Against child marriage

[DMB]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6168942.ece

I love to see that even young girls can make a difference.

Brides as young as 10 are commonplace in Bararolo village in the heart of rural West Bengal, where the literacy rates are among India’s lowest, but Rekha had decided her life would be different...

...A confident, articulate girl, she has now become the national symbol of a campaign against child marriage, and has started a ripple of similar protests by girls of her age in the surrounding towns and vil-lages.Since her refusal to marry last September, she has graced the front pages of India’s newspapers and has been invited to meet the country’s first woman president, Pratibha Patil.

[Mung Dynasty]

Cool article. :)

[HinduWoman]

She is not the only one. There had been several protests against it by the child brides themselves and their friends who had stopped their marriages.

Exposure to the wider world and having access to institutions like school and police and NGOs and Press help.

[David B]

Child brides of that age are a great evil, no question.

Let us not forget, though, that there have also been child grooms.

And, further, let us not forget that, while child brides are pretty much a developing world problem now, there are not so many generations since it was not unknown in, say, the UK.

Other things to remember - the selfish gene idea, in which it makes some sort of sense to marry a child - male or female - off well, in terms of well in social standing and wealth from the POV of the grandchildren having a good start in life.

And that sometimes, far from always, when arranged marriages lead to sex and children, they also lead to bonding.

I first heard this song back in the sixties, and, as folk songs quite often do, it made me think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU3Xeo0kabc

It's sad, but beautiful - and, I think, relevant.

Relevant insofar as it makes arranged marriages understandable, though that does not make them excusable.

I'm going to listen to it again, now.

David

[His Noodly Appendage]

Nothing wrong with arranged marriages, per se. Child marriages, yes. Forced marriages, yes.

But arrangement is just a rather less romantic, more cynical and pragmatic approach. It's nothing I'd want for myself, but it's not directly destructive.

All it amounts to in practice, in the majority of cases, is skipping a rather comforting fallacy: that 'the one' is found, not made.

Srsly. Consider the actual number of potential mates that people get to spend any significant amount of time with, enough to 'know'. It's pitifully tiny. The chances of any given member of the set being that much better than the rest... are really not significant.

The process of mutual shaping into partnership is one that can perfectly well be done consciously and deliberately, with both eyes open - and the results can be every bit as good, if not better.

Like I say, it's not for me. And of course sometimes it can really, really suck. (and the same is not true for western marriage customs?) But I think it's important to distinguish it from correlated practices, and the motives underlying them, which suck inherently.

[HinduWoman]

When both groom and bride are children (as happens in most cases) it is not the actual problem.

The problem is in the lack of choice in adulthood. If the contract included an agreement that they can dissolve the marriage if either one of them does not want to get married it would be fine.
Legally speaking such marriages are not valid, but social pressures are more important.

[Brianna]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6168942.ece

I love to see that even young girls can make a difference.

Brides as young as 10 are commonplace in Bararolo village in the heart of rural West Bengal, where the literacy rates are among India’s lowest, but Rekha had decided her life would be different...

...A confident, articulate girl, she has now become the national symbol of a campaign against child marriage, and has started a ripple of similar protests by girls of her age in the surrounding towns and vil-lages.Since her refusal to marry last September, she has graced the front pages of India’s newspapers and has been invited to meet the country’s first woman president, Pratibha Patil.

When you have 15 kids, and make 2 rupee a day, you have to marry them off quick! /jokes

I have a friend who is married to a beautiful man from India. Often children are pre arranged for marry when the both are very young. I am not saying it is right, I am just saying it is a different culture.

[DMB]

Irrelevant junk moved to the Trashcan.

[DMB]

Child brides of that age are a great evil, no question.

Let us not forget, though, that there have also been child grooms.

And, further, let us not forget that, while child brides are pretty much a developing world problem now, there are not so many generations since it was not unknown in, say, the UK.

Other things to remember - the selfish gene idea, in which it makes some sort of sense to marry a child - male or female - off well, in terms of well in social standing and wealth from the POV of the grandchildren having a good start in life.

And that sometimes, far from always, when arranged marriages lead to sex and children, they also lead to bonding.

I first heard this song back in the sixties, and, as folk songs quite often do, it made me think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU3Xeo0kabc

It's sad, but beautiful - and, I think, relevant.

Relevant insofar as it makes arranged marriages understandable, though that does not make them excusable.

I'm going to listen to it again, now.

David

There are many reasons for child marraige. It is actually more common in parts of Africa than anywhere else. The number of boys involved anywhere is, however, pretty small. The worst forms of child marriage involve the marriage of a young girl, often pre-puberty, to a much older man. Such girls are often raped by their husbands. They are more likely to be beaten. they are much more likely to die or be injured by childbirth and they are more vulnerable to HIV and other STDs. There are cases of daughters being promised in marriage before birth, to settle debts or quarrels. They are treated as commodities.

The point about child marriage is that it is internationally recognised as an abuse of human rights, because no marriage should be valid without consent, and a child cannot give meaningful consent.

Arranged marriage is not the same as forced marriage. It is perfectly legitimate way of marrying two consenting adults. But child marriage must be regarded as forced marriage, because the child is not competent to give consent.