Girls Not Brides

Some girls are bartered into marriage to repay debt or resolve a dispute. And widespread poverty still compels many parents to get their daughters married to avoid the cost of caring for them.

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

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

Moreover, early married bride are not mentally mature for a family life and they will more likely to feel suffer after got married especially for girl. Indian researchers on child marriage in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh state that girl spouses suffer more than boys because of insufficient socialization, abandonment of education, great physiological and emotional damage. Early married spouse will be missed out on learning how to live by their own and this step actually is the most important part in life before get married especially for girls. How do we expect that one who never learn to manage their own life, to manage their partner life? Maybe they will learn to manage their life together, but how a person is now can change dramatically? This situation will bring a big mess when they start to feel uncomfortable towards each other and start to think about divorce then commit a domestic violence. A study in Jordan, published in 2000 found that 26 per cent of reported cases of domestic violence were committed against wives under 18. This study show that the early

All of those disadvantages for women in modern society are affecting young girls, and it is hard to raise daughters in today’s culture. We as a country should not just let this inequality continue. Men and women should be treated equally and it is important for parents to raise their kids to make the future less

Which I think is a real problem in the Muslim culture (not only an issue in the Muslim culture) that young girls are being forced to be a house wife instead of being able to live to their full potential and succeeding in their life by themselves. The topic of arranged marriage affects lot of young women and men too. As someone who expects to receive an arranged marriage when I grow up this topic affects me too as well as many students like

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.

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

I also agree that the getting the law passed in a male dominated country. In addition to this, religion plays a big role in this problem will not be a simple task. One way is to start by raising awareness of this issue, and most importantly the girls and boys need to be educated about sex education. According to Girls Not Brides, governments should demonstrate their commitment to end child marriage by developing strong laws and policies, and putting the money and institutions in place to enforce

“14 million girls under 18 will be married this year; 38 thousand today; 13 in the last 30 seconds.” (UNFPA. Marrying Too Early: End Child Marriage) The amount of girls who are be married is out of this world. They are getting married because they need someone who can support them since they can't read or write to support themselves. “The #1 cause of death for girls 15-19 is childbirth.” (World Health Organization) If they were educated about their bodies this would be different. If they were able to pay for health care to properly birth their child that could possibly save some of them. Not to mention that their bodies can’t handle that strain at such a young age. “Girls with 8 years of education are 4 times less likely to be married as children.” (Mensch, Barbara S., Susheela Singh and John B. Casterline) If girls are educated there is so much more opportunity for them to have a better life, and not have to stay home and raise a family when they could be at work, or at school. If women got the chance to be educated they would be much less likely to just stay at home, doing home things, and raise a

Marbel Van Oranjes from Girls Not Bride stated that 40 millions girl are getting married before they are 18 years old. And this big problem need to be change as it is a truly global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe. As we can see

Among those rights, is the right to choose who we love and marry. As child brides, that right to choose is taken away. These children are being married off by their parents and family members, sometimes for money, or sometimes because of their religion, to an older man. This “marrying off” takes away the young girl’s right to choose who she is going to spend her life with in the future. We, as Americans, are also born with the right to education. By being married off, these young girls are often forced to dropout of school and end her education to fulfill a marriage she didn’t even choose. The girls having to quit their education also, in a way, prohibits them from trying to get out of these marriages when they’re older because they will be financially dependent on their husband. They will be scared to leave the marriage since they are fearful that they won’t be able to support themselves enough to keep the lifestyle that they are living currently in the

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.

The second category as to why girls are married off so young, is poverty. Education can be a solution to child marriage, however it is too expensive and so families do not see it as necessary if they will marry their daughter into another family. In India, it is tradition for a woman to leave her

Girls who marry earlier tend to have poorer health and higher in risk of transmitting disease and HIV/AIDS. Very recently, the situation of children in need of special protection, notably girls vulnerable to sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS, suggests that early marriage is being used as a strategy to protect girls from sexual exposure (Innocenti Digest, 2001). Most decision for young girl to marry is as their parents believe they are protecting their daughter from HIV/AIDS. Other than that, some men fear of HIV infection have encourage them to seek young virgin, therefore uninfected partners. However, marriage does not offer any protection instead increase married girls’ exposure to virus as older husband may already be infected by previous sexual relationship. According to Rao Gupta and Geeta (1998), more than half of new HIV infections occur in 15-24 year olds, but girls become infected at twice the rate of boys. Other than risk on getting HIV/AIDS, other infection may arise due to early marriage. The risk of early pregnancy and child birth are well documented: increased risk of dying, increased risk of premature labor, complications during delivery, low birth-weight, and a higher chance that the newborn will not survive (Senderowitz & Judith, 1995).