Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

Bangladesh is one of the world’s densely populated countries which have a population of about
163187000 (2017 estimate) with a corresponding population density of more than 1106 persons
per square kilometer (2011 census). About 86.6% of the total population of Bangladesh is
Muslim (Wikipedia). The total fertility rate is 2.17 children per woman (2017 estimate).
Child marriage is defined as a formal marriage or informal union entered into by an individual
before reaching a certain age, specified by some global organizations as high as the age of 18.
Child marriage is related to child betrothal, and it includes civil cohabitation and court approved
early marriages after teenage pregnancy. In many cases, only one marriage-partner is a child,
usually the female. Causes of child marriages include poverty, bride price, dowry, cultural
traditions, laws that allow child marriages, religious and social pressures, regional customs, fear
of remaining unmarried, illiteracy, and perceived inability of women to work for money.
Actually, marriage is a universal social institution through which an adult male and an adult
female generally involves in marriage relationship and acquires new social status as a husband
and wife. But, such an important social institution brings some numerous problem to a couple
especially women, when it happens at an early age. Early marriage which is also referred to as
child marriage is common all over the globe and has inflicted dangerous and devastating effects
on young children (especially females) who are completed to tie the knot in most cases. While
the age at marriage is generally on the rise, early marriage-marriage of children and adolescents
below the age of 18 is still widely practiced.
Early marriage of female children is rampant in Bangladesh, especially in slum areas, where
there is a noticeable lack of back infrastructure, services and basic shelter. Those areas are
characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. For female, the
problem of early marriage is acute not only in slum areas but throughout the country as well.
State’s legal provision on minimum age at first marriage in Bangladesh generally is 18 years for
female to access in marriage relationship. The average age at first marriage for female in
Bangladesh is 16.0 years (BBS, 2011). Early marriage is more frequent for female than their
male counterparts. In rural Bangladesh there are many social pressures to marry of pubescent
girls. If the marriage of a pubescent girl is delayed, her parents and sometimes the girl herself are
made to feel guilty. Similar scenarios are more common in slum areas.
Poverty is one of the major factors under pining early marriages. Where poverty is acute, a
young girl may be regarded as an economic burden and parents looking for early marriage of
their daughters as an alternative way of reducing the burden. Bangladesh is a developing country
where industrialization starts to begin in the recent year. When industrialization takes place, the
urbanization starts. The growth of cities has always been accompanied by the growth of slums,

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where a huge number of people live. Deteriorating socio-economic conditions of slum dwellers
is a major cause of unstable and fragile life of the women living there.
Early marriage also has implications for the well-being of families, and for society as a whole. It
extends a women’s potential childbearing capacity, which itself represents a risk to mother. Late
marriage always cut the reproductive span of a woman and when marriage has occurred at an
earlier age then she has more time to produce birth throughout her reproductive life span.
Under these circumstances, early marriage may bring some physical and mental complexities to
the mothers. Progress made by Bangladesh regarding this issue, especially those factors that are
related to early marriage and sequentially early conception has extremely slow However, no
systematic effort till date has been strongly undertaken by civil society organizations (CSOs) and
public or private organizations as well. In this study, an attempt was made to analyze
Comprehensively early marriage and conception of women based on findings of interviews
conducted with 100 ever-married women from five slum areas under meherpur city, Bangladesh.
The present study has tried to delineate these issues across different socio-economic conditions
of the respondents.
The study also revealed that education, family’s monthly income, religion are the most
influential factors in determining the likelihood of early age at marriage and conception as well.
This present study will try to find out not only the socio demographic but also the economic
factors of early marriage in Bangladesh.

1.2 Causes of early marriage and early conception

Early marriage and early conception can arise due to a number of reasons such as these:

 Poverty
 Religious reasons
 Gender bias promotes early marriage of girls
 Lack of education
 Religious reasons
 Myths and misconceptions about early marriage
 Pressures from older members of the family and community
 Social pressure in some parts of the world
 To raise the economic and social status

1.3 Problem of early marriage and early conception

There are numerous problems a couple can face when marriage happens at an early age for them.
Early marriage and early conception which is also referred to as child marriage is common all
over the globe and has inflicted dangerous and devastating effects on young children who are
compelled to tie the knot in most cases.

