POLITICAL
HOW AUTHORITY & POWER CONTRIBUTES TO CHILD BRIDES
GOVERNMENT
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The government of India is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories (Central Intelligence Agency, 2016). The states have jurisdiction over police and public order, agriculture, education, public health, and local government, while the federal government has jurisdiction over anything else not specifically reserved for the states (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012). The issue of child marriage remains in the hands of the state government since the states appoint their own police officers and child marriage prohibition officers.
PATRIARCHY
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Patriarchal values fuels child marriage. Men's desire to control female sexuality along with their belief that they should be allowed to control "how a girl should behave, how she should dress, who she should be allowed to see, to marry, etc." is what makes child marriage so prevalent in India (Girls Not Brides, n.d.). Many social norms limit girls to the role of daughter, wife and mother who are only seen as the property of her father and then of her husband.(Girls Not Brides, n.d.). These traditional norms and outdated attitudes have expelled women to a lower status within the household and workplace which has a huge affect on women's health, financial status, education, and political involvement (Foundation of Sustainable Development, n.d.). When women are constantly looked down upon and treated unequally, they become increasingly vulnerable to child marriage.
WEAK LAW ENFORCEMENT​
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As mentioned above, police and public order are under state jurisdiction. This makes law enforcement fairly ineffective when it comes to child marriage because officials are a part of the community and don't want to go against community decisions (UNICEF, n.d.). Along with that, a lack of understanding of the laws themselves compromises the effectiveness of them, like the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (UNICEF, n.d.).
This video discusses child marriage in multiple different countries and shares horrifying stories about patriarchy and some of the laws of child marriage.