Child marriage, by definition, is a formal marriage or informal union before the age of eighteen. Over time we have seen a significance amount of children that are wedded off in developing countries, with the highest prevalence in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa as well as South Asia. However, these marriages can be found anywhere in the world. There are many reasons as to why parents send out their children to be married at an early age; these reasons tend to be because of financial situation, the idea that it will provide them with protection, family honor, social norms, or even religious laws, to name a few of the factors. However, along with these numerous factors, there are even more risks that are taken when sending these children off that could potentially destroy their lives.
Child marriage is a human rights violation for all, but for this particular research we will be focusing on just the girls. Majority of the victims of child marriage are girls 15 or younger, in fact, this is as common as 1 in 6 girls in the developing countries, but 1 in 4 worldwide are married before 18. Many cultures don’t see this as a form of human rights violation, as it has much to with their beliefs and social norms, but what they are not understanding, is that they are depriving these girls of a normal life from the start. Young girls that are married off at an early age are not given the chance to continue with their education, as they must now be focused on being house wives and creating a family, which means baring children as well. Cultures that find this particular tradition adequate are usually those that struggle with the importance of gender equality, meaning, that men are prioritized in the household as the higher being. While girls get sent off to be adults, boys are still most of them able to continue with their educations and making something out of themselves, unlike girls who in the end will only know how to maintain the homes for men. As you see, not only is this a human rights violation, it is also taking us backwards in our struggle, as women, to obtain the same rights as men in the world and be viewed as equal beings. It has been statistically proven by a number of sources, including UNICEF, that by educating these young girls, they would not be marrying at such an early age, instead are more likely to finish their careers or their schooling before making such decisions.
Poverty is also a tremendous factor when it comes to child marriage. Families in difficult financial positions are almost twice as likely to have their daughters married before the age of eighteen. This is partially done to “secure” their own future as well as assist in the family’s financial situation. By doing this, parents do not have to worry about paying for that child’s education, food, clothing, or any other necessity as it will be now taken care of by another man. Now, yes, it is understandable that they would do this seeing it from an angle where it is in the best interest of their daughter, however, they are blinding themselves to what can happen to her behind closed doors. If what they are worried about is her being deprived from life, by sending her off, they are also depriving her of another life structure. However, there are always those who do it for the monetary amount they will be receiving for essentially “selling” off their children to men with money. This goes hand in hand with global poverty and how it is an issue that must not be taken lightly as it affects many in a wide variety of ways, and just like it is linked with child brides, it can also be resisted with education and educating the youth.
For many girls, once they are sent off to be married, child baring follows shortly after. Pregnancy can have many implications on girls between the ages of 15 to 19 all around the world, and it is highly correlated to the lack of formal education provided to these girls before they are forced to be married. It can be obvious that these young girls are not always ready for these pregnancies, due to their age as well as other contributing factors during their pregnancies. These girls are not ready, not emotionally nor physically to be baring children, nonetheless to be engaging in these types of sexual acts. A 50% pregnancies under the age of 20 result in the infant to be stillborn or die within its first weeks of life because of the bodies not being set to hold the baby at such early ages, which then causes a trauma for these girls. Notwithstanding the fact that these marriages have devastating consequences, not just for the fate of the newborn, but for the girls as well. As previously stated, their bodies are not ready for sexual activity as they are still in development, therefore making them vulnerable to more difficulties during their pregnancies, such as obstetric fistula and others. These young girls are usually in humongous pressure to be fertile for the husband’s pleasure of having children and because they are not aware of safe sexual practices, are often hurt in the process. HIV and other diseases are linked to this as well since they are generally engaging in sexual activities for the first time with older, more experienced men, not using any form of protection. UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2009 report, made clear that pregnancy and childbirth in young women are the leading cause of death within these young girls.
Abundant are the consequences of child marriage, violence, just adds one more. Child brides are very likely to be subject to domestic violence than those who marry later. Not only, do they repeatedly undergo this violence, they are reluctant to report this to higher authorities in fear or in particular cases they do not know better and find this to be a norm in the marriage. Mental problems can be produced by this domestic violence, such as depressions, which can nevertheless lead to the death of the girl. It is extremely important, that these girls are educated to know what is right in a marriage, what is allowed, what they need to report, and to make them aware that they are nobody’s properties.
When a person is being sold for a monetary value to work, they are considered to be taking part in a form of slavery. If they are sent off with strange men for the purposes of sexual exploitation or forced into these marriages, they are slaves. Child marriage is a form of slavery, these girls are being sold out, a huge percentage, of almost 50% of girls in developing countries are forced to marry, are sold off, are deprived of their human rights before they are even fifteen. They are being denied the right of choice, good health, education, and a life from violence. They are not at an age where they know what they are doing, they are not conscientious to know what the outcomes will be of this forced union. These young girls are being taken advantage of by their own parents at an age where they are still growing and should be taught how to better themselves, not given a price for.
International law states “child marriage or marriage without the free and full consent of both spouses is a human rights violation and is not in line with several international and regional agreements.” Some of these agreements are included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, to name a few. All of these, find this very common practice to be a violation of the rights of the child. A child is not considered have full consent on making decisions until they are at least 16 years of age, in many countries, the legal age to be married without parent consent is 18. We must make it a priority to ensure 18 is the legal age, and that a parent cannot be the consenting adult in allowing child marriages, as we have seen that they may not always perform this decision on the best interest of the child.
