Purpose: Girls' education is a critical pathway to delay early marriage. We examine the symbolic and apparent value of girls' education as a transitional moment to their marriage and a de facto space to control their sexuality.
Methods: This paper draws on qualitative analysis from an impact evaluation of a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme, Apni Beti Apna Dhan (implemented between 1994-1998), designed to enhance girls' value and delay early marriage, in Haryana, India. The research was conducted in 2010-2015, using a quasi-experimental study design, with about 10,000 beneficiary and eligible nonbeneficiary girls, 18 years after the first set of beneficiaries enrolled in the Conditional Cash Transfer could encash the benefit, if they had remained unmarried. The qualitative analysis covered 124 girls and their mothers, to understand the gendered context of their lives and aspirations around education and marriage. The study was conducted by team of researchers from International Center for Research on Women, including the authors.
Results: Education is considered key to enhance girls' prospects for marriage. The intrinsic benefits of education may enable some girls to chart better life trajectories, though its value is largely understood within a bounded space of girls' marriageability. The persistent focus on marriage, structures girls' daily school routines bounded by strict restrictions and scrutiny around their mobility, sexuality, and conduct.
Conclusions: The potential for girls to explore new freedoms and opportunities through education is curtailed by unyielding gendered restrictions and rigid social hierarchies. A nuanced understanding of educations and its role in girls' marriage is key to reshaping educational programs for girls' empowerment.
Keywords: Age of marriage; Conditional Cash Transfers; Gender norms; Girls' education; Girls' empowerment; India; Norms around sexuality.
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