I recently attended a sneak preview of “The Bride Was Seven,” part of the Oxygen Network’s “Who Cares About Girls?” series. This teaser featured Berhane Hewan (“Light for Eve”), an innovative program educating young girls and their parents about voluntary family planning and health effects of child marriage. In the film, Zemenay, a twelve-year old wife of eight years residing in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, spoke openly of the consummation of her marriage prior to her first menstrual cycle. Speakers at the screening included Amy Bucher, Director and Producer; Congresswoman Louise Capps (D-CA); and Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), who reflected on the global prevalence of child marriage.
Often thought to occur solely in rural parts of developing countries, forced marriages have recently been identified as an issue in the US, UK, and continental Europe. Of the 416 children seized in Texas in April 2008, more than twenty teenage girls were reported to either be expecting or raising children by the age of seventeen. A March 2008 report states that the British Government’s Forced Marriage Unit investigates 250-300 cases per year while up to several thousand more may go unreported. Dr. Nazia Khanum, the author of the report, estimates 3,000 forced marriages take place annually in the UK if underreporting occurs at the same frequency as underreporting for rape and sexual assault. In Norway and Belgium, legislation prohibiting marital rape and forced marriage has been proposed following the publication of studies highlighting the issue. Because evidence of forced child marriage in the US, UK and EU countries is recent and primarily anecdotal, it merits further attention from development, public health, and demographic research communities.
Demographic data from many developing countries and emerging economies highlight disturbing rates of child marriage. Estimates from the International Center for Research on Women indicate that 51 million girls overseas are married and under 18 years of age; an additionally hundred million more girls will be wed in the next decade if current trends continue. Geographically, child marriage occurs most frequently in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. In the Amhara region of Ethiopia, almost 50% of girls are married by the age of fourteen. Child and teenage brides exhibit an array of physical and emotional health effects, including lowered self-esteem and increased risks of maternal death, infant mortality, obstetric fistula, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Despite these worrisome statistics, though, there is demographic evidence of marriage age increasing in the Middle East and northern Africa. A 2005 Population Reference Bureau report highlights sharp declines in rates of teenage marriage in Kuwait, Libya, and the United Arab Emirates in the last thirty years. In Morocco, a fatwa permitting child marriage has resulted in an official government inquiry questioning the practice; marriage under the age of 18 is prohibited in Morocco. While teen marriage is still prevalent in a number of countries, rates have fallen as the age of marriage has increased in a number of countries.
School Girls Unite, composed of young girls from around the world, produced a video petition to Congress to place a human face on child marriage. In July 2007, Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced H.R. 3175, the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Marriage Act, to the House of Representatives; a Senate bill, S 1998, was introduced in August 2007 by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL). The bill would authorize $25 million between FY2008 and FY 2012 for community-based activities that encourage communities to address practices that promote child marriage. No action is expected in this Congress, but the issue will likely be revisited in the 111th Congress.
To learn more about child brides, tune into “Who Cares About Girls?” on the Oxygen Network on October 9.
