Exploring the socioeconomic factors behind girl child marriage in India

Abstract

Child marriage has been a persistent problem in India. Child marriage is deeply rooted due to traditional, cultural, and religious practices, which have made it difficult to combat. Girl child marriage is an issue that can create several other problems among children, such as sexual abuse, juvenile justice, reproductive & sexual health, psychosocial & mental health, nutrition, protection, education, opportunities, and livelihood. Marriage of a girl child is frequently associated with problems such as the practice of dowry and the prevalence of child widowhood. Moreover, it results in unfavourable outcomes such as malnutrition, inadequate maternal health, and high fertility rates, and contributes to the problem of overpopulation. The aim and objective of this paper are to understand the factors behind child marriages and their impact on the girl child. The limitation of this paper is to cases related to girlchild marriages in India only. The finding of this paper focused on three key issues; how to improve the interaction between parents and child, social norms and culture, and gender socialization practices to combat girl-child marriage in India.