‘He says if i keep studying, who will marry me?’ (YKA)

Youth Kiawaaz (YKA) (India) published an article on child marriage and very young women having children. Shivanim a seventeen-year-old, desiring to remain in school, but the social stigma of being unmarried and the constant pressure from family members, neighbors and acquaintances is strong. In Bihar, where Shivanim lives, 42.5 percent of girls are married before the age of 18 – that is, before the legal age of marriage in the country. The repercussions are many, in addition to impacting the education of girls. Senior research fellow Purnima Menon states, “Even though we can see that fertility has dropped in Bihar over the years [from 4 in 2005-06 to 3.4 in 2015-16 to 3 in NFHS 2019-20], we know that girls who are married at an early age are more likely to be poorer and undernourished, and are excluded from health services.”