A newly married girl stands in front of the tent where she lives with her in-laws in a slum of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
© UNICEF/PAKA2010-00173/Marta Ramoneda
Farzana, 17, holds a crying toddler on her lap outside a UNICEF-supported child-friendly space in Multan, Pakistan. Farzana was married at the age of 15 to a distant relative, curtailing her education and childhood. “It hurts me a lot,” she says. “I wanted to study and make a life for myself.”
Sadly, Farzana is not alone. In Pakistan, parents often approve of child marriage as a way of reducing the number of mouths to feed in large families. But early marriage leads to early childbearing, which carries severe health risks for both mother and child and is the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 to 19 in developing countries. They are also more likely to catch sexually transmitted infections including HIV. Those born to child brides grow up less healthy and poorer. In this sense child marriage is both a cause and a consequence of poverty.
Farzana says such a cycle is one she doesn’t want repeated. “We don’t want our daughters to be like us,” she says. “We want our daughters to study and handle their responsibilities, become teachers or whatever they wish to.”
Systematic abuse
Child marriage is most common in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2011 report, around one third of girls in the developing world, excluding China, are married before the age of 18 and in a few countries almost 30 per cent of girls under 15 are married.
Aside from the impact on girl’s health and education, the psychosocial effects are also enormous. Marriage to a much older man is often seen as a way to protect a child, and parents sometimes believe it will guard a young girl from the dangers of sexual assault. But the harsh reality of child marriage is that girls are likely to find themselves in a position of powerlessness within the household of their husband’s family, with no clear access to friends of the same age or other sources of support. This powerlessness means they are often subjected to systematic sexual abuse from their husbands.
The power to say ‘no’
Arfa Khatun (2nd from right in front row), 13, at the Bagandih special school under National Child Labor Project (NCLP), Purulia.
© UNICEF/INDA2009-00087/Anita Khemka
One girl in Purulia, India, had the extraordinary courage to stand up against her early marriage. Arfa Khatun was sent out to work as a maid when she was just 8 years old, and her father had planned to marry her off when she turned 13, just as he had done with her two sisters.
But Arfa took a stand almost unheard of in her traditional Muslim community. She said no. “Of course, one day, we will all get married,” said Arfa. “But not before 18, and not before my studies are finished.”
Initially, Arfa’s father, Ansari, was not ready to accept his youngest daughter’s decision. But Arfa attends the UNICEF-supported National Child Labour Project (NCLP) school run by the Government’s Labour Department. The school’s mission is to improve the lives of working children by enrolling them in school and restoring their basic rights. She turned to the NCLP for support, and Arfa’s father was finally convinced.
“My elder sisters were not ready to get married at that early age, but I am more determined than my sisters,” said Arfa. “And I’m getting support from my school.”
Nojoud, from Yemen, was similarly courageous. She was just ten years old when she was the first person her age to be granted an annulment of her marriage to a man three times her age. Despite some schools initially refusing to allow Nojoud in, fearing her sexual experience would corrupt the other children, Nojoud has now been accepted into a school in Rwhada in North Yemen. Nojoud is “excited and happy” about her future, and is finally enjoying her childhood.
Taboo subject
In Yemen, the legal age for marriage is currently 15, but in reality parents can make that decision when their child is a lot younger. A recent study revealed that the average age for marriage in rural Yemen is around 12 or 13.
UNICEF in Yemen has trained some 200 journalists to report on taboo subjects like child marriage, which removes stigma and helps to inform parents about the implications of marriage for their children. We are also educating and supporting communities as they become aware of the dangers children face when they are forced to marry too young. At the highest level, we are putting pressure on governments to amend the legislation that allows these marriages.
An opportunity
Back in Pakistan, UNICEF officials are optimistic. Pakistan’s disastrous flood last July has created an opportunity to convince rural communities to stop pushing girls into child marriages, as people from remote villages who were forced to abandon their homes by the flood are being exposed to new outside influences and arguments against under-age marriage.
“People are coming out of isolation,” said Jan Sigismund, UNICEF emergency coordinator in Punjab. “A change of mentality is taking place.”
But old habits are hard to break, and without financial support, and for the 20 million people that were affected by the floods, poverty will be a big factor driving the continuation of the practice.
Find out more about Nojoud's story of child marriage in Yemen in the Spring 2011 edition of UNICEF's quarterly magazine, Childmatters.