Scholar: The legal marriage age of 22 for men and 20 for women should be lowered appropriately.
On June 16, the third graduate wedding of Beijing Institute of Technology was held on the campus of the school.
After the founding of New China, China promulgated two marriage laws. The first is the marriage law of 1950. Article 4 stipulates that "men can only get married when they reach the age of 20 and women reach the age of 18". The second part is the marriage law of 1980, which is now the marriage law. Article 6 stipulates: "The age of marriage shall not be earlier than 22 for men and 20 for women." The legal age for marriage is generally determined by considering two factors: natural factors and social factors. Natural factors, that is, the physical, psychological development and intellectual maturity of both men and women, also include factors such as climate and geographical conditions in a certain area. When determining the age of marriage, we should respect the laws of people's natural growth and physiological and psychological development and consider the different physiological and psychological characteristics of men and women. Generally speaking, women are about 0/8 years old and men are about 20 years old. Their physical development is basically mature and they can understand the social and legal significance of marriage. Social factors, that is, the political, economic, cultural and population development needs of the country and nation where the parties are located. Taking the population as an example, lowering the legal age of marriage can shorten the population production cycle and promote population growth; Raising the legal age of marriage can prolong the population production cycle and help control population growth. Different historical periods and different legal marriage ages not only reflect the requirements of natural laws, but also reflect the actual situation of the country and nation at that time.
The author believes that under the current development situation in China, the legal marriage age of 22 for men and 20 for women is no longer suitable for China's national conditions and should be appropriately reduced. There are several reasons:
First, the legal age for marriage in China is on the high side. It is a common practice all over the world to stipulate the legal age of marriage. According to their own national conditions, countries have set different legal marriage ages. For example, Denmark, Poland, and some States in the United States stipulate that men should be 2 1 year old and women should be 18 year old; Switzerland and Vietnam stipulate that men are twenty years old and women are eighteen; Germany, Russia and Singapore stipulate that both men and women are eighteen years old; Japan, Romania and Pakistan stipulate that men should be 18 years old and women should be 16 years old. From the horizontal comparison, we can see that the legal age for marriage in China is the highest among all countries. Compared vertically, China's 1980 Marriage Law, in line with the family planning policy at that time, raised the legal marriage age stipulated in the 1950 Marriage Law by two years for the purpose of properly controlling population growth. It can be said that the current legal age for marriage is also the highest in the history of China.
Second, lowering the legal age of marriage is the need of China's current population policy. Since the founding of New China, the evolution of China's population policy has roughly gone through the following stages: First, from the founding of New China to 1957, from objectively encouraging fertility to gradually advocating birth control. In the early days of the founding of New China, the government encouraged family planning. China's population surged from 400 million in the first census in 1954 to 600 million, which brought pressure to society. The government advocates birth control. 1970 to 199 1 is the period of adjustment and perfection of family planning policy, and 199 1 to 20 13 is the period of stable development of family planning policy. The current legal age for marriage and the regulations to encourage late marriage and childbearing mainly serve the family planning policy to control the excessive population growth; However, since the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", the growth momentum of China's total population has slowed down significantly, the working-age population and women of childbearing age have decreased significantly, the degree of social aging has intensified, and the people's fertility wishes have undergone major changes. In order to cope with these major changes, the birth policy of "two children alone" in 20 13 and "two children in an all-round way" in 20 16 means that the goal of population and family planning work has shifted from controlling the number to promoting the long-term balanced development of the population. Under this historical background, appropriately lowering the legal age of marriage has become a choice.
Third, lowering the legal age of marriage is conducive to changing the current phenomenon of high age of first marriage and late childbearing. The data of the third and sixth population censuses show that the average age of first marriage in China has increased from 23.70 years in 1982 to 25.97 years in 20 10. In addition, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, from 1990 to 20 17, the average age of first marriage of women of childbearing age in China increased from 2 1.4 to 25.7, and the average age of first childbearing also increased from 23.4 to 26.8. The increasing age of first marriage and late childbearing is directly related to the high legal age of marriage and the stipulation that "late marriage and late childbearing should be encouraged" in China's marriage law. Therefore, it is urgent to change the excessively high legal age of marriage and abolish the provisions in the law that encourage late marriage and late childbearing.
Fourth, in real life, there is a phenomenon that both men and women live together and have children because they cannot register for marriage because they have not reached the legal age for marriage. This phenomenon is universal in some areas of our country, which often leads to disputes and even vicious incidents. Appropriately lowering the legal age of marriage will help these people to conclude a legally protected marriage relationship and protect the rights and interests of women and children.
Marriage is the foundation of family, and family is the cell of society. The harmony and stability of marriage and family is the foundation of social harmony and stability. To determine the legal age of marriage, we should comprehensively consider natural factors and social factors. The author believes that it is more appropriate to stipulate that men should be over 20 years old and women should be over 18 years old in the marriage and family series of the civil code. Of course, there are also views that most adults around the age of 20 are in the period of receiving higher education and postgraduate education, have no economic income and affordability, or have just entered the society and have insufficient social experience, so it is difficult to bear the responsibility of marriage and family. From the perspective of personal academic and career development, it is not suitable to get married. Admittedly, based on the analysis of comprehensive social survey data of China in 20 10, 20 12, 20 13 and 20 15 years, there is a significant positive correlation between the years of education and the age of first marriage, that is, the appropriate years of education and the improvement of education level are important factors to improve the age of first marriage, and reduce the age of first marriage. However, it needs to be clear that the legal age for marriage is the age at which the parties can get married according to law, not the age at which the parties must get married, and not the age at which the parties are most suitable for marriage; Whether to get married or not depends on the specific situation of the parties. Lowering the legal age of marriage can give more people the right to get married. Whether you have rights or not and whether you exercise them are two different issues.