Congress Leader Makes Regressive Comments On Marriage Age For Girls
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-01-14 08:16:09
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Are girls to be treated only as child-bearing machines? Is their only place in their husband's homes after they attain marriageable age? And what should this marriageable age be?
Sajjan Singh Verma, former PWD minister in Madhya Pradesh and a Kamal Nath loyalist feels that since girls can reproduce at 15, there is no need to raise the marriage age for girls to 21 from 18. He also feels that "girls should go to their sasural and be happy after they turn 18".
His comments assume that girls are only fit for reproduction and they are not happy in their parents' home. The worst thing is that instead of censuring him for his regressive comments, the state Congress has sought to politicize the matter by questioning chief minister Shviraj Singh Chouhan's demand that there should be a debate on raising the marriage age for girls.
It is surprising that even in this age and time when girls are being provided equal opportunity to excel in all fields and are grabbing this opportunity to forge ahead, people like Verma still think like this. A girl is not a commodity. She does not exist at the pleasure of, and for the pleasure of, men. She has her own wishes and ambitions and she is equally entitled to pursue them to the best of her ability. The timing of marriage and reproduction are things which only she should decide.
Although a girl can reproduce at 15 and can sign for self at 18, she is not mature enough to decide on such matters mainly due to the fact that for ages, she has not been given the freedom to make such decisions. With things changing now, most girls are opting for higher studies and a career and marrying at a late age. That is their independent decision.
But in communities where the girl child is still denied the right to make independent decisions, marriages happen at 18 or even earlier, and the girl is thrown into domesticity without being asked. They do not get time to pursue higher education or acquire a skill. Early marriage also results in early motherhood, something which the young girl will not be ready for. There are these and many other reasons why the marriage age should be increased. In any case, what justification is there for keeping the age for boys at 21 and that for girls at 18? Verma say girls can reproduce at 15 and should be married at 18. But boys start producing spermatozoa at the age of 12. So, by that logic, should the marriage age for boys be reduced to 12 or 15 years?
Picture courtesy: screengrab from a video at YouTube uploaded by "Find the New Art"
