http://infochangeindia.org/200810107427/Women/Features/Maharashtra-s-age-of-marriage-competition.html
Many of us know many of the women in India participate (willing or otherwise) in arranged marriages, but this article goes further into the age of these young women and some of their child-bearing complications. According to this article, about 49% of rural women and 29% of urban women are married before the age of 18. Of these women, ages ranging from 15-19, 58% of them are bearing children. Many of these young women have children that suffer from low birth weight and a significant number of these children die at a very young age. The Maharashtra state government is working to encourage young married women to wait a few years to have children. Some work is being done to raise the marital age of women, but cultural changes are difficult to shift.
This is the same state that MPS 542 and 611 students will be visiting. We may see a significant number of younger married mothers in our host villages. How might the presence of young, married mothers impact some of the WOTR research initiatives? I will be working on a project studying livelihood opportunities brought about by the watershed projects. I may need to consider the lack of opportunities young, married mothers will have due to their family obligations. Additionally, how might these new livelihood opportunities be used as a portal to help the Maharashtra state government's efforts and shift this social situation? Gaining support among the male population also seems a bit difficult. I am interested to learn more of how Maharashtra men view this particular situation.
by Shawn Janzen
One of the reasons of early marriage relates to Hinduism—integration of male and female makes us whole and holy. So in order to be accepted in Heaven after death, people must be a complete oneself, not a half fragment. For Hindus, early marriage is a way to secure a passport to Heaven. This is the story I heard from rural women in Gokak, Karnataka.
ReplyDeleteArranged marriage also has an influence on education for girls. In rural areas, dawry system (money, goods, estate, etc. woman brings to her husband in marriage) is still prevalent. The amount of Dowry is decided by the status of bridegroom. We have to note that in arranged marriages, the couple’s levels of education, culture, class, religions, vegetarian/non-vegetarian, etc. must be matched. Many girls in rural villages in Gokak, Karnataka with whom I met through community development program were forced to quit school after the 3rd grade by their parents due to the reason that higher education leads to a marriage with a man with matching educational background, which leads to paying higher dawry.
As such, when we try to start a program in different cultural setting, it takes a LONG time to construct a project scheme because one phenomenon has hundreds of strings attached to it.
http://www.pardesiservices.com/tradition/arrangedmarg.asp
Arranged Marriages and Dowry