COMMENTARY
Child Marriage Law and Freedom of Choice in Bangladesh M Niaz Asadullah, Zaki Wahhaj
While the Government of Bangladesh seems to be genuinely concerned about the social challenges caused by the practice of child marriage and the laws governing such a marriage, its approach to the issue seems confused and may ultimately be counterproductive.
C
hild marriage is a global problem affecting about 15 million girls every year. The United Nations’ General Assembly Committee of 193 nations passed a resolution in November 2014 asking all member countries to pass and enforce laws banning child marriages (Reuters 2014b). Some member countries responded promptly by adopting new laws to bring an end to child marriage. However, the Government of Bangladesh is presently contemplating a move that would permit girls to marry at 16 with parental consent and/or approval from courts (Sahos 2015). If the law is passed, it would mark the first occasion that girls are legally permitted to marry below the age of 18 in the Indian subcontinent since the “Child Marriage Restraint Act” came into effect in 1929. The Paradox
The authors are co-investigators in a project on “The Role of Secondary Schooling and Gender Norms in the Long-term Opportunities and Choices of Rural Bangladeshi Women,” funded by the Australian Development Research Award Scheme. M Niaz Asadullah (
[email protected]) is Deputy Director, Centre for Poverty and Development Studies, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya; Zaki Wahhaj (
[email protected]) is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Kent, United Kingdom, with a research focus on early marriage, female education, and gender norms.
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South Asia has the highest incidence of girls marrying during childhood or early adolescence (Raj, McDougal and Rusch 2012) and Bangladesh the third-highest rate of child marriage anywhere in the world.1 According to a recent estimate, 39% of Bangladeshi girls are married before they are 15, and 74% before they are 18. Over 20% of those who are brides before reaching 15 years become mothers of three or more children before they are 24 (UNICEF 2014). The reductions in girl child marriage in Bangladesh have occurred largely due to marriage delay among younger adolescents. By contrast, the prevalence of marriage among 16 and 17-year-old girls has actually increased (Raj et al 2012). The high incidence of early marriage is paradoxical for several reasons. First,
there has been a significant decline in household poverty in recent years which is commonly identified as a key determinant of child marriage. Second, gender equality has been attained in educational access, which is supposed to give young adolescents voice and say. Many consider education as the most effective means of reducing girl child marriage (Myers and Harvey 2011; Brown 2012; Raj et al 2014). Yet substantial improvements in girl education in Bangladesh have not translated into equivalent reductions in child marriage (Raj et al 2014). Third, Bangladesh has been described as a development outlier in popular commentaries for exceptional progress in social indicators (Mahmud et al 2013). This has been attributed to expanding opportunities for women and non-governmental organisation (NGO)-led initiatives that place women at the forefront in service delivery (Asadullah et al 2014). These changes have arguably increased the economic value of women. Really a Matter of Law? Similar to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006 in India, there is a law mandating a legal minimum age of marriage of 18 years in Bangladesh. However, the current law forbidding the marriage of minors (below the age of 18 for girls and 21 for boys) is frequently ignored and rarely enforced (IRIN 2011). Nevertheless, the Bangladesh government has argued that denying parents the legal mandate to marry off their daughters can, paradoxically, lead to a higher incidence of child marriage and create further social problems. The logic rests on the idea that with an increasing number of adolescent girls attending secondary school in rural areas and working in the industrial sector, they are more likely to encounter situations where they may be taken advantage of by men, pressured into sexual relationships or persuaded to elope. In traditional society, marriage provides social protection to girls against
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these threats and, therefore, the reasoning goes, denying parents the legal right to marry off daughters before 18, not only undermines parental agency but also increases the vulnerability of adolescent girls. A junior health minister remarked in 2014 that the government’s proposals to modify the existing child marriage laws were a response to an increased “tendency to elope” among girls, and “pressure from rural areas.”2 The Bangladesh Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Meher Afroz Chumki, is convinced that a lower age limit, combined with a harsher punishment for breaking the law would be easier to enforce and, ultimately, be beneficial for women. The bill under consideration would increase the maximum penalty from two months to two