Responsibility: Responsibility has to be shouldered at a very young age. One has to take on
household responsibilities, child rearing responsibility etc. There is no adult to guide or help out
in case the Couple are living alone.

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Teenage Life: Missing out on the fun of teenage life and being young. The drudgeries of married
life can get on to the unmatured minds. This affects the overall growth of individuals and in most
of cases they do not turn up to be aresponsible citizens.

Divorce: Breakdown of marriage is possible. Often the young couples are immature to shoulder
major responsibilities of life and end up fighting with each other. Adjustment problems may
arise primarily after childbirth which could be either financial or responsibility.

Education: The young couple may not be able to pursue higher education as they have to take
on the responsibilities of family budget. About 50% of the women who are pregnant in their
teens only complete their high school education in USA whereas 90% women complete it who
never got pregnant in their teens.

Children Life: According to CDC, children born out of teenage mothers tend to drop out of high
school, get lower scores at school, suffer from health issues, unemployment and they themselves
are prone to be married early.

Health: Health also can get affected as early pregnancy can have a negative impact on overall
health primarily for women.

1.4 objective of the study

 To promote marital and family harmony.

 To provide a platform for fighting against misuse of dowry laws.
 To provide legal, psychosocial and emotional support to the innocent persons who are
affected by malicious implication through dowry laws
 To safe guard interests of Elder’s and their respect in society and discourage elder abuse
through dowry related laws.
 To work to ensure speedy trial and justice to all.
 To predict the determinants of age at marriage of the respondents under study

1.5 Outline of the study

The entire report has been segmented into five chapters: Chapter 2 reviews the literature about
past work data. These works are specific literature study, purposes of the literature
review.Chapter 3 idea about methods and materials, data collection, study variable. Chapter 4
related to results and discussion. Chapter 5 related to summary and conclusion.

1.6 Computations
Regardless of their origin, machine learning, and time series analysis techniques must be
implemented on a computer. Through the sophisticated statistical packages, computer technology
made the implementation step easier.

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1.7 Scope and limitations of the study
The limitations of this work include the following:

Time: Time cannot be over emphasized when talking of limitations of this study because it was one of
the major hindrances the researcher faced during this study.

Finance/fund: This was the greatest limitation or hindrance the re searcher en counted on the course of
this work. A lot of fund was needed to carry out this work perfectly.

Respondents: It was not easy per say for him to convince then (respondents) that the study is
merely on academic exercise due to the high level of illiteracy among the people of the area in
the sense that majority of their representatives/functionaries does not know the particular year.
Thus , in spite of the above limitations, in this project we could be able to achieve his objectives
by prioritizing this study to other of his activities because of time, using of interpreters on
respondents because of high rate of illiteracy and effective and efficient use of the little resources
in his possession. Meanwhile data collection went smoothly in spite of the above
challenges, presumably because the interviewers were hired/recruited locally and known to the
respondents.

1.8 Conclusion
Early marriage which is also referred to as child marriage is common all over the globe and has
inflicted dangerous and devastating effects on young children (especially females) who are
completed to tie the knot in most cases. The average age at first marriage for female in
Bangladesh is 16.0 years (BBS, 2011). Early marriage is more frequent for female than their
male counterparts. In rural Bangladesh there are many social pressures to marry of pubescent
girls. If the marriage of a pubescent girl is delayed, her parents and sometimes the girl herself are
made to feel guilty. Poverty is one of the major factors under pining early marriages. The study
also revealed that education, family’s monthly income, religion are the most influential factors in
determining the likelihood of early age at marriage and conception as well. this present study
will try to find out not only the socio demographic but also the economic factors of early
marriage in Bangladesh.