Context: Recently, the Union Cabinet has passed a proposal raising the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years — the same as men.
Why the age of marriage of women matters?

• Age of marriage has bearing on maternal mortality rates, fertility levels, nutrition of mother and child, sex ratios, and, on a different register, education and employment opportunities for women.
• It is also argued that other factors — such as poverty and health services — were far more effective as levers for improving women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.

Why India should raise the legal age of marriage for women?

1. India is usually near the bottom of the international rankings on gender indicators. 
2. India also has the largest absolute number of girls who marry below the age of 18.

Why raising the legal age of marriage for women does not lead to women’s empowerment?

• Against Global consensus: Globally, the age of 18 is widely regarded as the age of adulthood. It is also viewed as an upper limit in terms of the physical and reproductive maturity of women, as well as the age of majority by child rights conventions to which India is a signatory. Thus, the proposed move will restrict the rights of already adult women.
• Laws are meant to set minimum levels: The minimum age is a floor age, not a standard or desirable norm. Raising the age would create a debate on the minimum age at marriage vs the right age at marriage. This is an issue for legal experts to debate.
• Raising the age will not ensure healthy mothers and children: If poor women remain poor and malnourished, raising their age of marriage will not ensure healthy motherhood. For example, National Family Health Survey (IV) data reveals that levels of anaemia show no change even at ages of marriage up to 25 years. So, raising the age will punish the poorest sections of the population, since women from better-off groups tend to marry at higher ages.
• Report of the multi-country study by World Bank: In 2017, World Bank estimated that “savings” of no less than $5 trillion would accrue if marriage before the age of 18 was eliminated. The savings are due to reductions in fertility and consequent reductions in public health investments due to fewer births.

The same study saw no significant gains from raised age of marriage for women’s decision-making, for lowering the levels of violence they face or helping them find employment.

Need to address issues that drive empowerment

• Going by the NFHS 4 data (2015-16), more than half — 56 per cent — of women in the age group 20-24 years marry before the age of 21 years.
• The problem is that the real reasons that drive empowerment are not being addressed, at least not adequately.
• Educational attainments have improved enormously in recent years.
• But the shocking fact (evident in all major data sets) is that decline in early marriages has been accompanied by a fall in women’s employment rates, that persisted even during the 1990s boom.

Paradoxical outcomes: The proportion of women not in paid work increases at higher ages of marriage

• Complex paradoxes like these are the hallmark of our society.
• They cannot be addressed by a legal fix, particularly one that will be very hard to implement.

What needs to be done towards women empowerment?
Committee recommendations: The Jaya Jaitly committee itself has recommended the following to increase the legal age for women,

• Increase access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas, 
• Incorporate Sex education in schools, 
• Ensure Skill and business training for women, 
• Undertake awareness campaigns on a massive scale to ensure social acceptance of increasing the age of marriage.

Other recommendations

• Focus on poverty alleviation programs: Child marriages have reportedly increased during the pandemic due to poverty and lack of access to schools. So, the government has to ensure the continuation of poverty alleviation programs, especially in rural areas.
• Increase Female Labour Participation: Creating non-farm jobs for women from low-income families will ensure financial empowerment. Further, India can learn from Bangladesh’s high women’s participation in the labour force and its social change.

Road Ahead

• Instead of criminalising our youth, the government must take concrete steps to really empower women. If they are truly in charge of their own lives — through affordable education, meaningful and decent employment opportunities — they will be able to make better decisions about whether, when and whom to marry.