Increasing Age At Marriage in Rural Maharashtra, India
Update 1
Can
Life Skills Interventions Effectively Raise the Age at Marriage?
The Issue Adolescent girls are vulnerable to social and health risks that
necessitate special attention being paid to this group. One such risk
that perseveres in much of the world, including rural Maharashtra where
the Institute for Health Management-Pachod (IHMP) is based, is early
marriage. An extensive community-based study carried out by IHMP in
1998-9 showed that the median age at marriage for girls in Aurangabad
district, rural Maharashtra, was alarmingly low at 14.5 years. Another
important issue that emerged from this and other IHMP studies is the
lack of educational opportunities for young girls: due to safety
concerns, parents stop formal education for daughters if the school is
outside the village. After discussions with parents, IHMP designed and
is conducting a one-year life skills course for unmarried adolescent
girls. The course aims to improve girls' self-esteem and literacy, and
delay marriage.
The Life Skills Program at a Glance
Objectives
1.
Improve the social status of
adolescent girls by developing skills related to gender, legal
literacy, and team-building.
2.
Improve adolescent girls' health
status by increasing their cognitive and practical skills in
health and nutrition.
3.
Promote self-development and
increase self-confidence and self-esteem through involvement in
a community project, as well as arts and craft.
4.
To delay age at marriage for
adolescent girls by achieving all the above.
Structure: A
one-year course, 1 hour each weekday evening, taught by a
trained village woman with at least a 7th grade education. A
total of 225 one-hour sessions, divided into 5 sections: Social
Issues & Institutions; Local Bodies; Life Skills; Child Health
and Nutrition; Health.
Target group: Unmarried adolescent girls ages 12-18 years, with
a focus on out-of-school and working adolescents.
Current status of program: 300
rural girls already participated in the course. 2000 girls from
72 villages and 30 slums in Pune city currently enrolled.
Data and Methodology
Data were collected at baseline in 1998-99, using both qualitative and
quantitative methods. A quasi-experimental design is being used to study
the impact of the life skills intervention. For the first round of the
intervention, 17 study and 18 control villages are being compared.
Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression is being used to examine
the effect of the intervention on age at marriage. To examine trends
over time, annual data on age at marriage has been collected in the
study villages since 1997.
Impact
of Life Skills Intervention on Age at Marriage - Some Key Results:
Attendance in life
skills classes:
Attendance
No. of girls
% married <18yrs
Adjusted OR+
Complete
166
9.1
1 (reference)
Partial
243
22.6
2.42*
None
737
29.3
2.58*
N=1146; *p<0.05;
+Adjusted for girls’ age, current
schooling status, education, SES, family type, mother’s
education, parents’ occupation
Analysis from the first
round of the life skills intervention shows a significant impact on age
at marriage. From the sample of 1146 girls, only 9% of the girls who
completed the course were married before the age of 18 years, compared
to almost one-third of the girls who never attended. Logistic regression
shows that, controlling for background characteristics, girls who never
attended the course were more than two-and-a-half times more likely to
get married before age 18 compared to girls who completed the course.
Girls who attended partially married earlier than those who completed
the course, but even partial attendance provided some protection against
early marriage compared to those who never attended.
Exposure to life skills
intervention: An analysis of determinants of early marriage among girls
in the control and study areas shows that, after controlling for
background characteristics, girls in the control area were almost 4
times more likely to be married before age 18 than girls in the
intervention area.
Trends in age at marriage
over time in study villages: Data on age at marriage in study villages
between 1997-2001 shows a decrease in proportions of girls marrying
before age 18, and an increase in the median age at marriage of 1 year.
While other factors may also be at work, this trend supports the
evidence that the life skills program in this area has contributed to
delaying marriage.
Current Developments and Next Steps
The life skills curriculum has
been strengthened and enrollment expanded to respond to increased
community demand.
The course has been extended from
rural to urban areas in Maharashtra.
Ongoing analysis will detail the
changes in cognitive and practical skills among adolescents
participating in the program.
IHMP presented preliminary results
to the Government of Maharashtra, which is considering adopting,
adapting, and expanding this program throughout the state.
The project:
Since 1999, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
is collaborating with partners in India on multi-site intervention
studies on adolescent reproductive health in India. The partners are
Christian Medical College (CMC), the Institute for Health Management (IHMP),
Swaasthya, KEM Hospital Research Centre, and the Foundation for Research
in Health Systems (FRHS). The project is supported by the Rockefeller
Foundation.
IHMP is based in
Pachod, rural Maharashtra, with an office in Pune city. The 1-year life
skills course for adolescents profiled here is part of a broader program
aimed at addressing young girls' needs, and includes sexuality
education, anemia prevention, and improving reproductive health. This
work is funded by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.
For more information
on this project contact:
Institute for
Health Management, Pachod (IHMP)
Dr. Ashok Dyalchand, Director
Ms. Manisha Khale, Deputy Director
Pachod 431121, Maharashtra, India
Tel: 91-2431-221383 / 91-2431-221416
ihmpp_agd@sancharnet.net.in
mkhale@sancharnet.in
Dr. Rohini Pande,
Project Director
1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 302
Washington, DC 20036 USA
Tel: 1-202-7970007; rpande@icrw.org
Ms. Sunayana Walia, Reproductive Health Specialist
42, 1st floor, Golf Links, New Delhi - 110006
