Holistic view: Government's decision to raise women’s marriage age to 21 appreciated

It is 21 and well done for many who are enthused about the Cabinet approving a proposal to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 yearsSmashing patriarchyBombay High Court advocate Abha Singh said ldquoThis is a first step in the right direction It smashes the patriarchal mindset of the girl having to be younger than the boy The 18 and 21years age difference should not have existed in the first place Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees absolute equality before the lawrdquoThe avenuesSingh also a wellknown gender equality spokesperson buttressed her argument with facts saying that statistics showed that when women married relatively later ldquothe maternal mortality rates improved toordquo She added ldquoWe have witnessed that at the primary level you may have 100 per cent enrolment of girls in schools Yet as they reach secondary level girls are forced to drop out for some reasons one being marriage Even during COVID times when schools and colleges were shut completely some very young girls were forced to get married The urban scenario may be slightly different but remember it is not the urban but rural that drives IndiardquoShriraj Nair from Vishwa Hindu ParishadSingh claimed pushing back the marriage age meant that educational avenues were better for girls ldquoYou need to be 21 to give civil services exams At times when girls are married off early they lose their access to education and consequently to give vital exams like theserdquo she saidWelcome moveFor Vishwa Hindu Parishadrsquos VHP Shriraj Nair ldquoEducation for women is very important Look at the heights women are reaching today from Indra Nooyi to Leena Nair who has become the Chief Executive Officer CEO of Chanel Students graduate at 20 or 21 so it certainly makes sense to raise the marriage age for girls so that they have greater educational opportunities I know there are some who are opposed to this but many are against it simply because of the Narendra Modi government they will oppose absolutely anything this government proposesrdquoAnother viewAnson Thomas activist who has made a movie named Pledge to Protect and has worked to rescue women from commercial sex work said ldquoThere is no need to increase the age of when women can marry I think girls are more mature than boys and hence the legal age for marriage is 18 for girls and 21 for boys I think at 18 the girl does know right from wrong There are so many ways a girl can get trafficked or luredrdquoHolistic approachZakia Soman working in the gender equality space and cofounder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan BMMA said ldquoPrima facie this seems like a welcome development I disagree with those who say 18 is a mature age for girls It is still very young and one is just a child So to bring both men and women on par setting the marriageable age at 21 is good Yet we need to see the entire picture We have to tackle socioeconomic disadvantages and empower the economically marginalised and stop child marriages This is because of poverty lack of education and cultural normsrdquoThe mindsetSoman also said that in the urban context ldquoeven in fairly comfortable families there is a mindset that the girl is not to be given too much freedom So the law is important but it should be backed with social and economic measures and it is vital that the mindset changes What this boils down to is autonomy or the womenrsquos right to choose who she marries and at what age she is going to marry It is all about giving her more agencyrdquo concluded Soman who was also at the forefront of the fight against triple talaq15 DecDay when Union cabinet cleared the proposal of the bill