Geographical background

Contrary to popular belief, child marriage happens everywhere, even in richer countries. Indeed, while most child marriages occur in developing nations, countries like Canada and the United States still deal with this issue today. Every day, young girls are given away in marriage to older men, their youth sacrificed for the sake of status or money. One of the regions where the prevalence of child marriage is at its highest is South Asia. This part of the world houses about 1.891 billion people, and it has been reported that approximately 31.3 million child marriages occur on this land[1]. Most often, the victims of this practice are young girls living in poverty, usually in rural areas where access to education is extremely limited (Nour). In a simple average done by Nguyen and Wodon across rural areas in 60 countries, it is shown that at the time of the survey, approximately 41% of all women aged 18–49 had been married before attaining majority, compared to an average of 28% in urban areas. In most countries where child marriage is common, there is no efficient protection from national laws or legal enforcement (Raj). Even where national laws have been implemented, their enforcement is weak and allows bad intentioned people to bypass the rules by exploiting legal loopholes (Nguyen & Wodon).

Culture also plays an important role in creating an environment conductive for child marriage. In western countries, selling a ten-year-old girl into marriage to a 38-year-old man would be inconceivable, but in places where social norms and traditions favor such unions, child marriage may be culturally acceptable. In countries like India, strong patriarchal values and gender inequality are an important determinant of child marriage (Raj).Child marriage is a very predominant problem; in fact, it has been estimated that it makes up for 40.3% of all marriages globally. Out of that 40.3%, South Asia detains the highest rate of child marriage, with 45.5% of women married under 18 years of age (Nguyen et Wodon). When considering that South Asia shelters nearly 25% of the global population, we quickly realize that one in four girls is at risk of being a victim of child marriage. Therefore, it is not surprising to learn that in developing nations, one in three girls is actually married before the age of 18, while one in five is married by the time she turns 15 (Efevbera & Bhabha).

#Girlsnotbrides

Sources:

Raj, A. “When the Mother Is a Child: The Impact of Child Marriage on the Health and Human Rights of Girls.” Archives of Disease in Childhood, vol. 95, no. 11, Oct. 2010, pp. 931–35, https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2009.178707.

Nguyen, Minh Cong, and Quentin Wodon. “Global and Regional Trends in Child Marriage.” The Review of Faith & International Affairs, vol. 13, no. 3, July 2015, pp. 6–11, https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2015.1075756.

Nour, Nawal. “Child Marriage: A Silent Health and Human Rights Issue.” Rev Obstet Gynecol, vol. 2, no. 1, 2009, pp. 51–56, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2672998/pdf/RIOG002001_0051.pdf.

Efevbera, Yvette, and Jacqueline Bhabha. “Defining and Deconstructing Girl Child Marriage and Applications to Global Public Health.” BMC Public Health, vol. 20, no. 1, Oct. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09545-0.

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