A quarterly international newsletter on sexuality, sexual health, and sexuality education.
Volume 3, Issue 2 - Summer 2004
Too Young to Wed: Child Marriage in Their Own Words
Carole Mahoney, Communications Manager, International Center for Research on Women
Too Young to Wed: Child Marriage in Their Own Words is an exhibit and companion online photo essay featuring the personal stories of girls and women who married as children. This exhibit grew out of years of research by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) on adolescent health and well-being in developing countries. With each successive project, child marriage emerged as the pivotal event in a young girl's life that would signal for her a robust, productive, and more prosperous future-or a future marked by ill-health, limited opportunity, sometimes violence, and most often, poverty.
Research shows that child marriage -any marriage before age 18 - exposes young girls to abuse and violence. It increases their risk of getting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Child marriage almost certainly signals the end of a young girl's education. And countries with a high incidence of child marriage are more likely to experience extreme and persistent poverty, as well as high levels of maternal and child mortality.
Today, more than 51 million girls younger than 18 are married.1 It is estimated that in the next decade, 100 million more girls-or roughly 25,000 girls a day-will marry before they turn 18.2 Often, they will marry much older men. The child marriage stories reprinted here represent two of the more than 30 stories and personal reflections contained in ICRW's on-line photo essay. Together, these stories help illustrate the causes and consequences of child marriage and, in the words of ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta, "the need for more investment in programs that lead to a delay of marriage and a more promising future for girls and their families."
Maimuna
married at 12 in Nigeria
Maimuna lived with her uncle and grew up selling kola nuts.When she was 12, her uncle married her off to a man she had never seen before, a man who was "older than my father. I became his fourth wife."
In her husband's house, the wives and children are not allowed to go to any medical facility. So she delivered each of her three children at home with the help of a traditional birth attendant. And, Maimuna says, she is always lonely. "There is nobody to keep me company. My friends don't come frequently, and all my co-wives are my mother's age."
Maimuna thinks that child marriage is ill-advised, and vows her daughter will not marry young. "It must be noted that forced marriage brings about hatred, and once you hate someone you can do any evil act against him. I cannot give my daughter out for marriage at 12. I will educate my children, provided I have the means.Thank God I have two boys and [only] one girl."3
Rohini
age 16, married at 15 in India
When word spread about a good marriage prospect in a neighboring village, a prospective suitor traveled with his parents to meet the girl and her family.
The girl, Rohini, was a shy, studious, 15-year-old. The man, 20 or 21, took an instant liking to her. He proposed marriage on the spot.
"I did not want to get married. I had other plans for my life. I wanted to continue studying." But Rohini had no say. Her parents said,"yes," and that was that.
In keeping with tradition, her father paid a dowry to the in-laws-75,000 rupees (US$1,700) and 10 grams in gold. He also covered the expenses for the wedding.
When that day arrived, Rohini would leave her small, close-knit family, and join a large household-12 people in all. That made Rohini very sad. "I cried a lot, and I was afraid."
Since she has no child to care for, she thought she might be able to return to school. But her husband does not want her to study, and Rohini is resigned to the view that it would be difficult to continue her classes with so many people in the house. So on most days, Rohini stays inside and does chores while her inlaws work in the fields.
"I am not used to staying in all day, doing chores, but I am grateful for not having to do farm work, I don't know much about it."
And when she cries too much, missing her family, her husband negotiates with his parents to let her go home for a short stay. Sometimes when Rohini visits her village, she gets to spend time with a girlfriend—also married—if one happens to be visiting her own parents, too.That makes Rohini happy.4
To view the photographs or learn more about child marriage, visit http://www.icrw.org.
References:
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