Child marriage - defined as 'formal marriage and informal union in which a girl/boy lives with her/his partner as if married before the age of 18 ' - is one of the most serious social menaces in the world. It is reported that Bangladesh is one of the countries where the incidence of child marriage is rampant with about 63 per cent of girls married off before the age of 18 and 24 per cent before 15. There is also a speculation that the government might set the minimum marriage age of girls at 16. Arguably that would be suicidal as 'sweet' 16 of a girl's life might turn into sour '16' if such young girls are to bear the brunt of early pregnancy and other complexities, and when days of their sweet dreams would be dashed to the ground.
Whether the figures relating to child marriage are true or not depends on sources and coverage of data. Of course, there are regional variations. For example, according to one household-level survey, Kurigram has the highest incidence of child marriage at 40 per cent followed by Bogra 34 per cent, Dinajpur 30 per cent, Thakurgaon 25 per cent, Satkhira 22 per cent etc. Another study shows that Joypurhat has the highest prevalence of child marriage where more than four-fifths of women aged between 20 and 49 are married before the age of 18 and 58 per cent of women between 15 and 19 are currently married.
To what extent are the cited figures on incidence of child marriage acceptable? It depends on the angle you look at. If married women of the 18-24 age bracket are taken to see how many of them were married before 18, one would possibly reach a figure like 50-60 per cent. But if one takes the whole population in 18-24 age-group into consideration and then see how many were married before 18, the figure could possibly be 22-25 per cent.
What's behind child marriage? Available documents produced by domestic and international agencies tend to adduce high prevalence of child marriage in Bangladesh into two broad groups: socio-economic and legal and policy related. Among the social-economic reasons, the following are very important: (a) concern over safety and security of unmarried adolescent girls that is closely linked with the family's fame; (b) increase in dowry associated with girl's age at marriage i.e. the higher the age (even education) of the bride, the higher is the cost of the groom; and (c) poverty and lack of economic opportunities to keep girls in economic activities. In a typical society, girls are considered as liability - the sooner she is disposed of, the better it is for the family and traditional religious and social norms. Among legal/policy related reasons, the most important seems to be the lack of implementation of the Child Marriage Act, lack of proper birth registration, and lack of accountability of the marriage registrar.
Available surveys find that lack of education is strongly associated with levels of child marriage - 80 per cent of women with no education and 30 per cent with secondary education were married when they reached the age of 18. Poverty levels also propel child marriage as the trade-off leads to the sacrifice of the 'liability' (girls) keeping the 'asset' (boy) with parents. Availability of jobs helps delay in marriage, and there is an inverse relation between access to job and marriage. In fact, availability of works or jobs for women increases the opportunity costs of rearing children and hence reduces fertility.
Whether the proportion of child marriage is high or low, there is little disagreement on the fact that child marriage is a violation of human rights. It adversely affects education, health and wellbeing of girls and perpetuates cycle of poverty. The adverse impacts of child marriage are summarised succinctly by Mingming Remata-Evora, Country Director, Plan International Bangladesh which run as follows: "It forces a child to become a wife and belong to her husband and his family; it often forces a child to become a mother when she is merely a child herself, damaging her health; it forces a child to care for a baby when she still needs support to care for herself. As a result of her marriage, many doors will be closed for a girl including her chance to go to school, which will be seriously diminished".
The odds of child marriage are many. For example, available empirics show that children becoming stunted significantly increase if born to a teenage mother; a large section of women dying during delivery falls below 18 years of age; girls married before 18 are at greater risk of physical and psychological violence etc. Another adverse effect of child marriage is early pregnancy and childbirth. These can have detrimental and long-term health effects on girls whose bodies are not developed enough to give birth, and also increase health risks to the newborn.
Girls' age for marriage should not be lowered to 16 - turning 'sweet' into 'sour'. Every girl has a dream. How's to reduce child marriage? This writer will draw upon (paraphrase) some studies to arrive at the following solutions:
n Enforce legal process to stop child marriage.
n The Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs should enforce legal processes to stop child marriage and involve the community in this process. One mechanism for doing so is sensitizing local Union Parishad members and Chairmen on child marriage issues. This will enable them to assist law enforcement agencies in preventing child marriages. This should go hand in hand with a series of other measures. BRAC's Adolescent Development Programme and the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents project have helped strike positive change in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour for prevention of child marriage.
n Implement on-line birth registration across the country. The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives should ensure that the online birth registration system is implemented across the country so that girls' correct ages will be known and falsification of ages will be prevented. This will enable legal steps to be taken by law enforcement agencies to stop child marriage.
n Improve girls' safety in communities through national and community-based child protection systems and mechanisms. Strengthen national child protection systems, which are vital to prevent and respond to child marriage. Community-based child protection mechanisms should also be strengthened and increased, and embedded in the union level Standing Committee for Women and Girls.
n Girls' education up to degree level should be made free. As our Prime Minister said on many occasions, girls' education should be made free up to the graduation level.
The writer is Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
