Child Marriage - A Sin

Marriage before the age of 18 is a reality for many young women. According to UNICEF's estimates, over 64 million women aged 20–24 years were married or in union before the age of 18.

In many parts of the world parents encourage the marriage of their daughters while they are still children in hopes that the marriage will benefit the children both financially and socially and relieve financial burdens on the family. In actuality, child marriage is a violation of human rights, compromising girls’ development and often resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, with little education and poor vocational training reinforcing the gendered nature of poverty.

The literature suggests that many factors interact to place a child at risk of marriage. Poverty, protection of girls, family honour and the provision of stability during unstable social periods are considered as significant factors in determining a girl's risk of becoming married while still a child. Jenson and Thornton found little overall change in the average age at marriage for age cohorts born between 1950 and 1970 in most regions, as well as little change in the incidence of child marriage. Focusing primarily on Benin, Colombia, India and Turkey, Jenson and Thornton noted strong correlations between a woman's age at marriage and the level of education she achieves, the age at which she gives birth to her first child and the age of her husband. Women who married at younger ages were more likely to believe that it is sometimes acceptable for a husband to beat his wife and were more likely to experience domestic violence themselves. The age gap between partners is thought to contribute to these abusive power dynamics and to increase the risk of untimely widowhood, although Westoff notes that older husbands may be better providers for the household.

Closely related to the issue of child marriage is the age at which girls become sexually active. Women who are married before the age of 18 tend to have more children than those who marry later in life. According to Bhattacharya, 97 per cent of women surveyed in India in 1992–1993 did not use any contraception before their first child was born. However, the Population Council and UNICEF found that, in Pakistan, a substantial number of young married women indicated an interest in the use of contraception in the future. Pregnancy-related deaths are known to be a leading cause of mortality for both married and unmarried girls between the ages of 15 and 19, particularly among the youngest of this cohort.

Protection from HIV/AIDS is another reason for child marriage. Parents seek to marry off their girls to protect their health and their honour, and men often seek younger women as wives as a means to avoid infection. In some contexts, however, the evidence does not support this hypothesis and practice. Bhattacharya found that in India, 75 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS are married. In fact, the demand to reproduce and the stigma associated with safe-sex practices lead to very low condom use among married couples worldwide, and heterosexual married women who report monogamous sexual relationships with their husbands are increasingly becoming a high-risk group for HIV/AIDS. 

Artist - Sunny Jain; Date - Aug, 2009

Strategies to end the practice of child marriage

Evidence shows that the more education a girl receives, the less likely she is to marry as a child. Improving access to education for both girls and boys and eliminating gender gaps in education are important strategies in ending the practice of child marriage. Legislative, programmatic and advocacy efforts to make education free and compulsory, as well as to expand Education for All programming beyond the primary level, are indicated by the strong significance of educational attainment in terms of reducing the number of girls who are married. Increasing the level of compulsory education may be one tactic to prolong the period of time when a girl is unavailable for marriage.

It is also important to capitalize on the window of opportunity created by the increasing gap in time between the onset of puberty and the time of marriage by providing substantive skills enhancing programmes and opportunities. There is a need to develop methods to protect girls at risk of child marriage and to address the concerns of girls and women who are already married by ensuring the fulfillment of their right to a full education and providing them with life skills-based training to ensure that they can earn a livelihood.

Efforts are also required to protect girls who are in union. Decreasing the pressure on young women to conceive through education and advocacy on the dangers of early motherhood should be considered. Similar consideration should be given to ways to improve access to effective contraceptive methods.

Services for survivors of domestic violence should be accessible. Outreach efforts should consider targeting women who were married before age 18 as potentially in need of assistance. Mapping child marriage levels within countries may be a useful practice for programmatic purposes when determining where to launch new prevention campaigns. It can also be used to track future progress by comparing child marriage levels at different points in time.

Further data collection and research is also required to explore the impact of child marriage on boys and men. The demand-and-supply relationship of child marriage should be qualitatively explored to illuminate dynamics, such as the reasons why households marry their children and why men prefer younger brides, in order to inform programming strategies. 

References

UNICEF, Early Marriage: Child Spouses, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2001, Florence.

Mikhail, S. (2002), 'Child marriage and child prostitution: Two forms of sexual exploitation', Gender and Development, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 43-49.

Jenson, R. and R. Thornton, 'Early female marriage in the developing world', Gender and Development, vol. 11, no. 2, 2003, pp. 9-19.

Tiemoko, R., 'The Gender Age Gap: Marriage and rights in the Côte d'Ivoire', Development, vol. 44, no. 2, 2001, pp. 104-106.

Westoff, C., Trends in Marriage and Early Childbearing in Developing Countries, DHS Comparative Reports No. 5, ORC Macro, Maryland, 2003.

Bhattacharya, G., 'Sociocultural and Behavioural Contexts of Condom Use in Heterosexual Married Couples in India: Challenges to HIV prevention programmes', Health Education and Behavior, vol. 31, no. 1, 2004, pp. 101-117.

Sathar, Z. et al., Adolescents and Youth in Pakistan 2001-2002: A nationally representative survey, UNICEF and Population Council, Islamabad, 2002.

Otoo-Oryortey, N. and S. Pobi, 'Early Marriage and Poverty: Exploring links and key policy issues', Gender and Development, vol. 11, no. 2, 2003, pp.42-51.