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.

Schooling, Work and Early Marriage: Girl Children in Contemporary Bengal

Schooling, Work and Early Marriage: Girl Children in Contemporary Bengal

Schooling, work and early marriage: Girl children in contemporary bengal

AMONG THE FIFTEEN major states of India, under-age marriage of girls, as discussed in other chapters, is relatively more prevalent in West Bengal. I argue that more than poverty and illiteracy, the non-availability of new employment opportunities because of the poor performance of the economy of the state in general and the industrial sector in particular is mainly responsible for persistent child marriage in the state. The existing work opportunities for women (adults and girls) both in the rural and in the urban areas of the state are not in contradiction with the practices of early marriage and early motherhood. In this overall context of ...

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