Child marriage: NFHS-5 data show that the more educated a woman is, the more power she has in negotiating when she wants to get married
Assam government is cracking down on child marriage and has been registered 4,000 cases Only this year alone. While some have supported this approach, activists point out that the root of the problem – limited access to education among women – is still not being addressed.
NFHS-5 data show that the more educated a woman is, the more power she has in negotiating when she wants to get married. Interestingly, this is not a recent phenomenon. Statistics show that for decades now, better educated women have had a say in when they should get married.
Table 1 Shows the current age of women when they first married, in different wealth quintiles, and years of schooling, in 2019-21. In the survey, women who completed more than 11 years of schooling (row K) and were currently aged 25–29 (column I) and 45–49 (column V) were asked their age at the time of their first marriage . The median age at marriage was 23 years in the 25–29 age-group and 22.5 in the 45–49 age-group. The negligible difference (column IV) shows that education has long been a moderating factor in decision making married age of woman,
Table 1
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However, this is not true when it comes to house property. Women who belonged to the richest 20% of households (row E) and were currently aged 25–29 (column I) and 45–49 (column V) were asked their age at the time of their first marriage. The median age at first marriage was 22.8 in the 25–29 age group and 19.7 in the 45–49 age group. The difference (column IV) shows that wealth has recently gained relevance as a moderating factor in deciding the marriageable age of a woman. In older generations, even in wealthy families, women were married off at a young age.
Although wealth has gained relevance recently, education remains the major controlling factor of both. The average age at marriage for women from the wealthiest families was still lower than for women who had completed more than 11 years of schooling (EK). Also, the average marriage age of women from the poorest families was still higher than that of women with no schooling (AF).
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Caste and location also play a major role ( Table 2, Women belonging to SC (row A), ST (row B), OBC (row C) and other (row D) communities and currently aged 25-29 (column I) and 45-49 (column V) were asked their age when they were first married. The average age of marriage among SC/ST/OBC women was less than 20 even among younger generations, while non-SC/ST/OBC women crossed 20. Women from urban (row F) and rural (row G) areas and currently aged 25–29 (column I) and 45–49 (column V) were asked their age when they were first married. The difference (row FG) in mean age between rural and urban women was wider among the younger generations. Therefore, the negotiating power of urban women has improved at a higher rate than that of rural women.
Table 2
A similar analysis for men ( Tables 3 and 4) shows that education was not as influential a factor in increasing their average marriage age as it was in the case of females. Also, the average age of marriage among men in all background characteristics was above the legal age of 21, while the average age of marriage among women in all categories was below 18.
Table 3
Table 4
There were other interesting patterns among the men. In recent times, men from poorer families and with fewer years of schooling are marrying at a younger age than before.
The figures in row AK in Tables 1 and 3 and in rows AG in Tables 2 and 4 show the average age at first marriage in the categories.
vignesh.r@thehindu.co.in and rebecca.varghese@thehindu.co.in
Source: National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-2021)
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