"Child marriage is a common phenomenon in India and many parts of the world today. I grew up hearing about my grandma and aunts getting married at a very young age. I did not bat an eye because it was so prevalent in my community. Everyone’s grandma got married at the age of twelve or thirteen in my Indian community, it was normal. The women in my family sat at the dinner table and recalled the day they got married as children as if it was “normal.” That’s what they were expected to do. There was only one expectation and one goal for women, which was to get married and have children. My grandma go married to my grandfather when she was fourteen years old, and my grandfather at the time was twenty-eight years old. When I heard about the age difference, it blew my mind. How can someone marry their daughter at such a young age to someone double their age? The practice of early marriage might not be as extreme today, but it is still a practice that haunts women all over the world. My cousins who are around my age live in India. We grew up playing together when I visited back home. During my senior year of high, I was told that my cousin was getting married. We were both seventeen years old. Now I have the privilege of attending Cornell University, while she is raising her daughter as a housewife. For her, the expectation was family and kids. Girls deserve to go to school and get an education to pursue the life that they want to live. Marrying them off is not the solution."
- Anonymous
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