100yrs ago 13yrold girls would be married and starting a family...what changed?

Question

just curious as to why it was acceptable then and not now?

and i'm definately NOT saying it should happen now...just so you know :-p

Answer 1

because people live longer now.

Answer 2

Since that time, we grew tired of 13 year old girls dieing in painful child birth. We also learned that most 13 year olds hadn't yet developed the mental coping skills needed to run a houshold and raise a family.

There was a time when a girl child had no intrinsic value. Parents had to raise money just to marry her off into someone else's houshold.

Since then, we learned the value of a good education, and the value of making mature life decisions. There is nothing "magical" about an arbitrary age of consent, or marrying age or point of adulthood. But having a standard age for these activities to allowed helped control what would otherwise be anarchy and the return to child brides and child labor.

Answer 3

Women didn't get the education they do now so they were through with their schooling by 13. Back then women worked in the home cooking, washing, etc. At 13 they had all the skills they needed to make it in the world so it was time to "leave the nest." Mom & Dad didn't want to support kids if they were old enough to be on their own, or married.

Answer 4

It was not that long ago.If you do a little research a lot of girls get married at an early age . The famous country singer Loretta Lynn was 14 when she married her husband who was 21 at the time.It is just a matter of over protective parents who want to keep their children as children.You get enough people who think the same and in this country you can make it law.

Answer 5

Education and a more detailed life style. Life is in no way as simple as it was 100 years ago. Education requirements are far more higher then they were 100 years ago. Much more growing is needed before marrying and starting a family today, than it was 100 years ago.

Answer 6

I think a hundred years ago work was more important than it is now. People did not live as long and so therefore you had to start a family much earlier in life. I guess in short the answer to your question is technology. A hundred years ago people had to work much harder to achieve the same things that we don't even think about. Think for instance about cooking a meal and how easy it is now compared to what it used to be.

Answer 7

People started living longer and longer and the ability to have children for more years increased too. Maturity takes longer now for some reason as well. Back then 38 years old was OLD!!!! You had one foot in the grave already. Now people live on average to be 70 something at least. I knew one lady who lived to be 110. People had to have children young then or they would have died without any. More women and children died then too.

Answer 8

I am not really sure, but I read somewhere that it was because the death rate was at about 20 - 25..
My Great Great Great Grand Mother was 14 when she had her first child. This was in the 1800's


Try going to Wipedia and you might get an answer..

Answer 9

Because we switched from an agricultural society to a technological society.

In an agricultural society, most people live on farms, and no one needs much education, and so marrying young is a good idea as people might as well hurry up and start doing something useful with their lives.

In a complex technological society, people need many years of education to be able to be a functioning member of society, in our society this requires finishing high school. If people are going to go to school until they're 18, we can't have them marrying at 13.

Answer 10

in todays world we marry for love, and we have a personal choice in our partners. 100 yrs ago people had arranged marriages, based on finacial reasons and based on social status. Yes people didnt live as long as they do now with all the advancements in medical, and i do think lifespan played a role in the ages of people marrying. But i also think that we marry later as most people are still trying to find mr./ mrs right.

Answer 11

100 years ago women were left at the house and were traded like property. That is what happen then we realized how much we bust our butt to make our families survive and started asking for equal rights, and education...funny how education alone can change a whole nation.