The Indian Girl-Wife: Not Even a Woman, But Already a Wife

Abstract

The institution of child marriage throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century not only stripped Indian girls of their agency, but also frequently denied them their education. In 1884, Rukhmabai, a young Indian girl of just eleven-years-old, was married to Dadaji Bhikaji, a man eight years older. Although Rukhmabai was able to resist the forced marriage and eventually went on to become India’s first female doctor, Rukhmabai’s victory was generally an anomaly of the time and reflected a tenacity to attain greater education. Throughout her writings, Rukhmabai expresses deep sadness from being denied the opportunity for an adequate education, and identifies female education as one of the chief disproportionate impacts of child marriage for girls. This project will trace the evolution of child marriage negotiations from the 1891 Age of Consent Act to the 1929 Child Marriage Restraint Act, specifically addressing the way that related discussions allowed Indian women to establish the importance of their adolescent years in their educational pursuit. By uncovering the voices of both child marriage victims and female reformers, we are able to garner an understanding of the changing Indian social landscape at the time and the way that Indian women negotiated their agency against the backdrop of globalization, the nationalist agenda, and caste, religious, and regional differences. This project will stress female adolescence as an evolving concept throughout twentieth century India, and will draw on the important relationship between education and female agency.