COUNTRY OVERVIEW-
CHILD BRIDES IN INDIA
Women age 20 to 24 who were married before 15, in thousands.
Source: UNICEF Statistics and Monitoring Section, Division of Policy and Strategy (2013)
The ancient practice of child marriage – reviled in much of the world – remains in force across the Indian subcontinent. (Ghosh, P.)
India has the highest number of child brides in the world. It is estimated that 47% of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday.
(Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
​
India is a member of the South Asian Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), which adopted a regional action plan to end child marriage. The regional action plan is to be implemented in 2015 – 2018.
(Brides, G.N., 2002. 2016)
While fewer Indian girls are marrying before the age of 15, rates of marriage have increased for girls between ages 15 to 18. (Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
The rates of child marriage vary between states and are as high as 69% and 65% in Bihar and Rajasthan. (Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) estimates that 40 percent of all child marriages in the world take place in India. (Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
Controlling girls and women’s sexuality is an influential factor in the practice of child marriage too. Pressure towards early marriage aims to minimise the dishonour associated with improper female sexual conduct, often leading to marriages arranged around the time of puberty.(Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
Poor educational opportunities for girls, especially in rural areas, also increase girls’ vulnerability to child marriage. (Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
In many communities girls are seen as an economic burden and marriage transfers the responsibility to her new husband. Poverty and marriage expenses may lead a family to marry off their daughter at a young age to reduce these costs. (Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
Patriarchy, class and caste influence the norms and expectations around the role of women and girls in India. In many communities restrictive norms limit girls to the role of daughter, wife and mother who are first seen as the property of her father and then of her husband. (Brides, G.N., 2002, 2016)
http://unicef.in/Whatwedo/30/Child-Marriage
​
UNICEF is working hard to end child marriage, to learn more about how you can help or just to get some more information on child marriage click the link below.
In the link above, watch child brides as they break down in tears as they are forced to marry boys in secret footage of mass Indian wedding ceremony. The footage of ceremony was taken in Chittorgarh, in Rajasthan, northern India. It shows a mass child marriage with young brides crying as they are wed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3549889/Child-brides-break-tears-forced-marry-boys-secret-footage-mass-Indian-wedding-ceremony.html#ixzz4PTS7zn67