One has reasons to question the rationale behind the proposal endorsed by the Cabinet recently to lower marriageable age of girls from 18 to 16. No wonder, the proposal/recommendation came as a bolt from the blue to the conscientious sections of society, who consider it an obtrusive blow to undo whatever little gains achieved so far in terms of empowering girls and women in the country. The country has been witnessing child marriage as a cumbersome appendage to various miseries girls are fated to. This has been happening despite the legal bar on girls' marriage before18 years of age. Marriageable age set at 18 years of age for girls went well because it sought to protect girls, especially those in rural areas, from being given in marriage early in order that they reach a certain level of maturity before setting out to understand the meaning of marriage and its implication on their lives.
In this context, the proposal passed in the Cabinet meeting, to put it mildly, is disconcerting for the simple reason that Bangladesh has for sometime been a major campaigner of women's rights not only at home but at various international fora. There has never been a dearth of commitment on the part of the government to pursue the cause of women empowerment. And truly, despite limitations, there has been a lot in place from both the government and the non-government organisations over the decades. Now lowering the marriageable age is viewed by many as a move towards clipping the wings of girls.
According to the United Nations definition, any human below the age of eighteen is a child. Setting the marriageable age at or above 18 was thus in recognition of the international body's definition of a child. Lowering the bar on marriageable age not only does contradict the UN's proclamation but also goes against the government's own policies on such issues as health focussing in particular on sound reproductive health of women as also on education with the set target of completing minimum secondary education for girls.
Bangladesh has been cited by the Unicef as a country where the maximum number of adolescent girls are victims of abuse, 65 per cent of whom are believed to be victims of child marriage. It has been found that despite a law in force to curb child marriage in the country, Bangladesh is home to the second highest rates of child marriages, next only to the African state of Niger and followed closely by Chad and Mali. In such a situation, it is simply frightening to imagine the consequences once the existing law requiring a girl to reach 18 to get married is replaced by one that would ask her to be only 16. The government should think hard before moving ahead any further.
Lowering marriageable age or promoting child marriage
FE Team | Published: October 15, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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