THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Will the proposed law to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 make a difference in Kerala where hundreds of under-age girls are married off every year? The menace remains a blot on the state’s sterling performance across social indices, reveals the data on teenage mothers with the Economics and Statistics Department.
The Annual Vital Statistics Report 2019, the latest of the series, shows that as many as 20,998 teenage girls below the age of 19 had delivered babies that year. Of them, three were below the age of 15 and 20,995 were in the 15-19 age group. Of the stillbirths recorded that year one was of a girl below the age of 15 and 99 in the 15-19 age group. Two girls below the age of 19 died due to pregnancy-related complications.
Of the three women who delivered babies before attaining the age of 15, one had education below the primary level. Educational status of two others in the same category was unknown. In the 15-19 category, 57 were illiterate and 38 had education below the primary level. As many as 1,463 mothers had education below matriculation and 16,139 had passed tenth standard.
The religion-wise split up showed that two of the under-15 mothers were Hindus and one Muslim. In the 15-19 category, there were 4,285 Hindu mothers. Of them, 82 delivered their second child, 15 their third child and two their fourth child. Among the 15,820 Muslim mothers, 220 delivered their second child, 35 their third child and nine their fourth child. There were 558 Christian women. Of them, 13 delivered their second child, nine their third child, and five their fourth child.
Raising the marriage age has benefits considering the social, psychological and biological perspectives, says Dr Indu P S, professor of community medicine, Government Medical College, Kollam. “I do not wish to comment on the legal and political angles. From the point of view of a community health practitioner, there are certain merits in the move. Women will be more mature, more educated and self-reliant at the age of twenty-one. It will surely benefit her well-being and that of her children,” she said.
Men and women are of equal footing and hence there should not be gender bias in the marriage age, said K Sasidharan Nair, vice-chairman of the state Law Reforms Commission. “At the age of 21, men and women will be more mature and educated. It will help them make wise decisions on their marriage choices. Also, there should not be a gender bias in marriage age as men and women are to be considered life partners of equal footing,” he said.
Writer and social activist M N Karasserry flayed the criticisms against raising marriage age. “Some argue that fixing the age at 18 did not help in preventing child marriage. The fault is not with the law but its implementation. When violations are rampant, the law should be even more strict,” he said. “Self-reliance is key to the welfare of a woman. And raising the marriage age will help her get more education thereby increasing her chances to get a job,” he said.
Shocking facts
The Annual Vital Statistics Report 2019, the latest of the series, shows that as many as 20,998 teenage girls below the age of 19 had delivered babies that year. Of them, three were below the age of 15.