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stud~es compared to boys, although the total work load was not s~gn~flcantly d~fferent
between them Thls suggests a lack of senousness In young girls w~th respect to
stud~es Older girls (11-15 years of age) on the other hand, spent more time In stud~es
compared to boys of the same age group, desp~te hanng a s~gn~flcantly h~gher work
load than them Thls shows that girls as they grow, become more respons~ble and
Interested In pursulng education
7.5.6 Influence of menarche on the girl child
It IS known that In many parts of lnd~a girls at and after puberty suffer from a vanety of
restnct~ons and lnh~blt~ons wh~ch anse malnly out of concern for the safety of the girl
chlld Thls lowers the~r soc~al status by restnctlng thew movements and affecting thelr
educat~on In the study area girls were generally restncted after puberty, affect~ng thr~r
soc~al stalus However. ~t d~d not affect thelr educat~on much, slnce a large proport~on
of glrls In the nllage who had atta~ned menarche were found to wntlnue the~r
sctiool~ng
7.5.7 Marriage
The cost and customs related to mamage Influence the soc~al status of a g~rl ch~ld In
areas l~ke Kerala, where the females lnhent wealth, the soc~al status of the glrl chlld IS
not affected by the burden of mamage In most other parts of Ind~a, the soclal status of
a g~rl ch~ld IS lowered to a cons~derabl extent by the dowry system and the consequent
flnanclal burden on the famlly The quantum of the burden can be ~udged by the fact
lhat In the current study, the average expenses assouated wlth a girl's mamage Was
more t9an twlce the average annual Income of a famlly Th~s had to be shouldered by
the )arents alone Although the mamage expenses for a boy In the study nllage was