The impacts of child marriage (continued)

Isolation and exploitation

It could be said; that these children; are expected to be the perfect stay-at-home mom when it comes to their new married lifestyle. These children; will be instantly taken to live their new life in their new husband’s home. Yet, this is new to them. They have never even met their husband before; upon their 3rd or 4th time meeting this stranger, these girls are to start a new life with this stranger. A stranger with whom they will, be forced to consume their marriage. A disturbing reality for some children who do not even know about the birds and the bees. Right after getting married brides are seized by their new husband and taken to his household, where they are expected to take on the role of ‘wife, domestic worker, and, eventually, mother’. The husband’s house Is sometimes very far away from their childhood home, which further isolates girls from their community (Nour).

Mental health and education

As we can see in the paragraph above, young girls as young as ten; are asked to forget their childhood and grow up in; a matter of weeks. They are asked, to fill in the role of a mother and wife. More often than not, the young girls are robbed of their childhood, forced to abandon school, and denied the opportunity to make friends and socialize (Nour). By missing out on their liberty and, childhood these kids are deprived of making friends and developing socializing skills which will help them later. Being forced to abandon school deprives them of their education which is crucial for them to figure out that not everyone is in their situation and that they have the right to hope and thrive in better conditions. In turn, this has considerable physical, intellectual, psychological, and emotional impacts on the children affected (Mahato). Being deprived of important experiences and being forced into this lifestyle has its toll on these girls’ overall health. Therefore, raising awareness is crucial; so these girls don’t have to suffer at the hands of their abusers. Being under these conditions increases the risk of these girls’ mental health being affected greatly. Data from Africa and South Asia reveals that engaged and married young girls are at a greater risk to be affected by depression and suicidality (Raj).

Alone and powerless

Having no connection to their friends, and feeling disconnected from their family who forced them into marriage, means these girls have to fend for themselves. Yet, they have no sufficient resources to develop their independence, making them vulnerable to their husbands. At a young age, these girls; are now forced to live life as an adult. The hard part, they are far away from everything they once knew. Therefore, pulling young girls out of the family unit has devastating consequences. Child brides who; are forced into married life are constrained to rely on their husbands for everything. The loss of peer networks, access to mass media and the opportunity to develop profitable skills prevents girls from flourishing into independent individuals. Without any income, education, connections or information, the only way to survive is to depend on their husband (Lal, ICRW). Even though they; have the will to get out, being deprived of their independence makes it 10x harder to do so. It is hard to make a better future for yourself; when you have not yet experienced the world fully. This creates a dynamic at home where the husband feels entitled to deny his wife any decision-making power and to be abusive when she doesn’t obey (Lal, ICRW). This toxic environment affects these women’s mental health and; keeps them in an abusive situation, blinding them from reality and their power to change things.

Domestic violence

It should be no surprise that young girls forced into marriage experience a lot of toxicity in their relationship: ranging from psychological, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of their husbands, who work hard to keep them vulnerable and easily influenceable. In 2004, ICRW and partners surveyed adolescents living in the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand to assess their well-being. They discovered that girls who were married as minors were twice as likely as girls who married later to disclose being ‘beaten, slapped or threatened by their husbands’, and three times as likely to declare ‘being forced to have sex without consent in the last six months. The brides living in abusive households can feel helpless, hopeless, and sometimes develop PTSD and severe depression. Overall, their chances of malnutrition, dropping out of school, migration, domestic and sexual violence, abuse, and exploitation are all heightened (Mahato). These numbers are disturbing; these young girls are deprived of their childhood and forced into the hands of abusive men who will most likely take advantage of them. It is crucial to stop this trend and to help these young girls get out of these situations to give them back their safety and liberty as these are part of each human’s fundamental rights. Raising our voices for them is important as they are part of the most vulnerable people in our society, even more as they live in stressful, abusive situations and have no access to education.

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.

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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, 7 Oct. 2010, pp. 931–935, adc.bmj.com/content/95/11/931.short, 10.1136/adc.2009.178707. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.

Lal, B. Suresh. "Child marriage in India: factors and problems." International Journal of Science and Research 4.4 (2015): 2993-2998.

Mahato, Santosh K. “Causes and Consequences of Child Marriage: A Perspective.” International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, vol. 7, no. 7, 25 July 2016, pp. 698–702, 10.14299/ijser.2016.07.002.

‌ ICRW: Malhortra, Anju, et al. Solutions to End Child Marriage. Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women, 2011. Pdf.