SLC-S29/W4-“Thinking and Ideas!| Rethinking the Normal!”
You are right @ninapenda! There is one system that is still going on in rural and tribal areas of India, which is accepted as “normal” simply because it has existed for a long time. I will disclose one such issue for this week's challenges.
Your questions: My answers
Name one practice, belief, or system that people accept as normal but should be questioned.
In the dusty lanes of Indian villages, where ancient traditions weave through modern lives, child marriage persists as a "normal" rite of passage. Families celebrate it with henna, ornaments and auspicious neckbands, viewing it as safeguarding daughters' honor or securing their future. Yet, this deeply rooted practice demands urgent questioning.
Accepted for centuries, it masquerades as cultural inevitability, rooted in poverty, gender norms, and fears of elopement. But if you think of the situation of those girls as young as 15 or 16 or yet to touch the legal age of marriage, robbed of education, their bodies and dreams sacrificed on outdated beliefs.
You see, marriage at a young age is a serious halt, especially in rural areas, as teenage pregnancies claim lives, besides bleak futures. Boys, too, have to shoulder burdens at a young age.
Is this normality or a chain disguised as custom? Yes, it's illegal, but the reports from UNICEF reveal that a good number of Indian women are still getting married before 18, facing serious cycles of illiteracy and inequality. Let me make it clear that I say this, because it isn't fair. It's kind of awakening in favor of those young girls.
Our motto is to empower girls with schools, not spouses, and families with awareness, not rituals. Let us immediately work more seriously to replace it with consent, choice, and a joyful childhood for every young one.
Why do you think people rarely challenge it?
People rarely challenge child marriage due to its deep cultural entrenchment because it passes down as tradition across generations, sanctified by religion and community elders. Social pressure enforces conformity; defying it risks ostracism and being branded as a modern betrayal.
Economic desperation in rural India pushes families to see off daughters early, finding marriage as security for their daughters and getting their duty fulfilled. Lack of education and ignorance of rights and risks, along with weak enforcement of laws like the "Prohibition of Child Marriage Act" in rural and tribal areas. Maybe they send off their daughters in marriage for fear of scandal. We need to break this bad practice by collective courage.
What could improve if this “normal” way changed?
If we can end child marriage, it would transform the lives of rural and tribal girls so they gain education, pursue careers, and break poverty cycles like other girls in India. This will improve their health and result in no teen pregnancies and also fewer maternal deaths.
In India empowered women lead families, boosting economies via skilled labor. We the Indians are a flourishing society with reduced gender inequality, with lots of innovation and harmony. If we could keep a hold on such marriages, India will rise stronger, more equitable, and alive with more potential.
What might be lost if it disappeared completely?
We still have people in certain communities that feel if child marriage disappeared, they fear cultural erosion, ancient rituals, family alliances, and community bonds that grow through weddings will be lost.
Those so-called elders in certain communities worry about lost "purity protection" against modern vices like elopement. In some cases it is the economic "relief" for poor families, as the dowry system still persists. I feel all this is an illusion, as true heritage thrives in educated, consenting unions, not coerced ones. In fact, if we can eradicate this system, nothing vital will be lost, but only the chains disguised as age-old customs.
I invite @muzack1 @josepha and @ahlawat to take part in this contest.
Hi @dove11, welcome to thinking and ideas week 4
This is another striking issue taken as normal all in the name of culture. I believe marriage is of a certain age and should not be imposed on anyone at all. These young ones, are mostly not aware of when the marriage rites were done.
I feel pity for most of them because I have seen where they even cry like babies as they get to their husband's house. This culture just need to be abolished.
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Thanks for verification!
https://x.com/simaodev11/status/2019803836647653801?s=20
Thanks @mahidisalim!!!
Oh my!
Issues like this usually make me feel "perhaps". When it comes to child marriage, culture and religion has a huge role to play.
It's what makes the practice sink deeper into the DNA that doing otherwise feels strange.
Both parents, young men and girls look forward to these ceremonies with glee unaware of the impending danger and potentials crushed by these age-long practices.
But can we blame them?
Can a child who's never seen or heard about a plane dream of becoming a pilot?
It will take a gradual process to resolve this issue. It's not just enough to raise awareness and carry placards.
Change starts when stringent laws are instituted to curtail this menace and policies upheld. Someone made schooling compulsory for every child in my state, now all children both boys and girls attend school, leaving no room for discrimination. I believe this approach will bring good result as well, especially in rural areas where this practiced.
Exactly!
Her family might have instilled values in her that makes her see her purpose beyond traditional female roles. The environment she grew up with and people she interacted with might have enlightened her mind as well.
That's the benefit of having a community of people who are open to good "not-so-conventional" ideas.
I understand that not everyone will share the same view. They'd be people who'd still want to hold on to age-long beliefs. It's not their fault. It's what they grew up believing that doing otherwise unsettles them. It's like a test of their morality.
But enlightenment helps change this. However, when it still meets resistance, stringent laws does the work so victims can seek legal remedies.
Enforcing child protection laws, making it compulsory to register every marriage. That way, underage marriages can be spotted easily.
There's a concept in law that says ubi jus, ibi remedium which means "where there is a right, there is a remedy." If this particular issue isn't prohibited and sanctioned, victims might not be able to turn to the law with their rights are infringed.
I think this should work in all parts of the world if adopted fully.
An inherited "behavioral" habit is certainly based on historical fact and therefore difficult to change, even though some people consider tradition to be fiction, or merely a fabrication of the beliefs of past generations and then carried out as an obligatory mandate.
The tradition of early marriage is not driven by poverty or a means of protection (survival), but rather as a group identity that is accepted and believed to be a social truth and a "guideline for life" for a group. This is because tradition is one of the oldest behaviors in the world, meaning it existed before the country's economy collapsed, even before the nation was formed.
If a tradition is related to religious values, then religion predates the concept of a sovereign state, and most traditions that have developed to this day are behaviors inherited from past kingdoms. I think this is the main reason why changing the norm is so difficult, because it is historical fact, not fiction.
Yes, on the one hand, early marriage is very ironic, and our common sense rejects the continuation of this norm due to the cruelty to adolescents' rights and freedoms, the risk to their lives, and the gender gap. In Indonesia and several other countries, this norm also exists, and it continues to this day.
Thank you, @dove11 , Your interesting article has increased our knowledge and fostered positive thinking. Good luck.
I agree with you but I believe early marriage persists due to deep-rooted cultural and religious ties as you say that predate modern laws. We must admit that while it violates adolescents' rights and health, yet shifting this particular group's norms will depend on community-led education, women's empowerment, and consistent legal enforcement to prioritize individual freedoms over inherited traditions. You will be surprised to know that our present President Mrs. Murmu comes from the same tribal community where early marriage is a common practice. Thank you!
Yes, I've read his profile. This means we face many obstacles in changing society's mindset, at least minimizing this tradition for the sake of protecting teenagers. Education is far more important at that age, before they are burdened with other social statuses.
You are welcome,
..Thank you for your response, sir.