1. Introduction

Since a large number of countries prohibit marriage before the age of 18, it is a practice that deprives young girls of their right to make important decisions regarding their sexual health and well-being. It forces them out of education and into a life of poverty, with an increased risk of violence, abuse, illness, or early death.

2. Early Marriage Statistics

In a recent survey published in the journal Social Science and Medicine, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, investigated the effects of early marriage on girls’ health in sub-Saharan Africa. In the study, they found that African women who married before age 16 were nearly twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes and almost twice as likely to die from birth-related causes compared to women who married later.

The study focuses on an area that is often overlooked: child marriage (marriage below 18). While many girls who get married before age 16 do so because they are forced into it by their parents, most of them also choose marriage themselves; something that should be recognized as a form of violence against girls in this region, which will lead to their increased risk of poor health.

 

3. Causes of Early Marriage

    How can we prevent young girls from marrying at a young age? Many countries have made efforts to discourage early marriage, through education or legal enforcement. But many people are still married before the age of 18. In India, for instance, a third of girls married before their 18th birthday do not have a high school diploma or equivalent (up to age 16) and get married either to men who are already partners in the household or to men who are not related to them (nearly half of all marriages in urban areas in India take place between an older woman and a younger man).

What effect does early marriage have on the life of these girls? The only studies have done so far look at the impact it has on behavior: how often girls use contraception and whether they feel pressured into having sex by friends or relatives. But there is also evidence that it affects women’s health and mental health.

We know that premarital sex makes women more likely to develop complications during pregnancy. We also know that it is associated with higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) – including HIV – among women who marry later in life. Furthermore, we know that having premarital sex increases the chances of having a sexually transmitted infection during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as other negative consequences for both mother and child.

Why did these studies show such varied results? It may be because these studies were conducted over different time frames: one looked at premarital sex as isolated events, while another looked at it as part of larger patterns in their families. Other studies were conducted using different methods: one used surveys, while another used interviews with people who had all been married before the age of 18 years, but not yet had children.

These different methods could mean that some aspects are more heavily influenced by cultural norms than others – which could result in different conclusions when comparing countries with culturally similar cultures.

In light of this evidence, it would be wrong to assume that any single approach works equally well across cultures; rather than trying to reduce rates through universal measures, we should instead focus our efforts on ensuring that societies with higher rates of early marriage – particularly those where traditional norms are deeply ingrained – adopt effective strategies for preventing young marriage from happening in the first place, while societies with lower rates tend towards policies which encourage young marriage but do not penalize those who do choose to marry later (so-called “micro-level” interventions)

4. Effects of Early Marriage

In 2013, the United Nations launched a campaign called “Save the Family”, to promote family planning and prevent early marriage. The campaign was an initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is a UN agency responsible for financing family planning services in developing countries. The campaign argues that young girls are more likely to marry when they are young and remain unmarried until they are older.

The first step in this process is early education: girls can be married if their parents believe that it’s in their child’s best interest. For example, some parents may be persuaded by religious leaders that there is no such thing as “too young” for marriage, whereas others may not want their daughter to be exposed to sexual activity before she reaches puberty.

In addition to education and early marriage, child marriage also increases women’s risk of poverty later on in life. Many women who marry as children do so because they believe it will provide them with better economic opportunities than they would otherwise have had, so both they and their children will benefit from having a secure income at an early age.

In short: the government needs to force people into wedlock at a younger age so that the main attraction of marriage is economic rather than sociological; those who choose not to marry will face hardship or even social stigma in later life if they don’t do so soon after puberty. If government intervention does not occur quickly enough, many young women may grow up without the support that would allow them to participate fully in society and achieve the same level of success as men if they stay single all their lives.

5. Recommendations

Let’s focus on the negative effects of early marriage and see what is possible with some simple ideas.

First, we need to admit that there are many things that our society does well. You can find them all in one place: the United Nations’ Human Development Index for instance, which ranks countries by their level of human development

Second, we need to acknowledge that many things don’t seem to do well at all. The U.N. has a similar index which ranks countries by how they handle their resources (for instance, how strong is the rule of law?) — and these too can be found all in one place: http://hdr.undp.org/en/country-profiles/resource-development

So, yes, all these things are good — but let’s not pretend that they are somehow equivalent or do more than what is needed; which is why we need a different formula for ranking countries according to each of these factors:

• Social inclusion (coupled with economic freedom)

• Protecting human rights (coupled with democracy)

• Health and wellbeing (coupled with environmental sustainability)

To make sense of this ranking system, it helps to think about each factor separately as an individual indicator — something we have not done before but would recommend as a useful starting point for any “national equality index”: http://www.nidirecta.com/?p=1848. You can then use the rankings as a way of understanding how your country compares to others and where you stand in concerning (for instance, if you were ranked #6 on social inclusion but #11 on health and wellbeing). If you look at the top 10 nations ranked on each indicator, you will likely see that your country isn’t so far away from doing better overall than others — but it might be quite close to doing worse…

6. Conclusion

There are not many things that can be done about social ills, but by banning something we can create a market for it.

For example, in the United Kingdom, the government banned child marriage. This created a demand for child marriage services and increased their uptake through increased awareness of the issue.

In the United States, same-sex marriage was legalized by a ballot initiative in 2004. This caused an increase in support for legalized gay and lesbian marriage by conservatives who had previously opposed it.

It is important to note that there is not one right answer to this question: what is best depends on the culture you live in and how you raise your children (and whether you are pro-choice or pro-life). But a good starting point may be to recognize that there is no one right answer — and certainly no “right” answer — to these questions.




By: Mr. Yasir Shah

The writer is a student at Ruzhn English Language Center 

Bugh Meeri Turbat