years in jail. The financial penalty for forcing children into marriage will be increased and changing the bride’s official age using a notary public will be prohibited. This is not the first attempt by the Bangladesh government to amend child marriage laws. In 2014, a bill was introduced in parliament to lower the legal minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 16 (Reuters 2014a).3 Following strong opposition from both local activists and international organisations—including Human Rights Watch—the Bangladesh government announced in October 2014 that the legal minimum age of marriage for girls will remain at 18 (Daily Star 2014). The modified bill currently under consideration was also criticised by human rights activists in Bangladesh on the occasion of International Women’s Day in March (Dhaka Tribune 2015). These repeated attempts to amend the law suggest that Bangladeshi lawmakers are genuinely concerned about the social challenges caused by the practice of child marriage and the laws governing such marriage. At the July 2014 Girl Summit in London,4 the Bangladesh government made a commitment to revise the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 by 2015 and eradicate marriage by girls below the age of 15 by 2021, which places it under added pressure from the international community to act on this issue. Yet, its approach to and reasoning around the issue seems confused and may ultimately be counterproductive. Economic & Political Weekly
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It is important to recognise that lowering the legal minimum age of marriage removes a constraint on individual choice which, according to basic economic theory, cannot make a person worse-off. However, parental preferences about the timing of marriage for their daughters may be in conflict with those of their daughters. And, in the presence of such conflict, parents are likely to be in a strong position to marry off their daughters—especially when they are economically dependent—according to their own preferences. In these situations, a constraint imposed by law can protect children from marriages to which they do not consent. Parents and lawmakers can nevertheless argue, as they have done during the ongoing debate in Bangladesh—that “parents know best” what choices would be most beneficial for their daughters in the long-run. Only an experimental change in the law, combined with information on the long-term outcomes of women affected by it, can provide a comprehensive answer to the question whether this is true. New Evidence from the Field
consequences of an exogenous change in the timing of marriage of Bangladeshi women. Using this variation, we investigate how lowering the legal minimum age would affect the agency of women regarding their own marriage and their cognitive development.6 These outcomes capture different factors that, arguably, should be valued for their own sake in evaluating policy or legal changes that will have an impact on the life choices of women. We estimate that a one-year delay in marriage increases schooling by 0.68 years for girls. Furthermore, for each year that marriage is delayed, the age of first childbirth increases by 0.84 years. We also find (though not reported in Table 1) that women who marry later (as a consequence of delayed onset of menarche) report a higher ideal age of marriage for girls and they are less likely to agree with statements articulating a traditional gender norm—for example, that good nutrition, education, outdoor sports are less important for girls than for boys. Shifts in these beliefs are significant as they can shape the choices that these women make for their own daughters, and consequently the human capital development of the next generation. These estimates indicate that there is a range of positive outcomes associated with delayed marriage. Legislation which makes it easier for parents to marry off their daughters early may undo these positive effects.
In 2014, we conducted a nationwide survey of over 7,500 married women aged between 20 and 39 years living across Bangladesh. Table 1 reports selected social indicators by early marriage status of women (that is whether the respondent was married by age 15/18). Consistent with the recent Demographic Health Survey (DHS) for Bangladesh, 76.9% of our respondents were married before their 18th birthday.5 Our survey data, although non- Government’s Narrative experimental, provides a unique perspec- About 83% of the married women in our tive to the debate as we can exploit a study had their marriages arranged by marriage-related social norm in Bangla- their parents or other relatives; 38% were desh. The norm in question forbids the married by the age of 15, and 77% by the marriage of girls be- Table 1: Women in Early Marriage by Background and Outcomes fore they have at- (20–39 Year Olds) Married by 15 Married by 18 Not Married at 18 tained puberty. The Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD prevalence of early Panel A: Family background 3.96 3.43 4.74 3.64 6.90 3.82 marriage among girls Schooling (Yrs) Father’s schooling (Yrs) 2.49 3.62 2.76 3.78 3.57 4.12 in Bangladesh means Mother’s schooling (Yrs) 1.25 3.10 1.48 3.27 2.19 3.11 that this constraint is Father in low-paid job ( = 1) 0.23 0.42 0.22 0.41 0.18 0.39 Eldest among sisters ( = 1) 0.47 0.50 0.46 0.50 0.41 0.49 often binding. Panel B: Marriage-related outcomes The variation in the Arranged marriage ( = 1) 0.88 0.33 0.86 0.35 0.60 0.49 onset of menarche Consanguineous marriage ( = 1) 0.09 0.28 0.08 0.28 0.06 0.24 0.75 0.43 0.64 0.48 0.06 0.24 among girls consti- First birth by age 19 ( = 1) 2,383 (37.8%) 4,842 (76.9%) 1,451 (23.1%) tutes a natural exper- Observations SD refers to standard deviation. iment to study the Source: 2014 Bangladesh WiLCAS. vol lI no 3
