Child Marriage Essay

Child marriage is a worldwide problem that involves countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe (“Where does…”). In many developing countries child brides total over 67 million worldwide, in some countries, majority of the girls are married before they even turn 18. This practice of marrying before the age of 18, wrecks the lives of girls, their families and their communities. Child marriage declines 14 million girls a year their own rights to be healthy, educated and to have a sense of security. Unfortunately this tragedy will keep occurring to these young girls if we do not put an end to it.

Child Marriage is a worldwide actuality but is most common in Africa and Southern Asia, although the practice has decreased considerably in recent times, it remains frequent in rural areas and among the most impoverished. It is anticipated by the UNFPA that worldwide 100 million girls are expected to marry in the next decade. In Africa, UNICEF estimates that 42 percent of girls are wedded before the age of 18 and in some African countries the percent is much higher, such as in Niger where there is a 76 percent occurrence of child marriage. The age at which children are married varies between countries and cultures but marriage earlier than the age of 15 is not unusual and in areas part of West Africa and in Ethiopia, girls are sometimes married as early as age 7 (“Child Marriage.”).

Poverty is an important factor contributing to child marriage and a typical reason why families may influence a child to marry early. In poor rural communities, giving a daughter in marriage may seem enticing to parents because they will have o...

... middle of paper ...

... would help protect girls’ human rights by establishing a multi-year strategy to prevent child marriage in developing countries, promote the empowerment of girls at risk of child marriage, and education.

Education is one of the most powerful tools to delay the age at which girls marry as school attendance helps shift norms around child marriage. Improving girls’ access to quality schooling will increase girls’ chances of gaining a secondary education and helps to delay marriage. When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries on average four years later. Empowering girls, by offering them opportunities to gain skills and education, providing support networks and creating ‘safe spaces’ where girls can gather and meet outside the home, can help girls and share experiences, reducing their sense of isolation and vulnerability.