Child marriage | Girls not Brides

                                                   CHILD MARRIAGE (GIRLS NOT BRIDE)

What is child marriage? Child Marriage is defined as a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married.

 WHY DOES CHILD MARRIAGE HAPPEN?

At its heart, child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and the belief that girls and women are somehow inferior to boys and men. Child marriage is a complex issue. Poverty, lack of education, cultural practices, and insecurity fuel and sustain the practice.

But drivers will vary from one community to the next and the practice may look different across regions and countries, even within the same country. Some reasons behind child marriage:

• GENDER INEQUALITY

In many communities where child marriage is practised, girls are not valued as much as boys – they   are seen as a burden on their family. Marrying your daughter at a young age can be viewed as a way to ease economic hardship by transferring this ‘burden’ to her husband’s family. Child marriage is also driven by patriarchal values and the desire to control female sexuality, for instance, how a girl should behave, how she should dress, who she should be allowed to see, to marry, etc .Families closely guard their daughters’ sexuality and virginity in order to protect the family honour. Girls who have relationships or become pregnant outside of marriage are shamed for bringing dishonour on their family.

• TRADITION

Child marriage is a traditional practice that in many places happens simply because it has happened for generations. In some communities, when girls start to menstruate, they become women in the eyes of the community. Marriage is therefore the next step towards giving a girl her status as a wife and mother.

Harmful traditional practices can be linked to each other. In southern Ethiopia for instance, child marriage usually follows the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting, which is considered a rite of passage to womanhood. 

Traditional practices often go unquestioned because they have been part of a community’s life and identity for a very long time. But as Graça Machel, widow of Nelson Mandela, says, traditions are made by people – and people can unmake them. 

• POVERTY

More than half of girls from the poorest families in the developing world are married as children. [4] Where poverty is acute, families and sometimes girls themselves believe that marriage will be a solution to secure their future.

Giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce family expenses by ensuring they have one less person to feed, clothe and educate. Families may also see investing in their son’s education as more worthwhile investment. In some cases marriage of a daughter is a way to repay debts, manage disputes, or settle social, economic and political alliances.

In communities where a dowry or ‘bride price’ is paid, it is often welcome income for poor families; in those where the bride’s family pays the groom a dowry, they often have to pay less money if the bride is young and uneducated. 

• INSECURITY

Many parents marry their daughters young because they feel it is in her best interest, often to ensure her safety in areas where girls are at high risk of harassment and physical or sexual assault.

Child marriage can increase in humanitarian crises, such as in conflict or after a natural disaster. When families face even greater hardship, they may see child marriage as a coping mechanism in the face of poverty and violence. Nine out of the ten countries with the highest child marriage rates are considered fragile states.

IMPACT OF CHILD MARRIAGE:

                                               Child “marriage” is a human rights violation that impacts women and girls, along with their families and communities, in a variety of overlapping ways. Regardless of where in the world she lives, child “marriage” deprives a girl of a future in which she can reach her full potential and furthers a dangerous cycle of oppression and harm.

Marriage dramatically limits a girl’s access to education, and education levels are among the strongest predictors of whether a girl will marry early. The more educated a girl is, the less likely she is to marry early.

Child marriage disproportionately affects girls around the world and denies their fundamental rights to health, safety, and education. Girls who are married before 18 are more likely to suffer from intimate partner violence, including sexual, physical, psychological and emotional violence.

 A girl who is married may also have responsibilities in the home, including housework, caring for children or other relatives, be sent to work to help support her husband’s household, or be physically unable to attend school because of pregnancy, or medical complications associated with pregnancy.      

 According to the International Council of Research on Women (ICRW), women with low levels of education and married adolescents between the ages of 15-19 years old are at a higher risk of domestic violence than older and more educated women. Globally, girls who marry before age 18 are 50 percent more likely to face physical or sexual violence from a partner throughout the course of their life.        

Child marriage is a significant health risk for women and girls. Psychologically, women married as children are more likely to suffer from symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptoms of depression. Because of the imbalance of power in child “marriages” many girls are unable to negotiate or to discuss contraception with their husbands, resulting in earlier and more frequent pregnancies. Additionally, higher rates of domestic violence, risks associated with earlier pregnancies and lack of access to medical care may also result in premature death.

CHILD MARRIAGE AROUND THE WORLD:

Child marriage is a truly global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe.

Every year, 12 million girls marry before the age of 18. Child marriage happens across countries, cultures and regions.

• 1 in 5 girls in the world are said to be married before 18.

• Over 650 million women alive today were married as children.

• 12 MILLION Girls are married before the age of 18 each year.

HOW CAN WE END CHILD MARRIAGE?                                                                                                                                                                        In recent years child marriage has gained increasing prominence on international and national development agendas. Today, we have a unique opportunity to act on this momentum and accelerate our efforts to help change the lives of girls and young women all over the world. Ending child marriage requires work across all sectors and at all levels. It requires us to understand the complex drivers behind the practice in different contexts and adapt our interventions accordingly. Ending child marriage also requires increased, targeted investments from both international donors and governments in high prevalence countries. The funding that is currently available is nowhere near large enough to match the scale of child marriage worldwide. Laws that set a minimum age of marriage are an important way to safeguard boys and girls from being married before they are ready.

It is important that children are recognised in the law as being children and that they are accorded the full protection of the law. Governments need to have clear and consistent legislation that establishes 18 as the minimum age of marriage. Adequate safeguards must be in place to ensure that parental consent or other exceptions are not used to force girls into marriage. The existence of laws that set a minimum age for marriage is an important tool that helps those working to dissuade families and communities from marrying off their daughters as children.