How are we just raising marriage age to 18?

[Whattodonut]

Just that. Amazing its taken so long!

18 is fine as a cut off, as it's in line with many other things. I would prefer there was an additional caveat that those marrying between 18&20 cannot marry people from overseas and the groom can be a maximum of 3 years older to stop coerced marriages from overseas

Women were allowed to get married at 16 because if they then got pregnant, the baby was assumed to be their husband’s, so they were respectable’.

I wonder if the girls being married off at 16 ever get to progress to 6th form, university etc? Hopefully this law will keep them in school for longer.

@TallulahBetty

That 2 under 18s wouldn't be prosecuted unless the younger 1 was under 16

It was only 16 with parents permission to be fair. I guess it was to allow for some cultural marriages which are younger

I'm from a main UK culture and got married when I was 17. We later divorced, but I'm none the worse for the experience.

If that is the case then it is one of those laws that only affect those that weren’t abusing it

The family who want to sell off their daughters will go ahead and still do so

I met and married Dh before I was 18

I knew loads of girls who married at 16 and 17
i knew 17year olds who had 1 or 2 or even 3 children (twins) by the time they were 18

I think it was a different era.

People were already married and working and paying for themselves by 18
I had my own place a job and was looking after myself at 16
I couldn’t imagine still being treated as a child at that age

Agree. Can't see why anyone marries at 16, but it seems completely out of kilter with age of consent and all of these things!

Age limits definitely are not arbitrary. They are needed for child protection. Anyway if someone is bothered about getting married before having a baby they will have to wait until they are old enough I guess... Probably not a great idea to have a baby at 16, whether married or not.

For me I couldn’t think of anything worse.

What if someone is done with education.
What effect from going to sit in a classroom each day being bored to tears do.
I know as someone who was married before 18 I was done with schooling at 14. If I could have left then I would have done better than sitting for the next 2 years having people tell me each day I was not doing well because I didn’t do the homework that seemed to take up all my free time and how shitmy life would be without O levels

It did more harm than good. I didn’t learn anything I just ended up depressed

@Kennykenkencat - as you point out it was a different era.

However, this is a necessary step to avoid naive young women from all over the world being brought here and being married to a much older man in a country where she does not have rights as an adult. It is extremely exploitative and I'm glad it has been prevented.

Probably the reason I married Dh when I did.

The legal and financial protection it can offer in the right circumstances, for one thing. Not every teenager in such a dire situation has a support network ready made from their own family, many are almost as vulnerable as their baby.

Of course, we have to draw the line somewhere. I have always wondered at the disparity between 16 and 18 under the law, but maybe it's because stopping 16 year old leaving home, having sex, choosing a desired career etc are not things you can stop.

Agree with both of you.

I was in work full time at 16 years old. In this context the marriage age did make sense. We were treated as adults from 16 years old, inexperienced adults, but adults. I am in my late fifties, so not that long ago.
But even back then there was a stigma with early marriage. It was seen the same as teenage pregnancy now, legal, but a sign something was not right.

26yr old are children? 🤔

I assume the 26 is a typo and is supposed to be 16.

Yes mumsnet is obsessed with brains not being fully developed untill.25 ,I was a fully qualified mental health nurse at 22 and there is a huge difference between a,16 year old and a person in their early 20,s

Agree. a late 30's woman tried to pick up ds's 17 year old friend and so many people just said, well it is legal. It might have been but he was for various reasons a vulnerable young person

But there are countries that have a lower age of marriage and it won’t stop the marriage. It will just push them on to countries who don’t have any help available to the girls to get away

I say a different era but Dd left school what seems like years ago but she sees on her SM people from her class still in education and dd can not even contemplate going back.
She has her own business, her own flat which she rents out and her own car etc

Glad this law wasn't in place when me and DH got married at just turned 17.
To be fair, we didn't start a family until we were 23 due to me going to university and starting my career.

I have met 16 year olds who act like 10 year olds and 16 year olds who have more common sense than some 30 year olds

@Kennykenkencat - what happens elsewhere is not something we can do much about.

Your daughter can still do all of those empowering things can she not? It's a good balance to stop a harmful thing happening and being exploited in the UK,

I don’t understand why we just don’t have an age where you become an adult, with everything being legal then. For decades we’ve had this ridiculous scenario where you could have sex and get married at 16 with parental permission, but not legally drink champagne at your wedding. You can ride a motorcycle or moped at 16, but you have to wait until you’re 17 to drive a car - which is now a year before you’re legally allowed to leave education or training. A few years back, you could still buy tobacco and fireworks at 16, but not alcohol.

Surely it would make sense to say “On your 18th birthday you become an adult. If it’s legal you can do/buy/drive it”?

No stigma in my area. Some did get pregnant early on but some didn’t and just wanted to set up a home with 2 salaries so by the time they were 18 they had been in work for 2years and had enough for the solicitors fees, survey etc and maybe a bit toward the cost of the flat or a bit to do any work that needed doing.

@JunkinDonuts

Surely you could have just waited a year?