Child Marriage Is A Global Issue

Due to political instability, it is difficult for non-government organizations to operate inside the borders of Yemen. Since there is such a small chance for civil society organizations, few are aware of the widespread problem of child marriages (Girls Not Brides, n.d.).

Social classes have existed throughout all of history. The categorizing of slaves on American Plantations is often overlooked, but there were in fact many levels of slave classes. The use of a class system helped plantation owners to punish and reward their slaves as well as to keep their business organized.

In the article, Child Marriages in Sub-Saharan Africa, states the reasons and crazy expectations of child marriages. In Sub-Saharan Africa 39% of girls are married before the age of 18. Child marriages has spread throughout all of Africa. In West and Central Africa 42% of girls are married before age 18 and in Eastern and Southern Africa it is 36% of the girls (Child Marriages in: Sub-Saharan Africa). These number vary throughout the year yet they never drop to zero. It is a mass dilemma to outsiders yet in the depth of Africa, it a tradition that is hard to break. Daughters may be married off due to poverty or fear of safety. It is a custom in which the daughter does not have much control and marriage can be used as a leverage in a heated

Almost 60% of girls are married by 16. Women activists say up to 80 percent of marriages in poor rural areas are either forced or arranged.

Source 1: The most important information to me, from this source is the reason that the girls are being forced to marry. This article states, “They are among 39,000 girls forced into marriage

Kingston, many girls are forced into marriages by being told it is the right thing to do. In summary, underage arranged marriages are very dangerous and unfair to the children who are placed under those circumstances while they haven’t even reached the capacity to comprehend what they want.

“We the people” were the first three words of the constitution which prevents one person from having most of the power or all of it. The power is split into three branches which are the Judicial, Executive, and two Legislative branches. That prevents one of the groups or people to have all the power. These branches are still used to this day which is called The constitution. The Constitution splits up the power between people, which stops tyranny and makes it the people, Theirs checks and balances between the branches, and their is a bicameral 2 house congress.

Child marriage in the States is a serious problem. The current law for child marriage states that you must be at least eighteen years old to marry. However, state laws make exceptions if minors have parental consent. Due to the lack of awareness in this topic thirty-three states and two counties in the U.S. reported that between 2000-2015 there were a total of 170,363 minors that were married. Of which, six were twelve-year-olds, fifty-one were thirteen-year-olds, nine hundred eighty-five was fourteen years old. Not only is this number increasing but it is also alarming. The main reasons for child marriage are poverty, gender inequality, tradition/culture, education, and insecurity. Most of the child marriages happen in rural or backward areas of the country. The main reason for this is poverty for sure. Parents who have a daughter but don't earn as much choose this method to give them a better life. For the boys, the marriage does not take place but poverty triggers child labor. Another main reason behind this activity is gender inequality. Even today there are lots of countries that consider

Girls all over the world are forced into marriages due to financial necessity, tradition and to ensure their future. Most of these girls married are at a young age: “One third of the world’s girls are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15”( “Child Marriage Facts and Figures”). The young ages of those being married reveal how crucial it is to resolve this problem. When child marriage occurs the parents of the bride usually chose the groom for their daughters; and these grooms can be three times older than the young brides. Some children are brought into the world of marriage at the of 8 or sometimes less depending on their cultural views. The following can be used to help reduce the impact of early

"More than 200,000 children have been involved in a child marriage in the last fifteen years," says Chris Baynes, an author at The Independent. When the words "child marriage," are said, I used to think of a third world country. I think of someone that I thought of as "uncivilized" or as "inhumane," but many people, including me, would be shocked to know that child marriage happens right here in our "civilized" United States. On top of the fact that it generally happens here, it is completely legal in twenty-five states! The other twenty-five states have minimum ages but the loopholes that those laws have are astonishing. Many of the laws loopholes, according to Nurith Aizenman, the writer of "The Loopholes That Allow Child Marriage in the

Cultural and socioeconomic factors that reinforce child marriage differ from region to region. Where one lives within a country may strongly influence whether or not she will marry early. In India the highest rates of child marriage is concentrated in five states: Madhya Pradesh at 73%, Andhra Pradesh at 71%, Rajasthan at 68%, Bihar at 67 % and Uttar Pradesh at 64%. The median age of marriage in India is 16.4 years according to the National Family Health Survey. [8]It also found that 65% of girls are married by the time they are 18. There are many reasons why child marriage occurs but they can be put into two general categories. The first one is based on social norms, customs and religion. Virginity in India is very important. If one is raped, it is hard for her to be married. “As Vatsayyana said a couple millennia ago that a virgin bride is important, even if people don’t talk about it openly”.[1] Therefore, the younger the bride the more likely it is that she’ll be a virgin and so marrying off the daughter as young as possible, the faster the end of the parent’s responsibility to keep her a virgin.

When one thinks of marriage, they think of two adults being in love and deciding to spend the rest of their lives together. To most, marriage is a choice, but according to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), one third of the girls, under the age of eighteen, in the world marriage is not all they would have dreamt of. All around the world girls under the age of eighteen are getting married. Girls are getting married to strangers, to men drastically older than them and also unwillingly. This can be and is extremely dangerous. A person under the age of eighteen should not be allowed to marry simply because they are not mature nor developed enough to handle adult situations. These girls are having to be put in situations that they do not understand how to solve. Ending child marriage requires work across all sectors and at all

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 addition, child marriage started to become more common as well. Often Muslim rulers and officials kidnapped Hindu girls. Due to the kidnapping of the Hindu girls, their parent had to practice child marriage. According to the history of India, “It was emphasized that the proper age for the marriage of girls was seven and that marriage after the age of eleven or twelve was sinful.

Stolen childhood is a side effect of early marriage. In poor and undeveloped countries is common to see weddings between adolescent and even children. Often the parents choose and their childhood is interrupted from their rights. As a married person the child has to perform activities that they are not psychologically or physically prepared. This happens to boys but girls suffer the most. Some child brides are as young as 8 to 9 years old, sometimes they marry much older men. The poverty makes the young brides to leave the school and start