Impact of British Colonial Gender Reform on Early Female Marriages and Gender Gap in Education: Evidence from Child Marriage Abolition Act, 1929

Sutanuka Roy () and Eddy Tam ()
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Sutanuka Roy: ANU - Australian National University
Eddy Tam: King‘s College London

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Abstract: The British colonial government set the minimum age at first marriage for females at 14 years in British India in 1929. It was not implemented until 1930, six months after its announcement. Using the princely states as a control group, we employ a difference-indifferences strategy to estimate the causal impact of abolishing female child marriage below the age of 14. Analyzing historical census data from 1911 to 1981, we find an anticipation effect: female child marriages increased in 1931 but declined sharply in the post-independence period. In the affected regions, underage female marriages declined, and female educational attainment increased in the long term.

Keywords: Education; Development; History; Marriage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
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