Asian Early Marriages-In the Past and Now In The Present

Posted on July 21, 2008 in History of Marriage

Marriages are considered to be a great sacrament in the Asian Continent. Daughters are considered to be ”Lakshmi’’(a holy goddess) and are brought up with love and affection. Every woman according to Asian culture, should be married.

Marriage, their ancestors believed was a blessing for woman. They also believed that girls should be married young. The reasons they cited were

1) A girl’s virginity is considered to be something holy and scared. Loosing one’s virginity before marriage brings about lot of disgrace and shame to the family. Fear of rape, kidnapping, love affairs etc drives parents to get their daughters married early.

2) Secondly when a girl gets married young it is believed that she will be able to adjust easily with her husband’s family.

3) Third main reason being that a young girl carries less dowry than a elderly bride.

4) A young bride is also considered o be a healthy mother, a young mother is believed to have lot of physical strength and bear healthy children.

These beliefs are good and very beneficial to a girl but unfortunately have been greatly misinterpreted. As in the name of marriage parents would get their daughters married at the age of 13 years only. This whole concept of getting a child married is socially and scientifically wrong, as all the above mentioned points would not hold true for a young girl who is just a child. Pregnancies, family adjustment etc are not a cup of tea for a young child.

The definition of early marriages has definitely changed in the urban areas at least. A girl is at the least a graduate before she gets married. Parent’s consider 21-25 as being the ideal age for a young girl to be married.

11-15 years was considered to be young earlier, but in present terms 21-25 is considered as young and suitable age of marriage for a girl in the asian communities.

This of course is justified because at the age of 24-25 is when the girl’s body is fully developed. The girl is mature enough to make her own decisions. Is strong enough to bear pregnancies and also would be a good wife.

Do not get your daughters married when they are very young, instead give them good education and wait until they are 21-25 years of age. Education is a great blessing, you can equip your daughter.

The saying “ Educate a woman and you educate the whole family is very true” proves to be very true.

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One Response to “Asian Early Marriages-In the Past and Now In The Present”

  1. Child Marriage Detrimental to Health on October 22nd, 2008 6:39 am

    [...] Legally, one can marry at the age of 18 in most countries. The law ensures that under age children do not marry as it is bad for their physical and emotional health. Yet child marriage is prevalent in many countries. Many young girls get married very early even before the completion of their education. In many of the developing and less developed countries the practice of child marriage is quite rampant. [...]

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