Recently the Government of India has raised the age of marriage for girls to 21. What is the benefit of following this law?

Correct option is A

The correct answer is (A) It will discourage teen pregnancies.

Reasons behind the decision:

• Gender-neutrality: With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par.
• Motherhood complexities: An early age of marriage, and consequent early pregnancies, also have impacts on nutritional levels of mothers and their children, and their overall health and mental wellbeing.
• Mother and Child Mortality: It also has an impact on Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate.
• Women empowerment: The decision would empower women who are cut off from access to education and livelihood due to an early marriage.
• Protection from abuse: This will essentially outlaw premature girls marriages and prevent the abuse of minors.
• Socio-economic Fronts: Increasing the legal age for the marriage of women has enormous benefits including:

1. Lowering the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
2. Improvement of nutrition levels
3. Financial front opportunities will be opened up for women to pursue higher education and careers and become financially empowered, thus resulting in a more egalitarian society.

• More female labor force participation: Increasing the marriage age will lead to more females doing graduation and hence improving the female labor force participation ratio. The percentage of females doing graduation will increase by at least 5-7 percentage points from the current level of 9.8 per cent.