Child marriage
Child marriage is a practice involving a marriage or domestic partnership, formal or informal, that includes an individual under 18 and an adult or other child.
Research has found that child marriages have many long-term negative consequences for child brides and grooms. Girls who marry as children often lack access to education and future career opportunities. It is also common for them to have adverse health effects resulting from early pregnancy and childbirth. Effects on child grooms may include the economic pressure of providing for a household and various constraints in educational and career opportunities. Child marriage is part of the practice of child betrothal, often including civil cohabitation and a court approval of the engagement. Some factors that encourage child marriages include poverty, bride price, dowries, cultural traditions, religious and social pressure, regional customs, fear of the child remaining unmarried into adulthood, illiteracy, and the perceived inability of women to work.
Research indicates that comprehensive sex education can prevent child marriages. The rate of child marriages can also be reduced by strengthening rural communities' education systems. Rural development programs that provide basic infrastructure, including healthcare, clean water, and sanitation, may aid families financially. Child marriages have historically been common and continue to be widespread, particularly in developing nations in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Latin and North America, and Oceania. However, developed nations also face a lack of protections for children. In the United States, for instance, child marriage is still legal in 34 states. Although the age of majority and marriage age are typically 18 years old, these thresholds can differ in different jurisdictions. In some regions, the legal age for marriage can be as young as 14, with cultural traditions sometimes superseding legal stipulations. Additionally, jurisdictions may allow loopholes for parental/guardian consent or teenage pregnancy.
Child marriage is increasingly viewed as a form of child sexual abuse. It is an internationally recognized health and human rights violation disproportionately affecting girls, globally. It is described by experts as torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and contrary to human rights. The Committee on the Rights of the Child "reaffirms that the minimum age limit should be 18 years for marriage."
Child marriage has been decreasing in prevalence in most of the world. UNICEF data from 2018 showed that about 21% of young women worldwide were married as children. This shows a 25% decrease from 10 years prior. The countries with the highest known rates of child marriages were Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, the Central African Republic, Mozambique and Nepal, all of which had rates above 50% between 1998 and 2007. According to studies conducted between 2003 and 2009, the marriage rate of girls under 15 years old was greater than 20% in Niger, Chad, Bangladesh, Mali, and Ethiopia. In the US from 2000 to 2015, there were more than 200 thousand marriages of minors. Each year, an estimated 12 million girls globally are married under the age of 18.
History
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, women around the world were often married at an early age, usually soon after reaching puberty. These practices carried over well into the 19th century in societies with largely rural populations. Men tended to marry later in societies where a married couple was expected to establish a household of their own. This encouraged men to remain unmarried until they accumulated sufficient wealth to support a new home and marry adolescent girls.In many ancient and medieval societies, it was common for girls to be betrothed at or even before the age of puberty. According to Mordechai A. Friedman, "arranging and contracting the marriage of a young girl were the undisputed prerogatives of her father in Ancient Israel." Most girls were married before the age of 15, often at the start of puberty. It has been claimed that in the Middle Ages, marriage took place around puberty throughout the Jewish world.
Ruth Lamdan writes, "The numerous references to child marriage in the 16th-century Responsa literature and other sources shows that child marriage was so common, it was virtually the norm. In this context, it is important to remember that in halakha, the term "minor" refers to a girl under twelve years and a day old. A girl aged twelve and a half was considered an adult in all respects."
In Ancient Greece, early marriage and teenage motherhood for girls existed. Boys were also expected to marry in their teens. In the Roman Empire, girls were married at the age of 12 and boys from the age of 14. In the Middle Ages, under English civil laws derived from Roman laws, marriages before the age of 16 existed. In Imperial China, child marriage was the norm.
In contrast to other pre-modern societies—and for reasons that are subject to debate—Northwest Europe was characterized by relatively late marriages for both men and women, with both sexes commonly delaying marriage until their mid-20s, although the very wealthy, especially aristocrats, married earlier, but they were a minority of the population. The data available for England suggest this was the case by the 14th century. The pattern was reflected in English Common Law, which was the first in Western Europe to establish statutory rape laws and ages of consent for marriage. In 1275, sexual relations with girls under either 12 or 14 were criminalized; a second law with more severe punishments for those under the age of 10 was enacted in 1576. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British colonial administration introduced marriage age restrictions for Hindu and Muslim girls in the Indian subcontinent.
