The society has a number of institutionalized practices that only add to the woes of holistic development and wellbeing of the people. Indeed, in the era of spread of education and development across the human society, many of such institutionalized practices that are in no way constructive in nature have come to get scrutinized. One such practice that has haunted many communities of the world for thousands of years is the societal norm of child marriage. It needs to be reckoned that child marriage cannot be supported or validated in any way. A close introspection about the matter in context and the consequences that child marriage encompasses the lives of children with would surely enable one to have a much better comprehension of how the societal issue went on to thwart the development of the young minds for a really long time in the history of human civilization in the world. There can be no denial about the fact that child marriage is a social evil that has had an enormous effect on lives in the past and still threatens the growth and development of the human society even if it remains in practice in any part of the globe, however remote a place or community it might be.
Child marriage strips the children of their basic right to find education and development- something that needs to be opposed and eradicated with immediacy. In a society that is driven by the patriarchal ideology and normative practices, most often the females are on the receiving end. Even in the case of child marriage, it is mostly seen that the young girls are married off to older men even before they have reached their puberty. While the parents of the female children are initiated by the societal customs and practices, the young girls get constricted by the innate oppressive nature of marriages that are based on the patriarchal norms and perspectives. Child marriage obviously bars the much needed opportunity for the young girls to study and build on their future. Instead of learning, such young females are simply constricted to living a life within the household. In fact, the gap of age along with the disparity of opportunity for learning creates a gulf between the male and the female counterparts of the marital bond. (icrw.org 1) Being too young to understand the responsibilities of life and all the great things that life has to offer to them, the girls are left to live a pitiable life for the rest of the years. Also, there is hardly any chance of building on a good relationship with the male counterpart under such a circumstance.
Child marriage also leads to heightened negative impact on the female’s health as they can become prone to childbirth even before reaching adulthood. Now, this is one of the burning issues of the entire scenario of child marriage. In most of the nation states of the world, the law has come to ascertain the right age for women to get married. This is primarily due to the need of maturity and childrearing after being properly developed in terms of health. If one imagines the scenario of a girl child who is married and has got pregnant, it can very well be comprehended that she is herself not nutritionally capable or fit as per health to bear a child in her womb. Under the circumstance both the health of the pregnant female and the child in the womb is exposed to serious threats that can lead to a lot of complications for the mother and the child. Moreover, the mother has not reached the needed mental maturity to bear a child. Also, it is not the sole aim of a girl’s life to bear a child and constrict her own self in matters of childrearing and household work right from such a tender age. (unicef.in 1) Hence, it can be commented that child marriage spells doom for the future of the children who are married off at such young ages.
In order to combat and eradicate the social ill of child marriage one needs to zero in on the socio-economic causes that have come to influence the population in spite of the legal bars against child marriage. It needs to be reckoned that financial pressures get coupled with tradition to discriminate against females. In the patriarchal society, parents come to believe that finding a husband for the young female would ensure social stability and financial security for the girl child. Apart from this, females are seen as economic burdens that would not help the parents in their old age during to the social structure and practices. (Lemmon 1) As such, child marriage is practiced even today in parts of Africa as well as the Indian subcontinent irrespective of the laws barring such practice. However, times are changing and a heightened awareness among the people of the society has led the governments to have more hope of curbing this wrong tradition among communities.
It would be correct to conclude by saying that the entire human race has to come together in fighting this major social evil that has the potential to widen the gap between the two sexes by subjugating the women of the society. The fight against child marriage is essentially a combat against patriarchy and institutionalized psyche of the humans of the world. Stopping child marriage would surely be one of the most effective ways to channelize the future of the girl child toward betterment. There needs to be raised awareness and commitment for the cause of eradication of child marriage all over the world with utmost immediacy.
Works Cited
“Child Marriage.” ICRW. icrw.org, n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
Lemmon, Gayle Tzemmach. “Too Young to Marry.” Ms. Blog. msmagazine.com, 20
“Why ‘Not’ Child Marriage.” UNICEF. unicef.in, n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
