1 Mean Age (years) Husband Wife Mean age at the Husband 2
consummation of marriage Wife 3 Average duration of married life (years) 4 Average number of pregnancies 5 Number of live births 6 Number of living children 7 Mean age at the birth of first child 8 Average interval between the age at 9
consummation of marriage and first birth (years) Average interval between the first and subsequent births (months) S.
Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents Surveyed Characteristics Scheduled Caste Non-Scheduled Caste N = 128 N = 72 Mean Age (yeas) Husband 29.71 30.14 Wife Mean age at the 26.32 26.53
consummation of marriage Husband 22.43 25.30 Wife 19.07 19.73 Average duration of 15.21 13.07 married life (years) Average number of 3.54 2.97 pregnancies Number of live births 3.46 2.89 Number of living children 3.05 2.63 Mean age at the birth 20.17 22.29 of first child Average interval between the 1.52 1.66 age at
consummation of marriage and first birth (years) Average interval between 19.14 29.40 the first and subsequent births (months) Source: Field Work, 2012.
There is no reason to suppose that an expert womanizer like January approaches the physical
consummation of marriage with `growing apprehension' (p.
Conventional history narrates an incremental process of social enlightenment: widow immolation was banned in 1829, widow remarriage became legal in 1856, female infanticide was prohibited in 1870, the age of consent for
consummation of marriage was raised from eight to twelve years in 1892, and so on.
Inasmuch as consent was taken for granted, sexual relations represented the consummation of marriage. This was most clearly articulated by the Bolognese or Italian school in the twelfth century, following the views of Gratian.
Even before the birth of a child, however, medical science could provide an objective sign of the consummation of marriage. In a culture for which the virginity of the female partner was assumed, evidence of sexual intercourse constituted an objective sign, surer than consent, that the marriage knot had been tied (cf.
Within the patriarchal societies of the dominantly Christian West, "the
consummation of marriage was [viewed as] the supreme act of obedience." Thought of as a female religious practice, men usually resisted spiritual marriage, either before or after consummation of the marriage and the birth of one or more children.
He makes this equation of symbol unmistakably and astoundingly concrete when he says, "Whether it be to the wife in the
consummation of marriage, or to the church in the offering of the one sacrifice, the masculine-nuptial self-donation or sacrifice is exclusive and permanent."
The description of the marriage process in our document is undoubtedly partial, as it jumps from the qasala ceremony to the
consummation of marriage in the husband's tent.
Consummation of marriage, however, as the case of Ursina studied by Cecilia Cristellon in her second contribution to the collection shows, was not by itself the only condition for legitimating a marriage.
Last month a Saudi marriage official who appeared in LBC channel, said that girls can be married off by their fathers even when they are toddlers, but the
consummation of marriage has to wait until she becomes 9 years old.