Raising Legal Age of Marriage for Women

by Neel Mohapatra Marketing

The Parliament increased the minimum age for marriage realizing the urge to evolve the law according to the changing times and evolution of the society. Women should be given equal opportunity to earn and be equal to men but the same is not possible when the women’s marriageable age is not at par with men’s. All in all this legislation The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 brings out the importance of gender parity backed by the social acceptance that women of today’s era are equal in all aspects be it socially, culturally or even economically. Recently in this context, the Parliament had debated on the bill, which raised the age of legal marriage for women from 18 to 21, shall apply to all communities in the country and, once enacted, will supersede existing marriage and personal laws. The Bill was introduced in LokSabha by Smriti Irani, Union Minister for Women and Child Development. Irani said the proposed legislation was secular. “All women from all faiths, under Hindu Marriage Act or the Muslim Personal Law, should get equal rights to marry,” she said.

The difference of marriageable age between men and women has no scientific reason, or logic behind it rather seems to have a misogynistic approach that perpetrates de jure and de facto inequality against women. Almost all the statutes like the Indian Christian Marriage Act, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, the Special Marriage Act, the Hindu Marriage Act, and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act were responsible for the discriminatory bar. The proposal for equal marriageable age, i.e. to raise the age for marriage for women was made based on recommendations by the 10 member Task Force Committee that was headed by former Samata Party leader, Jaya Jaitley set up by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Emphasizing the importance of gender parity, equality and empowerment, she contended that the same cannot begin if there are some age differences. If the voting age is the same then marriageable age should be the same as well.

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Our society has duly accepted some socially wrong attributes and has been comfortable without realizing its unreasonableness and vagueness. Even in some rural areas, the most righteous women are those who just stay at home and reproduce children and there is no need for them to be given the opportunity to study and add to the national wealth of the country. It is not fair for girls to get tied up. The only way we can stop girls from becoming a financial burden is to help them earn.

The Parliament relied upon a judgment, Independent Thought v. Union of India, WP Civil No. 381 of 2013, wherein the Supreme Court had laid down importance on the evolution of law stating that “law cannot be hidebound and static. It has to evolve and change with the needs of society.” It held that, “the state is entitled and empowered to fix the age of consent.Although the State enjoys the freedom to make reasonable classification but while making any classification it must be able to justify that the particular classification has been made with the intention of achieving a certain end. The classification must have a reasonable nexus with the object sought to be achieved. Further, it was important for the Centre to take appropriate steps to remove the anomalies in the minimum age of marriage and make it ‘gender-neutral, religion-neutral and uniform for all citizens’ in the spirit of the fundamental rights of equality and right to life and various International conventions.

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Further, it was also enumerated in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, for example, covers the right to protection from child marriage in Article 16, which states: “The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage….”

Although marriage is not mentioned directly in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, child marriage is linked to other rights – such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to protection from all forms of abuse, and the right to be protected from harmful traditional practices – and is frequently addressed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Despite the enactment of ‘The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, which was later replaced by the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, to prohibit solemnization of child marriage, this pernicious practice is still not completely eradicated from our society. Bringing in reforms as part of the evolution of the society such changes that fulfill the urge of gender-based equality is quintessential after years of independence. The enactment of a Uniform Civil Code could enhance equality before the law but it would undermine the individual’s right to freedom of religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution.

The question of the right marriageable age does not only impact gender neutrality or equality but other social attributes too. Maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate, as well as improvement of nutritional levels and sex ratio at birth as these, would promote possibilities of responsible parenthood for both father and mother. The equal age in marriage will lead to parents that are equally responsible for their child at all levels which is an important phenomenon in today’s era.

Child marriage often compromises a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her education, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement and placing her at increased risk of domestic violence.

After the enactment of this bill into the act, this will empower women to be equal to a man, which also gives a positive move in the field of national development.

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