Child Marriage

Imagine life as a girl just before high school. Imagine that as all your friends are planning what to wear for their first day in 9th grade, you’re planning what to wear on your wedding. Your parents are forcing you to marry to a man at least 10 years older than you are, and you oblige because you don’t wanna be called a “whore” and a “slut”. You cried on your wedding. You cried as he raped for you the first time. You cried when he beat you, and you cried when your parents turned their backs when you asked for help. A couple of years later you had your first daughter – you were ecstatic and you swore to provide her with a better life; except, you were indoctrinated by then. By the time you had your first daughter you knew better than to speak out and so you believed that you were certainly inferior than him. Confused and scared of how to raise a daughter you promised yourself that you’ll never let her go through the pain you went through. Thus, you taught her that she was supposed to be subservient as soon as she understood words. You thought that she would never have to make mistakes by her future husband and in turn never have to get hurt. She will be obedient, submissive, respectful, and feminine – a ‘good’ wife.

“Global problem: India is the country with the highest number of child brides, this little girl among them”
Source

Unfortunately, this is the story of about 39,000 girls every single day. Often, those girls are forced to give up their childhood, education, and future careers. Girls who marry before they’re 18 have a higher chance of developing cancer, diabetes, and stroke. In addition, girls who marry before they’re 18 are more susceptible to psychiatric disorders and usually require more mental illness treatment. While the practice is prevalent throughout the world, including the United States, the highest rates of child marriage are present in Sub-Saharan Africa. But due to the large population of the region, South Asia has the largest number of child brides. Currently, the top three countries with the highest rates of child marriage are Niger at 76%, Central African Republic at 68%, and Chad also at 68%. Both Niger and Chad are Muslim-majority countries, while Central African Republic is Christian-majority.

If you hadn’t figured it out by now, this whole blog’s aim to create a sharp contrast between what is culture and what is religion. While both do intertwine at certain times, we often misjudge what is culturally influenced and what is religiously influenced. I’m not a big fan of labels myself, but I believe that it’s important to emphasize religion in this post as the issue of child marriage is usually considered a mainstream Islamic problem. Yet, all leading Islamic scholars prohibit forcing women to marry someone they dislike, let alone be forced into child marriage. In addition, leading Islamic scholars prohibit guardians from forcing women to not marry who the woman desires.

It’s important for us to realize that child marriage isn’t a religious problem if we were to ever put an end to it. The reason we need to realize that child marriage is a cultural problem is because we need to be able to allocate our resources towards the right demographic. By targeting the 1.8 billion Muslims on Earth, we are missing a large chunk of the populace that performs child marriage rituals and acts. Instead, our efforts should focus on educating people of specific cultures, regardless of religion, on the probable implications child marriage has on women.

Child bride
Source

Currently, there are 27 states in America that don’t have laws barring women under the age of 18 from getting married. Thus, child marriage is still legal in this country. During the period of 2000 to 2010, 167,000 girls in the United States have undergone child marriage. Moreover, the previous statistics are actually incomplete as they were only taken in 38 states. Also, the previous dats does not include girls who were taken oversees to be wed as children, nor does it include children who were wed in religious ceremonies. Thus, the numbers are estimated to be much higher in the United States than statistics show.

Unfortunately, the fight for women’s rights is far from over. While people are so caught up labelling each other for differences in beliefs, political opinions, gender identities, etc. billions of women are being enfranchised in the name of religion, cultural practices, and societal pressures. Sexism will persist for a long time, and it’s unlikely that we’ll ever be rid of it. However, being able to identify a root cause and “unboxing” people of stereotypes allows us to easily unite against misogyny and discrimination. By being able to distinguish what is cultural and what is religious, we are able to more effectively establish connections and build bonds in the fight for equality.

3 Comments

  1. Ally Mastrangelo Reply

    You make a lot of great points in this post that I didn’t know of before. The fact that child brides are more susceptible to both physical and mental illness is extremely shocking and saddening to me. I also had no idea child marriage was so prevalent in the U.S and I’m glad you did specific research on that. Overall, this blog is very informative. Definitely worth the read!

  2. kvc5604 Reply

    This post was gut-wrenching, specifically the first paragraph. It’s awful to think that a little girl’s parents would ever force her into such a horrible situation, and even more awful to think that there are so many men that exist that are willing to objectify these children to the extreme. I was also shocked by the statistics in the U.S., and it’s kind of unbelievable that not marrying before 18 isn’t federal law.

  3. njs24 Reply

    Woah this one got to me. I can’t keep saying how much I like your posts. I learn so much. Great use of statistics and images. Another great read, gonna miss these

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