Summary
Contents
Love, Labour and Law: Early and Child Marriage in India is a path-breaking book on an issue that has not been analysed in depth for a while, perhaps since it does not affect the elite. Today, the child brides are usually from poor families. They are of 1517 years as compared to much younger brides in the earlier times. The book discusses why child marriages persist despite numerous legislative and policy initiatives to eliminate the practice. The chapters examine social and legal reforms to raise the age of marriage; contemporary education and health-related policy attempts at prevention; relationship of child marriage with child labour, sex work, human trafficking and other issues. Increasingly, there is greater resistance to marriages arranged by parents from the child brides themselves who can now access institutional and bureaucratic support. How hopeful are these developments? The book goes beyond a simple policy focus on elimination and provides a much-needed understanding of marriage and womens agency within the context of the Indian marriage system.
Child Marriage and the Second Social Reform Movement
Child Marriage and the Second Social Reform Movement
THE AGE OF Consent Act of 1891 addressed the issue of child marriage by enhancing the age of sexual cohabitation. The Act raised the age from 10 to 12 following the death of a young bride Phulmonee due to violent sexual intercourse by her husband Hari Maiti. This Act also represented the first step towards protecting girl brides from physical assault. Even before the growth of political agitation, child marriage was the issue on which the techniques of political mobilization and agitation were first elaborated and tested. However, with the Age of Consent Act, the consent of the individual became important and the woman became a legal subject. As ...
