Recently the Girl Effect, led by Maria Eitel, began focussing on an issue that many of us fail to realize exists in todays modern world. The issue at hand is child marriage, and its devastating impact on girls around the world. The Girl Effect reported that "Child marriage is one of the barriers preventing the 600 million adolescent girls in developing countries from unleashing their full potential. The numbers speak clearly: one girl in seven in developing countries marries before age 15, and nearly half of all girls are expected to marry by age 20
Child marriage is not only a violation of human rights, but it also has serious consequences for national development, ultimately stunting educational and vocational opportunities for a large sector of the population and for the future generations.
Considerable evidence points to the negative impact of child marriage on girls, their children and their communities: It often results in heightened vulnerability of girls to physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse; increased rates of school dropout; early childbirth, which many times leads to poor health outcomes for both mother and child or even death, with pregnancy-related complications representing the leading cause of death among girls 15-19; increased risk of HIV transmission to married girls." The Girl Effect is working hard to design interventions that specifically address child marriages impact a broader number of outcomes – health, education and economic empowerment. At the same time, they are creating programs focusing on providing safe spaces and putting assets in girls’ hands have shown to have a strong impact on delaying child marriage as well. When a girl has assets to tap into, simple things like a social network, specific skills, some knowledge, self-esteem, personal security… to tap into, she has a much greater chance of staying on course and not only delaying marriage but also positively impacting her overall future and the futures of her siblings. She becomes a hugely powerful agent of change.
It is interesting because what we are also battling are cultural norms and assumptions. How can we teach folks the marriage is wrong if this practice is an embedded one in their culture - indeed the assumption that childhood marriage is the right thing to do is likely not questioned!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some links back to the articles you are citing here. R
Thats a great point. Young girls getting married to older men has plagues generations of women in the developing world. I think that education will play a big role in breaking this cycle-so that future generations will have a brighter future. Here is a link you might find interesting...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-eitel/its-time-to-consider-the_b_678395.html