Women and modernity: The issue of child marriage in India

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Synopsis In less than a century, the legal age at which an Indian female could begin conjugal life has been raised three times. While this has generally been viewed as evidence of concern with women's emancipation, a closer scrutiny of the historical evidence suggests that this particular issue has served as a vehicle to advance an entire set of socio-political attitudes. In 1891, the Age of Consent controversy was diverted from the problem of the helplessness of child wives to the question of whether or not the British government had a right to interfere in Hindu social customs. The Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 was fought for by reformist Hindus and particularly the emerging women's organizations because it illustrated that Indians were deeply concerned with and anxious to change certain social practices. The latest increase in the legal age of marriage (October, 1978) was related to population policy. Favoring a later age of marriage has become synonymous with commitment to modernity but it has not necessarily meant commitment to modifying the social position of women.