manifestos. Yeah. They should speak on that. So that we are trying for the child. Right. For the one more problem was in India in last three decades was the declining sexist issue for, especially for the girls. So goes a, uh, not allowed to bond the bond so that, that is a daily problem. And, and if you see the, because every 10 years, 20 years we are having this. So we had that a census of 91, 1991, 2001 and 2011. So if you see the, um, sex ratio up to age zero to six, you'll find that girls are really not increasing. And, and, and that, that creating that it's creating a problem in this society. So what is happening? They marry younger children, child because they don't believe and they, they're our system of exchange. If you have a son and I have a daughter and I was a son and you ever doctor, so we will do exchange marriages. I will give my daughter to you without considering the age because lack of girls number. So that is another problem. It is linked. So what, what, what we, we think we think that now we have to consider or provide dignity of godchild dignity to girl child. Absolutely. Make A, make a society which less spent, which aspect? Girls. Uh, otherwise, uh, the consequences of less girls we are seeing in India every time a so many rapes and so much problem. So this is, these are all result of lowering.

Jennie: Thank you. I think that's a lot to, for our listeners to think about. For more information, including show notes from this episode and previous episodes, please visit our website at reprosfightback.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at RePROS Fight Back. If you like our show, please help others find it by sharing it with your friends and subscribing, rating and reviewing us on iTunes. Thanks for listening.

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