21 years too high for marriage

At 15, I was still an immature secondary school student without the slightest thoughts of marriage in mind. I did not even know what career path I wanted to follow. All I strived for were good grades that would push me from one class to another and please my struggling single parent at home.

Although the idea of having a boyfriend seemed exciting, and would pop into my head time and again, that too, was a no-no; at least by the standards of the home I grew up in.

I guess it is with this background that even though the country’s laws allow it, I would never support the idea of a 15-year-old getting married, with or without the consent of their parents or guardians.

My opinion is that at 15, a human being is still growing up, still discovering their way into life and in need of guidance.

Odds are that at that age, a boy or girl is still studying and cannot secure employment whose earnings can help them fend for themselves; so, there is less incentive to rush into a marriage without financial security.

But another important aspect of going beyond 15 is that one should wait until such a time when they have become more mature and developed individual goals and values that shape their life.

I don’t think that after 15 years of living on earth, one would have acquired some crucial life experiences that could inform the decision of who their Mr or Mrs Right could be.

Which is why I totally agree with those who advocate that the country’s marriage laws be revised upwards, age-wise. However, I somehow disagree with the idea of raising the age from 18 to 21, for those that don’t require parental consent.

While I support the idea of scraping laws allowing marriage before someone reaches the age of 18, I have issues with pushing the age beyond 18.

Eighteen is, in my opinion, not a bad age because at 18 one is thought to be mature enough to exercise their voting right. At 18, people across the world can join the military and assume adult rights such as smoking and drinking alcohol.

So, if people are deemed adults to decide on government issues through a vote; if people can join the military at 18; if they are trusted and given what are considered adult rights and are expected to behave like adults, why not allow them to marry at the same age?

There is an argument that at 18, young people are most likely pursuing tertiary education, but several factors such as poverty bar many youths in this country from attaining that level of education.  And while tertiary education seems ideal for everyone, it does not apply universally to everyone. It would, therefore, be unfair to tie everyone’s marriage aspirations to a legal requirement that forces them to wait until 21.

Marriage laws need to be revised, yes, but the part that needs revision is that which pushes children aged between 15 and 17 into marriages. Taking the age further to 21 could be unfair to other people.