Human Development in India - NCAER

gender and family dynamics 149Not surprisingly, many of the young brides have notattained puberty at the time of marriage. In Bihar andRajasthan, the states with the earliest age at marriage, around25 per cent of the girls had not attained puberty at the timeof marriage. At the same time, a focus on the formal age atmarriage may well be mistaken in a context in which earlymarriage is not synonymous with an early age at entry into asexual union.As documented by many anthropologists, early marriageis often associated with a delay in consummation in whichthe bride remains with her parents until a formal gauna orbidai ceremony occurs. States with a very early age at formalmarriage also follow the custom of a gap of a year or morebetween marriage and gauna. Tables A.10.1a and A.10.1bshow the waiting period of at least six months following thewedding before cohabitation. About 75 per cent of womenin Bihar and 88 per cent of women in Rajasthan waited sixmonths or more to begin living with their husbands. AsFigure 10.1 shows, this waiting period is often associatedwith the relative youth and immaturity of the bride, andtends to decline as the age at marriage increases.Regardless of the age at which formal marriage occurs,however, the average age at which cohabitation, or effectivemarriage, begins is about 18–19 years in most states, andis even younger in some. Table A.10.1a also suggests a verysmall increase in age at marriage. The average age at marriagehas changed only marginally across cohorts, althoughthe proportion of women marrying before puberty hasdecreased.Most marriages are arranged. Less than 5 per cent ofwomen in the IHDS sample said they chose their husbandsindependent of their parents. The rest reported a variety ofarrangements through which their families made marriagedecisions. Most reported very limited contact with theirhusbands before marriage. Sixty nine per cent met theirhusbands on the day of the wedding or shortly before, and anadditional 9 per cent knew their husbands for a month beforethe wedding. Only 23 per cent knew their husbands for morethan a month when they married. Although educated womenare more likely to have a longer acquaintance with theirhusbands, a long period of acquaintance is not normative,even among these women as Figure 10.2 indicates. 3Yet, in spite of the popular stereotype of women beingcoerced into arranged marriages, about 62 per cent feltthat their wishes were considered in the selection of theirpartners. Not surprisingly, women from educated familiesand urban women are given more of a say. Women in Biharand Rajasthan, states with the lowest age at marriage, arethe least likely to report having a say in the selection oftheir husbands. Women who have some say in choosingthe groom are also likely to have a longer acquaintance withtheir prospective partners. Among women who reported nothaving a say in the choice of spouse, only 10 per cent mettheir husbands at least a month before the wedding. Amongwomen who had a say, about 30 per cent claimed such anacquaintance.Centrality of Childbearing in Women’s LivesFertility in India has been declining steadily. As measuredby the NFHS, the total fertility rate dropped from 3.7 in1992–3 to 2.7 in 2005–6. Still, childbearing remains centralto women’s lives: as measured by IHDS, 97 per cent womenaged 25 and older had at least one child. Tables A.10.1a andA.10.1b also document differences in fertility across differentsocial groups and across states. In these tables, we focus onwomen aged 40–9 who have largely completed childbearing.Figure 10.1Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.Gap Between Marriage and Cohabitation by Age at Marriage3It is important to note that because our data was collected from women only, much of this discussion has focused on women’s choices, and lackthereof. However, much of this discussion also applies to males who have little opportunity to get to know their wives.