Child Marriage: Let girls be Girls

Tecla, a young Zimbabwean girl, was sold for a few cows by her father to help alleviate the family’s poverty. She was raped by her husband, became pregnant and contracted HIV. Her baby died soon after birth. Tecla was only 12 years old.

At an age when she should have been in school learning and dreaming, Tecla became a child bride. She wanted to be like the other children: playing games, listening to stories, and eventually achieving her goal of being a school teacher. But instead, her dreams were shattered by a marriage she didn’t choose and by sexual violence.

Every day, 39,000 girls like Tecla are forced into child marriage somewhere in the world. That’s 27 girls a minute. And every year, 16 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 – 90 percent of whom are married – give birth to children, despite the fact that many are children themselves.

Child marriage is one of the most violent crimes against girls. It can rob them of their childhood, deny them of the chance to finish school and expose them to domestic and sexual violence.

Child marriage can also jeopardize girls’ health, increasing both their risk of acquiring HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases and their chances of dying in pregnancy and childbirth due to early pregnancies and poor access to family planning.

We know that putting an end to child marriage would have tremendous benefits – not only for the girls themselves, but also for their communities. When girls aren’t forced to marry, they can stay in school, will have healthier children and can meaningfully contribute to their families and economies.

In fact, each additional year of education for a woman reduces infant mortality by up to 10 percent. And by enrolling just 10 percent more girls in school, a country can increase its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by approximately three percent. It is a virtuous circle and, as we say at Women Deliver, everybody wins.

It is undeniably difficult to change the cultural and social traditions and norms that make child marriage a common practice in parts of the world. But, it is not impossible. Around the world, passionate advocates, including several of the Women Deliver Young Leaders, are stepping up to demand change in their communities.

For example, in Zimbabwe, the Rising Birds Project is bringing young people together to increase community awareness about the harmful impact child marriage has on girls’ Read more: Vanguard