Srinagar: Fiza (name changed) was engaged in 2014 to a techie in Srinagar.
The couple waited for five years before taking wedding vows.
Luck had other things in store for them. Despite being financially stable, both struggled to become parents. It led to marital discord and both decided to end their marriage.
. “I was being constantly tortured by my in-laws. Doctors detected some medical issues which aggravated in the last few years,” she said.
Like Fiza, scores of women in Kashmir go through strained married life for not bearing a child.
Experts say late marriages coupled with stress factors increase the risk of infertility among men and women.
A survey titled `Men and Women in India 2021’ by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) stated that a very less percentage of men and women in Kashmir get married at a suitable age.
Taking an instance of men, the survey highlights that only 8.5 percent of the total men in Jammu and Kashmir are getting married at the age of 21 years.
In 2015, the MoSPI had noticed that 10.5 percent of the men were getting married before 21 years of age.
Why late marriages?
Sociologists claim that financial and social problems and rituals have contributed to the trend of late marriages in Kashmir.
“Commodification of marriage is one of the prime reasons. We follow many rituals and that has made marriage unaffordable for the economically weaker section. Similarly, dowry and unavailability of matches contribute to late marriages,” said Dr. Aftab Rather, professor of sociology at Amar Singh College.
He said that late marriages particularly in Kashmir ultimately lead to other issues as well. “It becomes very difficult for a couple to bear a child when they marry late. A childless couple is being stigmatized in Kashmir. Often marriages break when the couple doesn’t bear a child,” Rather said.
Increasing infertility
The trend of late marriages in Jammu and Kashmir has contributed to increasing infertility among men and women.
National Family Health Survey data for 2019-21 revealed that Jammu and Kashmir had the lowest Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in the country at 1.4. In 1991, the TFR in Jammu and Kashmir was 3.6. It later declined to 2.3 in 2007 and now it has started to ring alarm bells in society.
Dr. Rumisa Mir, Medical officer at Subdistrict Hospital, Chrar-e-Sharief said that a woman’s ability to conceive starts reducing after she turns 35 years of age.
“Many women in the valley now marry in their 30s and want to start a family a few years later. However, by this time the quality of eggs produced by the ovaries has already been affected. There is another aspect to age, which also needs to be looked at. This is the ovarian or sexual age, which is often the cause for premature ovarian failure,” Mir said.
She noted that about one-fourth of infertility cases in women in Kashmir are attributed to ovulation disorders including Polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD).
“These can be triggered by stress, unhealthy eating habits, obesity, exposure to radiation from mobile phones or laptops, or even BPA commonly found in household plasticware or non-stick pans. Women who have erratic periods are more likely to have trouble conceiving naturally,” Mir said.
