What is Child Marriage?
- girlsstandup27
- Apr 21, 2021
- 5 min read
Child Marriage is defined as a marriage between a girl and a boy before the age of 18. It refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married and it is a forced marriage.
Did you know? Worldwide, more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. Every year, at least 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18.
Child marriage is a form of Gender-Based Violence. It puts girls and women at increased risk of sexual, physical, and psychological violence and related outcomes throughout their lives.
Child and forced marriage (CFM) is a human rights violation and a harmful practice that disproportionally affects women and girls globally, preventing them from living their lives free from all forms of violence.
Why Does Child Marriage Occur?
Inequalities between boys and girls are driven by harmful social and gender norms.
Laws protecting girls aren't enforced.
Parents think marriage will protect girls from violence, particularly in times of crisis or insecurity.
Younger wives are considered to be more obedient.
Poverty - there is a higher dowry demand for older girls or women.
Impacts of Child Marriage...
Early pregnancy is one of the most dangerous causes and consequences of this harmful practice. Girls married early are more likely to experience violence, abuse, and forced sexual relations due to unequal power relations. They are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (including HIV).
On a girl's education?
Girls who are married are unlikely to be in school. Going to school gives girls choices and opportunities in life, allowing them to play an active role in their communities and break the cycle of poverty. Education, including comprehensive sexuality education, is essential for girls to be able to make informed decisions about their sexual health and well-being.
Marriage also dramatically limits a girl's access to education as societal expectation often hinders a married girl from attending school. Once married or engaged, a husband or future husband may disapprove and therefore he may prevent her from attending school.
Moreover, in some countries such as Sierra Leone and Tanzania, pregnant girls may be prohibited from attending school as a result of discriminatory government policies.
A girl who is married may also have responsibilities in the home like housework, caring for children or other relatives, or they may be physically unable to attend school because of pregnancy or medical complications associated with pregnancy.
When women and girls are barred from accessing education, their economic opportunities are limited, trapping them in a cycle of poverty. This will, in turn, limit a girl's educational opportunities and, as a result, their own economic prospects. HELLO
On a girl's health (psychological and physical)?
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.
In the U.S, marriage before the age of 18 is associated with a 23% greater risk of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
In parts of Sub-Saharian Africa, child marriage has also been linked to higher-than-average rates of HIV/AIDS infections with married girls in Kenya and Zambia being 75% more likely than their unmarried sexually active peers to contract HIV.
Due to the imbalance of power in child marriages, many girls are unable to negotiate or 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.
On the economy?
Child brides are often isolated, with limited opportunity to participate in the development of their communities. Child marriage, therefore, hampers efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable global development.
Timeline for ending Child Marriage:
2008 to 2009 — Approximately 25% of women are married as children.
2012 — The first International Day of the Girl Child on October 11 focuses on preventing child marriage.
2013 — The U.N. Human Rights Council puts child marriage on its agenda for action. The U.N. General Assembly declares child marriage to be a barrier to development.
2015 — The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 1 in 3 girls marry by age 18 and 1 in 9 marry by age 15. One target of the Sustainable Development Goals commits all countries to act to end child marriage.
2018 — The number of women who marry as children is down to 1 in 5. Delaware and New Jersey become the first U.S. states to outlaw child marriage without exceptions.
2030 — 2030 is the Sustainable Development Goals’ target date for all countries to end child marriage. If child marriage had continued at the 2015 rate, by 2030, there will be 960 million women alive who married as children.
Child Marriage during COVID-19
These days, we often talk about the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and a struggling global economy. What many are not discussing is the advent of another sinister pandemic: evidence is showing an alarming increase in all forms of gender-based violence during these unprecedented times. For example, as economies shut down and stay-at-home orders become our new normal, an unspoken and damaging effect of the pandemic is a spike in child marriages globally.
The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to disrupt the efforts made so far to end child marriage and to result in 13 million more girls forced into early marriages between 2020 and 2030. Evidence of an increase in child marriages is already emerging from places such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Nepal.
The COVID-19 health crisis has exacerbated some of the main social and economic drivers of early marriage, such as limited access to education, early pregnancies and poverty. COVID-19-related school closures have interrupted the education of approximately 1.6 billion children worldwide.
This leads to child marriages, as the practice relieves the girl’s family from economic stress in two ways: the prospect of receiving a dowry and the relief from having fewer mouths to feed.
The economic strain caused by the recession on already vulnerable communities and the loss of family income is additionally forcing families to marry off their young girls, perceiving them as financial burdens rather than potential wage earners. The regions expected to be the most affected in the next few years are South Asia, followed by West and Central Africa, and finally, Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the following video, victims of Child Marriage and Forced Marriages speak out about their experience.
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"We have a vision where women and girls live in dignity, are healthy, have choices and equal opportunities." - (FORWARD) Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development
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