Why would a mother allow her 16 year old daughter to get married?

Lots of reasons. Here are a few off the top of my head -

• The daughter is pregnant
  
• The daughter is dying
  
• The daughter or the future son-in-law (or both) is about to deploy to a war zone
  
• The mother is dying and wants to see her child wed before her death
  
• It's an arranged marriage, in a culture which looks favorably upon young marriages
  
• The daughter or the future son-in-law (or both) has taken a job or Peace Corps assignment or the like and will be out of the country for a few years
  
• The daughter is in a sexual relationship and the mother insists on that only happening within the context of marriage
  
• Something I'm not thinking of
  
• None of your business

It used to be very common for girls to marry right after high school, at a time when few girls went on to college. Most of the girls who did marry were 17-18 years of age and a few were even 16 years.

Girls and boys also married when it looked like the boy was going to be drafted into the military. Of course, in a time of war, married or not the boy had to go off to service.

The age of 16, today sounds a bit young to me. However, in the USA, some cultures approve of 16 year old girls being married, especially if they're expecting a baby.

The age of consent, and the earliest age that people can marry, has been 16 in Great Britain since 1929 (before that it was 12 for females and 14 for males, and these ages remained in Ireland until 1975). Parental (or court) consent was required until the age of majority, which was 21 until 1970 (1985 in Ireland), and 18 after that. Of course marriage at the earliest possible age has always been rare. There was much outrage in Britain when Jerry Lee Lewis arrived for a 1958 tour with his 13 year old wife, who was also his first cousin once removed.

I believe that in some states in the US, parents can give permission for marriages for people under 16.

In some other countries, children are promised to each other and that is a commitment that cannot be broken.

Now I've got to look up when Elvis and Priscella got hitched. . . .

Why do you ask?

agree with your opinion..