When Should Women Get Married? Timing Attitudes and the Law in India

The present study examined the timing attitude of participants regarding women’s marriageable age, and their opinion on the recent move to raise the legal age of marriage for women. Data were collected from 255 participants using an opinionnaire and both quantitative and qualitative analysis were employed. Results show that men lean toward a younger age for women to marry than their female counterparts. Similarly, most of the female participants agreed to the move to raise the legal marriageable age for females. Further qualitative explorations revealed the ideational factors influencing timing attitudes on women’s marriageable age. Findings were discussed with a focus on women’s timing preference for entrance to marriage and why the law alone cannot be considered sufficient to ensure women’s equality in the real sense in the present Indian context.