I had my first serious relationship at the age of 17. If anyone had suggested that we get married at that point, my reaction would have been one of complete horror and bewilderment. Why on earth would I want to do that? I had plans – to go to university, to travel, to pursue a career, to meet interesting people, to get out of the suburban mundanity I had been brought up in. Marriage was nowhere on my agenda. As with many teenage relationships, it didn't last and we split up after 18 months. By the time I eventually had my son at the age of 35, I had lived a bit, pursued some of my ideals and dreams and was ready to take on the responsibilities of parenthood. I could also be a better mother because of my education and life experience.I realise now that I was lucky. I took my freedom for granted - never questioning my ability or right to be able to choose my own partners or do what I wanted – resources permitting. All over the world, millions of children have no choice over whom or when they marry.
Child marriage is defined by Unicef as marriage before the age of 18 and considers this practice a violation of human rights. India tops the league table of rates of child marriage. Mahatma Gandhi himself was married at the age of 13 to Kasturbai, aged only 14.
My own son is nearly 13. He is still growing, changing and finding out about himself and the world. Like many teens and pre-teens he spends his time at school or playing numerous video games or browsing You Tube. The idea that he should be married at his age, or thereabouts, just seems unbelievable and very premature.
Today, Girl Summit 2014 was co-hosted in London by UNICEF and the UK Government. Their stated aim is to end female genital mutilation, child, early and forced marriage within a generation. In 2010 13.5 million children were married before they were 18. In the developing world 1 in 7 girls are married before they were 15, with some as young as 8 or 9. This can have devastating consequences. For example, in the Yemen, last September, an 8 year old girl was reported to having been married to a 40 year old groom. During intercourse on the wedding night, the 8 year old’s uterus ruptured and she later died as a consequence.
According to Unicef figures, around 43% of women in India aged 20-24 are married before the age of 18[1]. This may be to partners they don’t know, or haven’t consented to marry. For the boys / men it can be a burden to have to then provide for their wife and consequent children at such a young age. For the girl / woman, however, the impact can be life altering and life constraining. Forced into premature sexual intercourse with their husband, this can amount to rape. Commonly the girl then stops any education and her life is taken up with childcare and domestic responsibilities, with little opportunity for herself outside the home. Early childbirth can also be damaging for immature bodies not capable of bearing a child leading to complications and / or low birth weight babies. The women too are also at risk from domestic violence, compounded by their vulnerable status as child brides.
This is a problem for the women in India, but also a problem for girls and women in the UK. Every year thousands of girls in the UK face being taken out of school on ‘family holidays’ to Pakistan, India and other place, only to find out they are to be married. This morning I was listening on the radio to the story of a woman from the UK who was married off at the age of 13 in Pakistan – against her knowledge, consent or will – only to give birth to a son at the age of 14 on returning to the UK. At the time, no-one questioned it or raised it as an issue. She managed to escape and, now in her 40s, campaigns against child and forced marriage – with the price of being disowned by her family.
Last year the UK government’s forced marriage unit dealt with 1032 cases. Of these 82% of victims were female and 18% male while 15% were under the age of 15. The cases involved 74 different countries with 43% relating to Pakistan, 11% to India and 10% to Bangladesh[2]. To a Western audience, it is inconceivable that a girl or woman should have no choice but to marry someone not of their own choosing or without their consent. This is not a question of cultural relativity: it is a question of human rights. It’s a gross violation of children’s rights to make them marry someone – with a sexual relationship to follow and childbirth – that usually means an end to the girl’s education and a lifetime of rape or non-consensual sex, childrearing and domestic duties.
Worldwide more than 700 million women were married as children, with 1 in 3 of them married before their 15th birthday. About a third of child brides live in India. Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the UK since 1985, and since 2003 anyone taking someone out of the UK for FGM has been punishable by up to 14 years in prison[3]. Enforcement of these provisions, though, is woefully lacking to date. A new law also came into effect in the UK on 16 June 2014 making it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 7 years in prison for parents who force their children into marriage – though it remains to be seen how rigorously this new power will be used or enforced.
In India, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act states that girls can’t get married before the age of 18 and boys before the age of 21 – although this is widely ignored. Many campaigners were disappointed last October at India’s refusal to sign the first-ever global resolution on early and forced marriage of children led by the UN Human Rights Council.
I am inclined to be cynical about David Cameron’s stated commitment to Girl Summit Day – given his blind spot to women colleagues in the recent past. But let’s hope FGM and forced /early marriage will become as unacceptable as torture or imprisonment without a trial (or unfair trial) for this is what it is.
For development to be effective in India, women must be prioritised. Women are the ones who look after, educate and care for the medical needs of our children in their early years. By allowing women to pursue an education, freedom in whom they marry and rights within the marriage, it is a service to themselves, their children, community, husbands and humankind.
http://tooyoungtowed.org/
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/girl-summit-2014
http://www.girlsummitpledge.com/
http://www.karmanirvana.org.uk/
[1] http://www.unicef.org/india/Child_Marriage_Fact_Sheet_Nov2011_final.pdf. Accessed 22/07/2014
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27830815
[3] Ibid.
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