#mary john

[carpediemduude]

Mary John

[coldwolfnightmare]

[wingedfableexpert]

@wingedfableexpert

[ms-sweaty-hands]

“Face it, tiger... You just hit the jackpot!”

(Clean Ver.)

Mary John and Spider-Mark just belong to each other, and you cannot tell me otherwise.

[indizombie]

There are two statistics in NFHS-5 that ought to be a much greater source of worry for the Assam government and for all who care for girls and women. Women’s job opportunities in the state declined sharply over the previous decade, and the sex ratio at birth in urban Assam is worryingly low at 916 girls per 1,000 boys. In the face of such facts, why is “child marriage” becoming the state’s number one law-and-order problem? Putting husbands, fathers or priests in jail will not empower women or stop underage marriage. It will only make women even more vulnerable, encourage concealment, and strengthen prejudices against minorities and the poor.

Mary John, ‘Assam’s crackdown on child marriages is driven more by politics than concern for women’, Indian Express

[carpediemduude]

Mary John

[indizombie]

The one statistic that sets Assam apart, which may explain the sudden adoption of “zero tolerance”, is that of religion. As per NFHS-5, while the proportion of underage marriages among Hindus in Assam at 23.5 per cent is close to the national average (23.2 per cent), the figures for Muslims (45.8 per cent) and Christians (23.8 per cent) are much higher than their respective national averages of 26.4 per cent and 15.2 per cent. All India figures show that early marriage is strongly concentrated amongst the poorest classes, and this is even more so in Assam, with 42 per cent underage marriages in the poorest 20 per cent poverty class. Poverty and minority religious community identity are closely linked — while 51 per cent Muslims are in the poorest poverty class, only 31 per cent Hindus occupy the same.

Mary John, ‘Assam’s crackdown on child marriages is driven more by politics than concern for women’, Indian Express