Girls drop out of school: older husband
In most cases, marriage relationships that begin with child marriage are often unequal. The young brides are often oppressed in marriage and have a lower family status. The age gap between the brides and their partners has become an unavoidable factor, which to a large extent has caused a serious imbalance in the famliy power.
In some African countries where child marriages are more serious, more than 50% of 15-19-year-old girls say that their husbands are more than 10 years older than them. In Gambia, Guinea and Senegal, this ratio reaches 2/3.
Note: As some data are not available, Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea are not included.
Source: Adolescent girls WCAR brochure English 2019.
The International Center for Women’s Studies conducted a survey of 12 countries with high child marriage rates, including Niger.
Researchers found women who reported their husbands were 70 years or
more older than them in 10 of these countries.
At the end of the last century, a 9-year-old girl from northern Nigeria was hacked to death by her 90-year-old husband. In the name of traditional custom, he will marry a girl, but the girl refused. She fled home in order to get protection from her family, but she may not know it when she was young: in fact, no help awaited her. She fled back twice, but was "deported" by her parents to her "husband" twice. Her husband was very angry and promised to take some measures to prevent her from escaping again. He took the axe and cut off the girl's limbs cruelly. Of course the girl will never run away again, nor will she run away alive. Two days later, she passed away. Nearly 20 years have passed, and the history of "old couples and young wives" is still being written. ...
Blame the "patriarchal society"
Researchers from Promundo, a gender equality organization at the Federal University of Barra State, Brazil, said that common reasons for child marriage
include unmarried pregnancy for young girls and they must marry quickly to defend their family reputation; or to seek shelter in another family to escape domestic violence and sexual assault mainly from relatives or stepfathers;
or in the case of limited education and work opportunities, they hope to have better living conditions, but it often backfires. In a patriarchal society, an excessive age gap will directly or indirectly lead to the gap between
physical and mental power, social status, and economic strength, which will further lead to the imbalance in the marriage and the loss of the right to speak and even human rights.
Today, the storm of child marriage is still sweeping children all over the world. In order to improve the situation, education has become an important focus for solving the problems.
United Nations research has shown that child marriage is more common in rural areas, and girls who are uneducated or less educated are obviously more vulnerable to child marriage. High-quality education is the most powerful weapon to challenge child marriage. School education can not only provide children with the necessary knowledge and skills for life development, but also protect children from child marriage.
One of the best ways to end child marriage is to keep girls in school.
Each additional year of secondary education is likely to reduce the child marriage rate by more than five percentage points in many countries. Compared with women who marry as adults, young brides are much more likely to drop out of school or have fewer years of education.
"If my parents allowed me to go to school in the first place, I would study very seriously. Many of my friends can continue to go to school, and now they have become smarter and smarter," said Nepali girl Puji (a pseudonym). "If I could continue to go to school, I would be able to work. But my parents let me get married. After the marriage, I can't do anything except raising children."
Note: Female child marriage rate: the percentage of women aged 20-24 who married or lived together before the age of 18.
Source: Ending Child Marriage-A profile of progress in India.
Economic and educational factors generally and profoundly affect child marriage. Among child marriage girls in India, economic and educational factors have almost become the prerequisites. Poor girls, rural girls, and girls with low education levels are more likely to get married at an early age. Among the girls who live in India’s poorest rural areas and have no education at all, 56% will marry before the age of 18. This ratio is only 2% for girls with higher education in the wealthiest urban areas.
The law of child marriage: a gray area