A Scottish physician living in 18th century Syria reported that locals tried to contract marriages for their children at a young age, but the marriage was not consummated until the girl "had come of age". Evidence from 19th century Levant, suggests that husbands often initiated sexual relations before their wives reached puberty, but that it was a disapproved occurrence, condemned socially and censured by sharia courts. Writing in the 1830s, Edward William Lane observed that few Egyptian girls remained single by the age of 16, but socioeconomic transformation, educational reform, and modernity brought significant changes. By 1920, less than 10% of Egyptian women married before the age of 20. In 1923, Egypt's parliament set the minimum age of marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men.
For the latter half of the 19th century, between 13 and 18% of native-born white female first marriages in the United States were of girls under the age of 18.
Religious norms and laws
Most religions practiced throughout history have established a minimum age for marriage. Christian canon law forbade the marriage of a girl before the onset of puberty. Within the Catholic Church, before the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the minimum age for a dissoluble betrothal was seven years in the s. The minimal age for a valid marriage was puberty, or nominally 14 for males, and 12 for females. The 1917 Code of Canon Law raised the minimal age for a valid marriage to 16 for males, and 14 for females. The 1983 Code of Canon Law maintained the minimal age for a valid marriage at 16 for males and 14 for females. English ecclesiastical law forbade the marriage of a girl before the age of puberty.Jewish halakhists and rabbis prohibit a father from betrothing a daughter while she is still a minor. A girl can be betrothed when she becomes a young woman, which may defined as a girl aged 12–12½ or one who has begun puberty. In exceptional cases, such as during exile and persecution, girls aged 4–13 years may be betrothed by their fathers. Betrothal by intercourse is forbidden and punishable by lashing. The Talmud states that, "those who marry girls who are not yet capable of bearing children" will "delay the coming of the messiah". A wide age gap between spouses, in either direction, is advised against. Marrying one's young daughter to an old man was declared as reprehensible as forcing her into prostitution. The ideal age at which a man should marry is 18. Before this age, he should spend his time studying and getting his life in order.
There is no minimum marriage age defined in traditional Islamic law ; the legal discussion of this topic is centered primarily on women's physical maturity and intellectual maturity. Classical Sunni jurisprudence allows a father to contract a marriage for his underaged daughter. The appropriate age for consummating the marriage, which could occur several years after signing the marriage contract, was to be determined by the bride, groom, and the bride's guardian since medieval jurists held that the age of fitness for intercourse was too variable for legislation. This was based in part on the precedent set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as described in the hadith collections considered to be authentic by Muslims. According to these sources, Muhammad married Aisha, his third wife, when she was about six, and consummated the marriage when she was about nine. Some modern Muslim authors and Islamic scholars, such as Ali Gomaa, who served as the Grand Mufti of Egypt, doubt the traditionally accepted narrative and believe based on other evidence that Aisha was in her late teens at the time of her marriage. As a general rule, intercourse was prohibited for girls "not able to undergo it," on the grounds of potential physical harm. Disputes regarding physical maturity between the involved parties were to be resolved by a judge, potentially after examination by a female expert witness. The 1917 Codification of Islamic Family Law in the Ottoman Empire distinguished between the age of competence for marriage, which was set at 18 for boys and 17 for girls, and the minimum age for marriage, set at 12 for boys and 9 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence was permissible only if proof of sexual maturity was accepted in court, while marriage under the minimum age was forbidden. During the 20th century, sharia-based legislation in most countries in the Middle East followed the Ottoman precedent in defining the age of competence, while raising the minimum age to 15–16 for boys and 13–16 for girls. In 2019, Saudi Arabia raised the age of marriage to 18.
In Hinduism the Vedas, specifically the Rigveda and Atharvaveda, have several verses that indicate girls were only to be married long after attaining puberty. However, during the Vedic period, there is indication that girls were married before attaining and also during puberty. Some early Dharmaśāstra, which are secondary texts to the Vedas, also state that girls should be married after they have attained puberty, while some Dharmaśāstra texts extend the marriageable age to before puberty. It should be understood that Smritis are descriptions of recommended laws for the times and Vedas are the ultimate authority. Nonetheless, Smritis were often followed by society until they were revised or amended, similar to constitutions or other forms of law.
In the Manusmriti, a father is considered to have wronged his daughter if he fails to marry her before puberty and if the girl is not married in less than three years after reaching puberty, she can search for the husband herself. However, in modern India, the minimum age of marriage is 21 years for males and 18 years for females as per both the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act. The Hindu Marriage Act is applicable and valid for all Hindus including Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs who altogether form more than 83% of Indian population.
By the beginning of the 21st century, most countries had enacted laws establishing the general minimum age for marriage at 18 years. However, in many of these countries, some exceptions allowed marriage before this age with the consent of the parents and/or by court decision. In some countries, a religious marriage is still recognized by the state authorities, while in others, a registered civil marriage is mandatory.