Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 (b), nothing shall prevent the conclusion or instigation of a marriage within the framework of the relationship, which may marry in accordance with the practices of their ethnic community or clan. [175] In medieval Eastern Europe, Slavic patrilocality traditions of early and universal marriage (usually a bride aged 12 to 15, with an average age of 14) persisted; [32] The ruling system had not yet penetrated into Eastern Europe and generally had less influence on clan systems there; And bans on marriage between cousins had not been consistently enforced. [33] Girls from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are forced into marriage, and financial support, especially for education, automatically raises the age of marriage for women. Adolescents needed parental consent to marry because they had not reached the age of majority, 21. In the 12th century, the Roman Catholic Church radically changed the legal norms for marital consent by allowing girls over the age of 12 and sons over the age of 14 to marry without their parents` consent, even if their marriage was contracted secretly. [16] Community studies have confirmed that in the late Middle Ages, women in England sometimes married without parental consent. [17] In 2018, the Law Commission of India proposed lowering the legal age for men from 21 to 18 and recommended leaving the legal age for both sexes to marry at 18. According to 2019 government data, the average age of marriage for women is 22.1. This number has gradually increased over the years, showing that the change is voluntary. Much of the change has occurred as women`s education rates have improved.
The 55 Parties to the 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages have agreed to legislate on a minimum age for marriage in order to override customary, religious and tribal laws and traditions. If the age of marriage according to the law of a religious community is lower than that provided for by the law of the country, the law of the State prevails. However, some religious communities do not accept the primacy of state law in this regard, which can lead to child or forced marriage. The 123 parties to the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery agreed to introduce a mandatory minimum “reasonable” age for marriage. In many developing countries, official age requirements are only guidelines. UNICEF, the United Nations Children`s Organization, considers the marriage of a minor (legal child), a person under adulthood, as a child marriage and as a violation of rights. [1] Before the end of Second Temple Judaism, rabbis set the age of marriage for each Israelite at 18. [273] Women were expected to marry at age 20 and men at age 24.
In late antiquity, men and women had to be married into adolescence at the age of 20. [273] The rabbis estimated the age of maturity from the beginning of the thirteenth year in women and the beginning of the fourteenth year in men. [274] In the United States, the age of marriage is determined by each state and territory, either by common law or by individual statutes. The minimum age of marriage is intended to prevent child marriage. A person in the United States can marry without parental consent at the age of 18 in all states except Nebraska, where the age is 19. According to experts, the pressure to raise girls in poor families until the age of 21 will increase the rate of sex-selective abortion in the country. The fear of rape or running away will also be great because of the proposed law, especially in rural areas. Büchler and Schlater state that “according to classical Islamic law, marriageable age coincides with the onset of puberty.
The term puberty refers to signs of physical maturity such as the emission of semen or the onset of menstruation. [290] The Odisha State Commission for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (OSCPCR) opposed the center`s decision to raise the legal age of marriage for girls, arguing that it would be ineffective in preventing child marriage and instead worsen cases of foeticide and single mothers. But the data is tricky,” says Mary E. John, a researcher at the Centre for Women`s Development Studies. Early marriage occurs mainly in low-income families living in rural areas that lack adequate access to health care and education. Women in these families may be more malnourished than their urban counterparts, who are generally better off and marry at an older age. Poverty, not age, is the driving force behind poor health indicators among young rural women, says John. John therefore believes that the government would be better off avoiding the issue of legal age and instead fighting to end the practice of dowry, which encourages early marriage. The younger the bride, the lower the dowry that her parents have to pay to the groom`s side.