Child Marriage
(© 2008 Nicole Cappello/CARE)
Child marriage is a gross human rights violation that puts young girls at risk and keeps them mired in poverty. Unfortunately, this problem is more prevalent than you might think — more than 60 million girls under the age of 18 are married, many to men twice their age or older. If child marriage continues at its current rate, an additional 100 million girls in developing countries will be married within the next decade. That's 25,000 new child brides every single day for the next 10 years.
Poverty plays a central role in causing and perpetuating early marriage. Poor countries and families often have few resources to support healthy alternatives for girls, such as schooling. In such families with limited resources, child marriage is often seen as a way to provide for their daughter's future. However, girls who marry young have an increased chance of being poor and remaining poor.
Marrying at a young age has lifelong consequences. Early marriage thwarts her chances at education, endangers her health and cuts short her personal growth and development. Maternal health risks are particularly troubling as risk of death in pregnancy and delivery for girls under the age of 15 is five times higher than for women in their 20s.
Taken together, the costs of this practice are too high to be ignored; societies cannot progress when even the common practice of marriage dooms girls and women to a life of poverty.
CARE works with families, communities and local organizations to both reduce the prevalence and less the many harmful impacts of child marriage through educational and behavior-change programs.
Snapshot of CARE's work to prevent child marriage:
Ethiopia
Community organizations, parents, and tribal and religious leaders have already mobilized to amend the law to outlaw child marriage. However, the practice is still prevalent in many communities throughout the country. CARE is building the capacity of communities to change social norms through community conversations, savings and loans groups to encourage financial literacy and economic empowerment, and organizations to advocate for the elimination of bride price, bride abduction and early marriage.Mukeswari successfully fought against the marriage she was to enter at the age of 15 so that she could complete her education.
(© 2006 Ami Vitale/CARE)Nepal
CARE mobilizes communities in three districts through the creation of child marriage eradication committees and solidarity groups to prevent gender-based violence, and support survivors.
Sierra Leone
Until recently in Sierra Leone, there was no minimum age for marriage under customary law and, as a result, early and forced marriages are still common; one in four girls is married by age 15; and 62 percent by age 18. Through radio programs and counseling groups, CARE facilitates community dialogue on child marriage and its negative effects among community members and families. Subsequently, a larger number of youth report that they now can talk to their parents about postponing marriage.
Stories
The existence of child marriage is in most cases fueled by poverty and cultural norms.
- In many families, girls are viewed as an economic burden, and marrying them is viewed as a way to alleviate household expenses.
- If few educational and economic opportunities are available, a girl may be married to cement an alliance that protects her – and the family's – economic well-being.
- Community customs regarding gender roles, the appropriate age of marriage and the family's honor can put pressure on families to marry their young daughters.
These three stories illustrate how these factors play into the lives of millions of girls around the world, voilating their human rights and keeping them mired in poverty.
Tino's Story
When Tino was 9, she spent her days tending to small animals in her pastorialist village in Ethiopia.After her sister died, Tino was married off to her brother-in-law when she was 9 years old.
(© 2008 Assefa Amenu/CARE)The child had never attended school, and was barely old enough to have a passing understanding of cultural traditions in her village. But that all changed after her much-older sister died in childbirth.
A few months after her sister's death, Tino noticed village elders visiting her him and having lengthy talks with her parents. She didn't pay much attention to the visitors; she was more interested in playing with the clay animal figures she molded with her friends. Soon, though, her parents told her to stop playing with mud. They forced her to stay inside and bought her a few nice items of clothing. Visitors came more frequently, bringing food and drinks with them.
After a while, Tino got up the courage to ask her mother what was happening. That's when Tino found out that she was getting married. Married? To whom?
Tino soon found out that she was to marry her dead sister's husband, a man 26 years her elder. As is common practice in her society, the young child inherited her sister's husband and newborn child.
Two years later, Tino doesn't talk much about her duties as a wife, but it's clear she cooks for the family and looks after the child.
Today, Tino also participates in CARE's Healthy Unions program, a project that promotes the human rights of girls and women by decreasing the harmful traditions of bride abduction, bride price and early marriage in Ethiopia. Through the project, Tino and her husband receive counseling and support – and Tino is enrolled in school for the first time in her life.
Brenda's Story
Brenda's older sister, with whom she lived, decided the 16-year-old was ready for marriage, a decision that made Brenda very upset because she wanted to complete her education.
Angry at Brenda's defiance, her sister withdrew the child from school anyway. Then, Brenda's sister sent her to the market. While there, she was whisked away by a man Brenda barely knew and forced to marry a 29-year-old stranger. That night, she was repeatly raped.
The following morning, Brenda escaped from the house and ran to tell her sister what had transpired. But her sister chased Brenda back to the house, saying that the family would be cursed if Brenda ran away from her marriage.
After four months, Brenda couldn't take it anymore. This time, she escaped by foot to her parent's home in another village. There, Brenda played soccer with her new friends. By chance, the field they used was at a school where CARE worked to increase access to education. A teacher spotted Brenda and asked the child why she wasn't enrolled in classes.
Brenda told the teacher her story, and how she wanted nothing more than to get her education, if given the opportunity. Today, Brenda's not only in school but she's an active member of the school's AIDS club. In a region where it's common for girls to drop out of school to marry at a young age, putting them at increased risk for early pregnant and HIV infection, Brenda's telling of her experience in marriage is a powerful motivator for girls to complete their education.
Robena's Story
When Robena was 16-years-old, her father killed a person, and gave Robena to the family he had hurt in order to compensate for the death. She, too, became a victim of her father's crime.
She was forced to marry one of the men in the victim's family, and they had a son together. When her son was only six-months-old, her husband died and Robena life turned miserable.
After a year passed, Robena's husband's family decided to marry her to her brother-in-law, a much older man that she did not want to marry. Robena was always crying and thinking about how she could escape from this family but could not see a way out. She decided to kill herself before the marriage to the old man could take place.
One day. a woman by the name of Sima came to her house. Sima was a member of the local widows association in Afghanistan that is supported by CARE. Sima asked Robena how her life was going since the death of her husband. Robena started crying and told her story to Sima. In turn, Sima informed Robena about women's rights and vowed to help her escape her fate.
Together, they thought of a possible solution: Robena would agree to marry her younger brother-in-law instead of the older one. They took the issue to the widows association, who supported Robena's right to not be forced into a marriage that she didn't desire.
Robina went home and informed her husband's family that she would agree to marriage if it was to her younger brother-in-law. After a few days of intervention from the widows association, the family accepted her proposal. Robena married her younger brother-in-law, and she says she now leads a happy life.
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Take Action
Downloads about Child Marriage
- Child Marriage: A Promise of Poverty
- Child Marriage: Questions and Answers
- "Maybe Someday, But Not Today"
- Preventing Child Marriage in Tanzania
- Ending Child Marriage in Ethiopia
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