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UPSC SOCIOLOGY MAINS SYLLABUS
Paper 2 – Section C
(vii) Challenges of Social Transformation:
Crisis of development: displacement, environmental problems and sustainability.
Poverty, deprivation and inequalities.
Violence against women.
Caste conflicts.
Ethnic conflicts, communalism, religious revivalism.
Illiteracy and disparities in education.
INTRODUCTION
Child widows are the most vulnerable of all widows as they are often burdened with adult responsibilities for which they are ill-equipped and unlike older widows, they experience an accelerated journey through
the major life stages of childhood, wifehood, motherhood and widowhood, while still a child themselves. They suffer a triple disadvantage of gender – due to the low status of women and girls, marital status as a
widow (they are often looked down upon), and immaturity – due to their young age, they lack the necessary psychological maturity, life experience and knowledge to survive in an adult world.
DATA
Worldwide, there is little reliable data available on child widows, but some estimates say that there are at least 1.36 million child widows globally, with South Asia and parts of Africa having the highest population of child widows. Data on child widows is limited in India too, but we know that India has a high incidence of widowhood amongst young women under 18 years of age, because of the continued prevalence of child marriage. As per Census 2011, there were nearly three and a half lakh widows under the age of 21 years in the country, with over 50 percent of them under the legal age of marriage. The country still had 1.94 lakh child widows in 2011, despite the existence of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
CHILD MARRIAGE AND CHILD WIDOWS
Child widowhood is a consequence of child marriage. Child marriage, in turn, is mainly driven by poverty, social customs, the desire for large families – especially the desire for sons – and the need for parents to reduce the number of children to feed. In patriarchal societies, where family honor needs to be protected at all costs, early marriage also ensures virginity, and any ‘transgression’ to family honor. Among individual characteristics, the level of education of females has the most profound impact on the age they marry, irrespective of household wealth, locality and other characteristics. Another reason for girls becoming widows at a young age is because many girls are married to much older men, with the men’s passing away leading to children becoming widows. Girls who marry older men at a young age also risk domestic violence, as per The World’s Women report 2015.
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WORSENING FACTORS
Child widows often experience physical, mental and sexual violence including under-age and forced sex. Often accused of their husband’s death, labelled ‘inauspicious’ and perceived as promiscuous, like adult
widows they are relegated to the margins of society where, in India, they are conspicuous by their distinctive white clothing and lack of marriage symbols such as the tikka (red dot on the forehead), makeup and colourful jewellery. Hindus represent 74% of India’s 1.35 billion population, many of whom follow ‘widows codes of conduct’ set out in ancient religious texts.
The number of child and adult widows in the world has escalated due to armed conflict, genocide, political and ethnic unrest and violent extremism. The insecurity created by poverty, the collapse of the rule of law and government services affects girls’ safety, education, and human rights. Often the marriage of girls cannot be postponed until adulthood as parents use child marriage as a survival strategy, to protect girls from sexual violence or to gain citizenship. These child brides are often uneducated and financially dependent on their husbands, so when their husbands are killed, they are often left as destitute child widows.
THE PLIGHT OF CHILD WIDOWS
Child widows – young girls who have suffered both child marriage and widowhood before the age of eighteen – are a neglected group of vulnerable children, They have experienced multiple violations of their human rights from their premature and unlawful marriage to the compounded effects of widowhood, poverty, illiteracy, youth and lack of education. Mostly they lack access to justice and are unable to claim their inheritance as they are unknowledgable about the law or manipulated by others. Upon the death of their husbands, many are evicted from their homes and left destitute, some bound by cultural traditions never to remarry.
SUMMARY/CONCLUSION
In India, child widows – young girls who have suffered both child marriage and widowhood before the age of eighteen – have been a neglected group of vulnerable children historically. From premature and unlawful marriage to the compounded effects of poverty, lack of education and widowhood, these children experience multiple violations of human rights throughout their life. Invisible in statistics, they are often denied their inheritance rights, evicted from their homes and in absence of any social security, exploited by others, usually their own family members.