NewAfricanWoman Issue 35 - Flipbook - Page 39
Lakshmi
Sundaram,
global
coordinator of ‘Girls
Not Brides’,
delivers
a speech
during the
first Global
Member
meeting to
end child
marriage
in Casablanca,
Morocco,
held last
year
autonomy or support, and pressured by
social norms – feel they had no choice
but to comply with their parents’ wishes.
Discriminatory gender norms in
many places, including traditions that
dictate that a girl live with her husband’s
family, while a boy remains with and
financially supports his parents, contributes to perceptions that daughters are an
economic burden while sons are a longterm investment.
Poor access to quality education
is another contributing factor. When
schools are too far away, too expensive,
or the journey too dangerous, families
often pull out their girls or they drop out
on their own and are subsequently much
more likely to be married off.
Girls may also be kept out of school
because they are expected to work
instead, either in the home, or sometimes as paid labour from a young age.
These same drawbacks, combined with
lack of support from school administrators or from husbands and in-laws, often
prevent married girls from continuing
their education.
Dowry can be another factor in child
marriage. In South Sudan for example,
the girl’s family will receive dowry from
the groom, either in the form of cattle,
an important economic asset, or money.
Ayen C, from Bor County, explains her
situation: “My husband paid 75 cows
as dowry for me. We never talked or
courted before we got married. When
I learned about the marriage, I felt very
bitter. I told my father, ‘I don’t want to
go to this man’. He said, ‘I have loved the
cattle that this man has, you will marry
him’.”
Once married off, many girls have
little access to sexual and reproductive health information and services
– whether on how one gets pregnant,
reliable contraception methods, protection against sexually transmitted infections, prenatal services, or emergency
obstetric care.
As a result, child marriage is closely
linked to early – and risky – childbearing. The consequences can be fatal:
complications from pregnancy and
childbirth are the second-leading cause
of death for girls ages 15 to 19 globally.
In other cases, the stress of delivery in
physically immature bodies can cause
obstetric fistulas, a tear between a girl’s
vagina and rectum that results in the
constant leaking of urine and faeces.
Girls suffering this condition are often
ostracised and abandoned by their families and communities.
According to 2013 data, 74% of new
HIV infections among African adolescents are in girls, many of them in the
context of marriage where the pressure
to have children contributes to a lack of
condom use.
Domestic violence is another risk of
marriage, perpetrated by a girl’s husband
or in-laws, including psychological,
physical, and sexual violence, such as
marital rape. While not all child marriages are marked by domestic violence,
the risk increases when there are large
age gaps between a girl and her husband.
Many countries fail to criminalise
marital rape, and even when it is a
crime, child brides have little ability to
seek help. And in general, limited information about their rights, lack of access
to services especially legal assistance
and emergency shelters, discriminatory
divorce, inheritance, and custody laws,
and rejection from their own families,
can leave many trapped in abusive marriages with no means of escape.
Armed conflict heightens girls’ risk
of child marriage and other abuses. For
example, the forced marriage of girls
is a devastating tactic of war used by
extremist groups such as Boko Haram in
Nigeria.
The way forward
While the harm caused by child marriage is grim, the benefits of ending the
practice are transformative and farreaching. Tackling child marriage is a
strategic way to advance women’s rights
and empowerment in several areas,
ranging from health and education to
work, freedom from violence, and participation in public life.
But child marriage is complex and
varies widely around the world. Governments committed to achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals target of
ending child marriage by 2030 will need
to employ a holistic, comprehensive
approach that is tailored to local contexts and diverse communities.
Adopting and implementing cohesive national legal frameworks that
uphold international human rights
standards is key. This includes making
18 the minimum marriage age, avoiding
loopholes such as exceptions for parental consent, ensuring the laws require
free and full consent of both spouses,
requiring proof of age before marriage
licences are issued, and imposing penalties on anyone who threatens or harms
anyone who refuses to marry.
Governments should ensure these
protections are not undermined by religious or customary laws and traditions,
and should regularly engage with religious and community leaders.
The effort to end child marriage
cannot succeed without greater acceptance of adolescent girls’ sexuality and
their rights to make their own informed
choices about their bodies, their relationships, and their sexual activity.
Governments and donors should
rally around the idea that a 12-year-old
girl should be in school rather than a
marriage.
Nisha Varia is advocacy director for
the Women’s Rights Division at Human
Rights Watch.
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