Addressing Adolescent Reproductive Health Care

As a conclusion, early marriage of girls and boys impairs the realization and enjoyment of virtually every one of their rights. The imposition of a marriage partner on children or adolescents who are in no way ready for married life, and whose marriage will deprive them of freedom, opportunity for personal development, and other rights including health and well-being, education, and participation in civic life. This Presentation can be as a starting-point, drawing attention to a practice that has been neglected by both women’s and children’s rights campaigners in recent decades. It is hoped that it will provide an incentive for a campaign to prevent early marriage and end the silent misery of millions of girls in many countries around the world, to open up new horizons for them, and contribute to the development of policies, programs and advocacy to bring this

Agreements such as this can lift the burden of paying for a girl’s education, thus making it easier for parents to choose to educate their children, instead of marrying them off. In rural areas of underdeveloped countries, the practice of child marriage is on the rise due to the fact that most of the girls being married off are not educated enough to know there are laws in place to protect them. Being oblivious of their rights, children are being married off before they are able to comprehend the harm brought upon them. Having knowledge of laws that protects them from being married before they are ready can assist them in taking steps to prevent the occurrence of early marriage. Educating young girls about their rights is one way of ensuring that one child may be kept safe from having to face the atrocities of marriage with mostly older men. We can accomplish this by setting up organizations that can go to different villages and provide information on how marriage at a young age can have negative effects on the health of young wives. These organizations could even work with the government to provide shelters for girls who are trying to escape the wickedness of early marriage.

Marriage, as a fundamental social and cultural institution and as the most common milieu for bearing and rearing children, profoundly shapes sexual behaviours and practices. It is undeniable that early marriage is a controversial yet hot topic that gets the attention of the professionals across many fields such as economy, psychology and sociology. The age at first marriage variegates across the globe. Being married before the age of 18 has been a social norm in third world countries [refer to Appendix A]. The percentage of women being married before age 18 is estimated from 20 to 50 percent in average in developing countries (Joyce, et al., 2001).

Reducing the numbers of child marriage will allow impoverished South Asian communities to thrive. Child marriages often lead to the spread of HIV, infections, and increased sexual and domestic violence in South Asian societies. Most importantly, child marriage disempowers women in underdeveloped countries and hinders further education. Child marriage often means that girls cease further education and are expected to take on new family responsibilities as a housewife. Avoiding child marriage will allow young boys and girls to become more educated, it will allow for more doctors and civilized workers that will help South Asian societies progress and thrive. Eradicating child marriage and replacing it with education will pull South Asian communities out of impoverishment.

Child brides are a little voiced problem that occur around the world. Fourteen million girls become child brides every year, a number that is increasing due to the growing populations of countries where child marriage is common (Fisher). I chose to focus on child brides specifically in Africa and the Middle East due to the high instances of child marriages in those parts of the world. In my research I also found that child brides are very common in South Asia and South America as well. In Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Nepal over half of girls are married before they turn eighteen (Fisher).This is largely due to traditional tribal practices, cultural norms, and an overall lack of education.

In 2012, there were 29.4 births for every 1,000 females ranging from the age 15-19. This is 305,420 babies total born to females in this age group. Eighty-nine percent of these births occurred outside of marriage. The 2012 teen birth rate shows a decline of six percent from 2011 when the birth rate was 31.3 per 1,000 girls. The teen birth rate has declined pretty steadily over the past 20 years. In 1991, the teen birth rate in the U.S. was 61.8 births for every 1,000 teenage girls, compared with 29.4 births for every 1,000 females in 2012 that’s pretty good. The U.S. teen birth rate is still higher than that of many other developed countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. Although the teenage pregnancy numbers are decreasing,

In 2015, the public opinion and landscape of family planning and contraceptive choices has changed dramatically when compared to just fifty years ago. In 1950 the number of un-wanted pregnancies was extremely high, especially among the poor and teenagers. Then some twenty years later, America was introduced to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The very real scare of these fatal sexually transmitted diseases combined with the increased number of teenage pregnancies has helped force the nation to re-think its position about what was once such a controversial subject that was for so long considered private and discussed behind closed doors. Unfortunately however, there are still a large number of unplanned pregnancies, especially among teenagers and the number of people who contract sexually transmitted diseases (STD) can still be measured at widespread proportions.

