By Alexa Hassink with contributions from Giovanna Lauro and Nina Ford, Promundo.
Fifteen million girls are married before they turn 18. “The time to end child marriage is now,” said Susan Markham, USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment. The episodes involving the abduction of girls from a Nigerian school last year, the latest forced marriages involving agents of the Islamic State (ISIL), and efforts to end child marriage within a generation make Markham believe that everyone must “concentrate focus on this global imperative” to ensure that girls everywhere can decide if, when and who they marry.
In 51 countries, at least one in four girls marries before the age of 18. While the challenges of addressing this practice may be different, there are many common lessons learned – which were revealed by experts at the US State Department's “Women and Foreign Policy: Ending Early and Forced Marriage ” event on September 24 .
“There is a recognition that gender equality is highly important to what we are doing,” said Catherine Russell, US Ambassador for Global Women's Issues, in her opening remarks. “Our common goals for the future – of peace, prosperity and security – are out of reach while women and girls are treated as second-class citizens.”
With this inaugural event on child and forced marriage, the Department of State launched two weeks of activities leading up to the International Day of the Girl on October 11, and the Adolescent Girl Strategy, scheduled for release later in November.
Where does Child Marriage take place?
The numbers are impressive. In developing countries, one in three girls will be married before the age of 18, and one in nine will be married before her 15th birthday. Although the prevalence of marriage among under-15s is declining, reducing the incidence of marriages among 16- and 17-year-olds has been a more difficult path.
“Child marriage is not an isolated issue. It’s a universal issue,” said Giovanna Lauro, Deputy Director of International Programs at Promundo. While India is often recognized for its high prevalence rate, the practice occurs in every region and among every religion in the world. For example, in Bangladesh, Mozambique and the Dominican Republic, more than 40% of girls are married before the age of 18.
Brazil, a country that is not generally associated with the practice of child marriage, has the fourth highest absolute number of teenage marriages in the world. While it exists as an informal practice and receives less attention, Lauro asserts that teenage marriage in Brazil is associated with the same negative consequences as in other contexts: early pregnancy, negative health impacts, intimate partner violence, limited employment opportunities, and setbacks. educational.
Why are girls getting married?
Child marriage is at the intersection of a broad set of issues, underscored by “the universality of anxiety and control around girls’ sexuality and sexual activity,” said Margaret Greene, director of GreeneWorks. The practice reflects deeply rooted attitudes and expectations around girls' values and roles in society.
On the demand side, Promundo's research in Brazil found that many men express a preference for younger girls, who they perceive as easier to control and manipulate. Even though not all of the girls interviewed in the study expressed a desire to marry at a young age, many said they saw marriage as “the best available option” within the context of few opportunities.
Putting an end to the practice
Experts convened by the State Department agree that child marriage is not a problem with an easy solution, changes need to happen within individuals, families and communities and with the support of institutions and laws. “Basically, the value of the girl child must be raised,” noted Suzanne Petroni, Senior Director of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Societies can begin to promote the value of girls through individual and community conversations, as well as challenging structural discrimination against girls to promote opportunities – in particular access to quality secondary education and employment.
“While we have a global challenge,” adds Petroni, “the evidence we have is very limited.” The need for more evidence-based solutions is demonstrated by ICRW's systematic review of more than 150 programs that address child marriage, of which only 23 have been rigorously evaluated. The review, however, identified several promising programmatic directions:
Directly empowering girls with information, skills, and support networks that can help reduce social and economic isolation, giving them an expanded sense of the roles they can take in society instead of or in addition to marriage. Girls themselves need to know their rights and the different opportunities available to them.
Educating and mobilizing parents and community members, including men and boys , to influence broad changes in social norms. Families and community leaders must recognize the benefits of investing in girls' education and skills because these leaders are often agents of influence for change. Community engagement must also involve comprehensive sexuality education that addresses health, rights, consent and autonomy.
Improving access to and quality of formal education for girls was considered a fundamental solution due to the strong correlation between the time spent in school and the time spent single .
Reinforcing security in public areas , around schools and other leisure spaces can be an important prevention. In contexts where the risks of sexual harassment and rape are high, early and forced marriage is seen as a way to protect girls' honor in the event of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.
Providing support and economic incentives for girls and their families to stay in school as a way to avoid marriage, according to an ICRW study, can also produce impressive results. Population Council research in Africa showed similar results. Economic incentives were particularly effective with older teens (ages 15-17), while school-based incentives were more effective with younger girls, says Anne Blanc, Vice President and Director of the Population Council. This may be related to increased economic pressure, as as girls get older, families encourage marriage.
Experts agree that these strategies must all be paired with effective legal and policy frameworks to prevent marriage and ensure support for married girls. Laws are needed not only to establish legal ages for marriage (which must be the same for men and women so as not to reinforce gender discrimination), but also to allow access to quality education, including for married and pregnant girls .
When we think about women and girls, we don't often think about rigid gender norms and customs, which can be the most efficient and effective way to achieve justice in certain environments, added Mehret Mandefro, president of Truth Aid and producer of the film Difret. . While many countries have passed national laws that establish minimum ages for marriage, she explained, this alone is often not enough to curb the practice.
The way forward
“There really aren't any simple solutions to this problem, which is rooted in culture, tradition and history,” Petroni said. Effective solutions to end child and adolescent marriage require long-term investments – not short-term projects – that lead to lasting cultural change.
To drive crucial investments to prevent child marriage, more research is needed – particularly to understand the costs of addressing the issue. Population Council research found that preventing a single child marriage costs between $300 and $600. By rigorously systematizing the costs of marriage in childhood and adolescence more broadly – in terms of health, family, workforce and violence – we can stimulate investments to address it, Petroni added. The costs of child marriage will be detailed in an upcoming ICRW analysis.
In order to change social norms among men and their families, we need to collect more qualified and detailed data on men's preferences for young, subordinate women, Greene said. Furthermore, child marriage prevention programs need to be scaled up and evaluated.
To prevent early and forced marriage we need to think about how to sustain positive long-term outcomes and better understand the relationships between education and child marriage, including what works in different contexts, Blanc added.
“Change is possible,” said Russell, and it is necessary to establish a healthy foundation for the future of girls – and countries.
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