As a global community we must act in union creating a movement demonstrating the will to end child marriages and child brides. This organization, Let Us Be Kids, will connect and expand the voices of our societies around the world to stress the governments of the children’s needs. Global pressure IS possible and it is already happening across the world, where it is claimed that by 2030 a great majority of the countries will have completely terminated child marriage. However, why must we wait until 2030 when this is something that affects millions of girls on the daily? We need to put a stop to this now. Our policy prescription, understanding that cultures will not change their traditions from one day to another, as well as religions will not stop believing this is essentially a part of their lives, we must focus greatly on challenging their views. This is why I have made such a great emphasis in education and why it is the most important factor when making changes. Unfortunately, adults are less than likely to abide by these changes and are significantly harder to convince what they have believed their entire lives is wrong, however the government can make it so that those who are not willing to understand, will have to one way or another accept the laws.
Problems encountered when attempting to pass a law that requires a minimum age for marriage, is that cultures will not tolerate this law and find their own ways to forge a union as “marriage” within their own societies. These are the informal unions, the ones not recognized by the government, but also not further looked into by any higher authorities. In reality, one may not know in many cases who is a child bride, it is a lot like human trafficking in many scenarios where no one looks deep into a person’s situation and just assume everyone is fine. As a person who used to work at an airport and had to differentiate human trafficking victims from regular families, I can honestly say it is not the easiest thing to do. It is very difficult to tell these people apart as they are already conditioned to act a certain way. We tend to be selfish humans and not want to know if there is something more to avoid the hassle of dealing with it, but this is an issue that cannot be ignored. If it was fully resolved it could actually fix many additional global issues. Some of these problems that could potentially clear up by dissolving child marriage is poverty; by allowing these girls to pursue an education, we are ending the repeated cycle of poverty as child marriages allow for pregnancies and limited opportunities of employment. We would be fighting for good health and the human right to life, not just for the girl, but also for the future babies. Gender inequality will be reduced, which has been a topic of much discussion as it is an ongoing global controversy and by reinforcing child marriages we are contributing to this inequality and regressing all the work that has already been put into leveling this.
Across the world we must empower girls, provide them with the appropriate knowledge so that they understand their rights and are able to exercise them to the full extent as well as develop support networks, because sometimes exercising these rights requires an extra push. Expand their horizons, show them what different alternatives are out there in the world, what other roles they can play in society other than just being a housewife, baring children and maintaining a family. For those whose families deeply believe in marrying young as part of their cultures, transitioned from past generations to new ones, we must, first respect their beliefs, but also work on shifting those beliefs into what reality their children are facing. The health implications, the depression, the struggle to come out of their shell, are all topics that must be discussed with the elder members of the communities encouraging this. Working with families and the communities to raise awareness and by doing so slowly drifting their views and acceptance of such practices is an important step to reaching a mutual agreement that child marriages are not to be permitted. By reaching out to leaders within the community to speak out against the issues, we are making a huge change, as these are people the communities will listen to and follow throughout their lives. Leaders can positively advocate for children’s rights and for change! Having these important people as advocates, norms will be shifted to promote new norms and new role models to exemplify what it is to be in a community respecting the rights of all as well as sponsoring for the growth of the individual and the values of each gender.
Charities are fundamental for the process of awareness because they are basically where the funds for these awareness organizations are coming from. In order to advocate, organizations must be set with enough funds to create methods of education and even more to fund those educators. Donations go a long way for the majority of children that are in poverty being subject to these practices, to provide them with the essentials to survive in rough environments. Providing economic grounds for families that feel that by selling their daughters they will be prosperous, as a universal community committed to ending child marriages, can also give incentives and loans to these people in hopes that they will in the future, have enough to repay. Teaching a skill that will allow for the families to to generate an income, by the daughters learning certain skills, their families will view them as a valuable part of their family instead of a burden. Not only providing an economic facility, but also a way to study, by promoting scholarship programs, funding free schools, reading programs, etc. In the end this is all an investment being made as by following through with these initiatives we are setting a standard for the world to follow as well as building up a knowledgeable future generation that will no longer struggle with the issues we do now.
We must universally advocate all laws that contribute to making child marriage illegal, put into effect all laws that protect children from violence, and definitely enforce minimum ages to these marriages, not find ways around it. The law must stand, the established ages must stand, no ifs or buts. It has to be understood, that by waiving any of the laws, we are waiving all of them as they are closely associated. For example, by breaking child abuse protection laws, we are allowing parents and family members to exploit children and have them married off where they are imaginably going to be emotionally, physically and nevertheless psychologically hared as well.
In conclusion, child marriage is a topic of much discussion but little action in the world. It destroys the lives of children forced into it as well as the generations to come. It leads to a continuous future of poverty, of no progression and possibly regression in developing countries as well as the never ending gender inequalities that possess higher connotations in such countries as well. The solution is at our fingertips, but it cannot be fulfilled if not everyone is in touch with the movement and commits to find a legal solution to the underlying problems currently faced in these societies. Internationally we must promote this, fight for this, pressure local governments, create sanctions for those who do not follow accordingly and make it our fight, not just those who are victims of it. As a whole, we need to look for these people, those who are in need, those who have fear in their eyes, those who are trying to express without words that something is not right, that their lives have been taken without being dead. We are all people of the world, all an international community and all deserve to be granted the human rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.