Although there have been great strives to empower women in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s consideration of legislation that would permit child marriage would inevitably reverse the advancements that have been made towards women’s rights in the last few decades. Going in the opposite direction, the law would be conforming to the already prevalent culture of parents pushing their daughters into marriages at an early age. Merry would point out that different perspectives and understandings stem from framing of the issue. NGOs address child marriage by providing awareness and educating girl’s families, the government tries to impose legislation that would allow it, and local actors work towards reframing ideas while using culture as a catalyst for change – the last of which Merry would most likely side with.

UNICEF (2016b) defines child marriage as ‘a formal marriage or informal union before age 18’ and places the number of girls getting married before the age of 18 at 15 million every year. These rates are found to be highest in sub-Saharan Africa and to be especially prevalent amongst the poorest of the population with 4 in 10 girls marrying before their 18th birthday (UNICEF, 2017). Among the top 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage in the world, 17 of those are sub-Saharan African countries (Girls Not Brides, 2014a).

As developing countries attempt to accommodate their rapidly growing youth population, it is important to start considering investments in adolescent girls. In these same developing countries, child marriages tend to be a very common practice. Both region and culture play a part. When considering the limited education or even the lack of economic opportunities in these places, child marriage can end up leading to a life of poverty, social isolation, and powerlessness, infringing on their human rights, health, and well-being. The effects that early marriage can have on children should be acknowledged. Research has shown that child marriage has a direct negative correlation when it comes to its impact on education, health, and psychological well-being of the girls who marry early. Currently, the issue of child marriage is prevalent in Mali. There have been programs implemented in similar rural countries as Mali, that have been successful in showing evidence to support the benefits of programs designed to delay child marriages. These outcomes included positive results for school attendance, age at marriage, reproductive health knowledge and communication and contraceptive use particularly among girls aged 10-14. Implementing these recommendations to the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children & Families in Mali can help to determine the feasibility of developing a similar intervention.

Child marriage has many inciting factors in developing countries, the most common being: tradition, social norm, religious beliefs, poverty, security, and gender inequality. Child marriage has been a traditional practice and social norm throughout centuries. Deviating from such practices, dishonors a family and forces them to endure being excluded and rejected from the community. However, not all the reasons for child marriage are

Divided into groups ranging from 1 to 5, one being the highest equality and 5 being the lowest, states from group 3 and higher have greater gender equality than states in groups 4 and 5. The “Trends in Contraceptive Use Worldwide 2015” report from the United Nations will be used to estimate contraceptive prevalence by any method, the unmet need for family planning, and the demand for family planning satisfied with modern methods, as well as the specific contraceptive type for married or in-union women aged 15-49. Using these two reports, the level of gender equality in each state will be assessed in relation to the states’ achievement of good governance.

Child marriage is a violation of children’s human rights and often involves physical, emotional, financial, sexual or psychological pressure and abuse (Levesque 1999). Approximately 14 million children as young as 8 years of age fall victim to child marriages worldwide each year, robbing them of their childhood, education and future dreams (Quinell 2015). A study conducted by the ‘National Children’s and Youth Law Centre’ identified over 250 cases of child marriages in Australia over 24 months (Jelenic & Keeley 2013). The study confirmed that over 15 Australian children are being sent overseas each year for a forced

For generations, there has been a global issue called child marriage when children under 18 years old are forced to get married. In this custom, girls have no choice but to follow the arrangement of their families and people in the communities to marry somebody that they do not want to, leading to many other social problems. Unfortunately, child marriage is still considered legal and accepted in many regions, making it harder than ever to be removed. Therefore, on behalf of every individual against this violation of human rights, I would like you to take this issue under serious consideration and put an end to it. With the position of Executive Director of the United Nations’ Population Fund, I believe that you could have an influence on many countries by holding meetings, holding interviews and delivering speeches about child marriage. Throughout means of media like newspaper and social networks, your words could raise the alarm about this problem not only to the government, but also to populace all around the world. Your action would be a call to change people from reluctantly accepting child marriage into actively protesting it by raising funds for UNFPA to help protect girls from this custom. With these funds, UNFPA could co-operate with UN Women to conduct a project that aims to raise awareness to communities and empower girls. Professional activists would be sent to these focus countries to educate people, especially the leaders of the regions about the impacts of

UNICEF defines Child Marriage as “ a formal marriage or informal union before age 18, is a reality for both boys and girls, although girls are disproportionately the most affected. Child marriage is widespread and can lead to a lifetime of disadvantage and deprivation” (Child)