Over 50 per cent of Indias girls are married before they turn 18. India ties with Bangladesh for fourth place on a list headed by Niger, where 76 per cent of marriages happen between under-18-year-olds. The Democratic Republic of Congo is a close second at 74 per cent and Afghanistan is third at 54 per cent.
These and other grim figures are presented in the UN Population Fund report on the State of the World Population 2005, released Thursday. The report sounds an alarm for efforts in the fight against poverty, naming gender discrimination as one of the greatest factors hampering international attempts to eliminate world poverty.
The report – which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the UN Charter where equal rights of men and women have been enshrined – said that a lack of access to family planning and reproductive health are closely linked to poverty and productivity.
In Indias case, the report quotes a survey conducted in Madhya Pradesh in 1998, according to which, 14 per cent girls in India are married between the age of 10 and 14.
The report goes on to emphasise the negative impact of child marriage on reproductive health. ‘‘Married adolescent girls have limited power to influence childbearing or contraceptive decisions, with implications for infant health and survival, maternal mortality, HIV, high fertility and poverty reduction,’’ it said.
According to the report, girls in the age group of 10 to 14 years are more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20 to 24. Girls aged 15 to 19 are twice as likely to die – the vast majority of maternal deaths take place in this age group.
India also has the highest levels of violence in the home against women married at the age of 18 or younger, with 70 per cent of those surveyed having experienced beating.
According to the report, such women are more likely to be beaten or threatened and are more likely to believe that a husband might be justified in beating his wife.
The report suggested that keeping girls in school could be a way to prevent child marriage.
Kilde: Indian Express/The Push Journal