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age of 18. In response to the question “what was the most important reason for the marriage?,” only 3% mentioned “parental concern about my physical safety.” By contrast, 72% answered that their “parents felt it was too good a proposal to refuse.” Only 14% of women in our sample met their husbands without arrangement by their parents. These women were less likely to marry by age 15 (32%) than those who had arranged marriages (39%); and less likely to say that they “would have preferred to delay their marriage” (32%) than women who had arranged marriages (40%). If we focus on women from more impoverished backgrounds in our sample—specifically those whose fathers owned less than half an acre of land and were either day-labourers or artisans— the patterns are very similar: a similar proportion met their husbands without the arrangement of their parents; these women were less likely to marry young and less likely to say that they would have preferred to delay their marriage. These figures contrast sharply with the narrative of the Bangladesh government that parents tend to marry off their daughters early out of concerns for their safety. Rather, it suggests that women who make their own choice of partners— which access to education and employment opportunities makes possible by providing increased social contact—are prone to marry later, and are more satisfied with their timing of marriage.
is not abused. In this setting, the legal sanction of early marry does not infringe on the human rights of adolescents. These preconditions and institutions do not exist in Bangladesh. The country is consistently ranked at the bottom in cross-country ranking in terms of rule of law index (Asadullah et al 2014). Lack of governance has undermined the credibility of all institutions, including those that are supposed to provide checks to the practice of child marriage. The Way Forward Our figures and reasoning suggest a different approach to the issue. Any changes in child marriage law should aim to improve the capacity of adolescent girls to exercise their own choice rather than circumvent it. It is not lack of parental agency, but the lack of agency among adolescent girls themselves which is the main source of their vulnerability. Increased agency among adolescent girls regarding marriage decisions is likely to translate into delayed marriage. Furthermore, it is an important goal in its right, consistent with Amartya Sen’s view of “development as freedom.” In this context, NGO-led initiatives such as the Adolescent Development Programme of BRAC and BALIKA (Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents)7 can play an important role.8 notes 1 2
Looking to Developed Countries In justifying the present bill, the Bangladesh government has pointed out that the legal minimum age of marriage in most developed countries is below 18 years. But it is important to recognise that in most of these societies, arranged marriages are not the norm and the age of marriage is not dictated by social custom. Therefore, children and parents have greater capacity to exercise their agency on the issue. At the same time, functional courts, transparent birth and marriage registration system, life skills training at school, a culture of dialogue at home and child rights protection agencies at the community level further provide check and balances to ensure that the legal right to marry young 26
3 4 5
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7 8
See http://www.icrw.org/child-marriage-factsand-figures. For evidence on the significance of parental concern about the safety of their daughter, see Caldwell (2005). See http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/10/13/ foundation-bangladesh-childmarriage-idINKCN0I21M420141013. See https://www.girlsummit2014.org/Commitment/Show. Using DHS 2011 data, Islam et al (2014), 77.7% women married before the age of 18 years and 65.4% women married as children gave birth before the age of 18 years. Following this approach, Field and Ambrus (2008) and Sekhri and Debnath (2014) find that delay of one year in the age at marriage of the mother significantly improves maternal human capital in Bangladesh and India, respectively. Amin et al (2014). For evidence on the effectiveness of this approach in delaying early marriage, see Bandiera et al (2015).
References Amin, Sejeda, Akter F, Alam M M, Hossain M I, Ahmed J and Rob U (2014): From Evidence to Action: Results from the 2013 Baseline Surveyfor the BALIKA Project, Populaton Council.
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