HOW MARRIAGE AGE AND WOMEN’S HEALTH ARE LINKED?

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Focus: GS-II Social Justice

Data show that the majority of women in India marry after the age of 21.
Although, the mean age of women at marriage is 22.1 years, and more than 21 in all states- this does not mean that child marriages have disappeared.
The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) found that about 26.8% of women aged 20-24 were married before adulthood (age 18).

Preventing early marriage can reduce the maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality ratio.
As of 2018 data, the maternal mortality ratio — the number of maternal deaths for every 100,000 children born — is 113 – dropping from 122 in 2016.
Click Here to read more about Maternal Mortality Rate
India’s infant mortality ratio shows that 30 of every 1,000 children born in a year die before the age of one.
Both these indicators in India are the highest among the BRICS economies.
Also, young mothers are more susceptible to anaemia- more than half the women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in India are anaemic.
The prevalence of anaemia among women has consistently been high over the last 20 years.

Poverty, Limited Access to Education and Economic Prospects, and Security Concerns are the known reasons for early marriage.
If the main causes of early marriage are not addressed, a law will not be enough to delay marriage among girls.
Women in the poorest 20% of the population married much younger than their peers from the wealthiest 20%.
The average age at marriage of women with no schooling was 17.6, considerably lower than that for women educated beyond class 12.
Almost 40% of girls aged 15-18 do not attend school, as per a report of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Nearly 65% of these girls are engaged in non-remunerative work.

Hence, many believe that merely tweaking the official age of marriage may discriminate against the poorer, less-educated and marginalised women.

-Source: Indian Express