Consequences of Child Marriage

By: Bikal Dhungel

Child Marriage is a serious issue in developing countries. Also in developed countries it is present, though not so many cases. The UNFPA writes that every year, around 13.5 million girls get married before the age of 18, one third of them even before the age of 15. One in three girls are married before the age of 18. However, not only girls, but also boys gets married before 18. UNFPA writes further that 18% of Child Marriage involves under-aged boys whereas 82% are girls. It shows that, females are more likely to be married before the age of 18.

Child Marriage is not easy to eliminate as it is written on papers. Countries with high prevalence of Child Marriage have signed international conventions that criminalizes it but the countries have no capability to implement this country wide. Therefore, the causes of these should be dealt with to end this practice. Researchers claim that, it has less to do with the government rules rather poverty and gender inequality in general. Parents with lots of children especially daughters simply want to get rid of them by transferring the responsibility to the new family where she goes after marriage. Moreover, we should also not forget that especially in poor countries, it is not an easy task to take care of girls. Especially in the case of civil war or violence, incidences of sexual abuse becomes normal. So, marrying is an act of getting rid of this to some extent.

The consequences of Child Marriage does not limit within the family. The society, country and the international community as a whole bear the consequences of it. Fact is, girls are not treated equally as boys in poor countries and even worse treatment for the daughters in law. This has psychological consequences for girls. Teen age is an age to grow. When they are denied enough nutrition, their mental as well as physical development will suffer. In addition to this, if the girls give birth, the children are more likely to get mal-nourished and lack in other abilities in the future.

After marriage, most of them also quit school because they have to support in household works. Also other vocational training will not be done. As a consequence, they will continue to be in poverty trap. Other aspect of this is, there are enormous talents in the mind of children, both boys and girls but when the do not get a chance to use their talents, it is simply wasted. The whole world suffers from this wasted talents.

When the practice of Child Marriage becomes a culture, the children of today are also likely to do the same for their children. This circle can go on forever. A country cannot develop when a large portion of its population are trapped into such ties. So, governments should think about ending such practices. But then the question arises, how to end this trap. Are legislation enough ? The answer is no. As I already mentioned above, this is not about the problem of legislation. This is about women empowerment, about justice and about education.

In the village level, first of all, education for girls is required. After girls are able to think about themselves, a children's clubs should be formed where children from 6-18 participate and discuss about matters related to them. When any of the friends are to marry before 18, they should have a power to take the issue to village or district chief who will then take action against the parents who force their child to marry in early age. The clubs can first of all try to convince the parents who are about to do such things. When children get responsibilities and voices, they are likely to act for the good of children. Such children's clubs are successful in many places throughout developing countries.

In the governmental level, policies to end poverty helps as a contraceptive to child marriage in macro level. Other policies like population control by encouraging people to have fewer children, policies that ensure gender equality will also mitigate the system to some extent. So, no one can solve the issue alone. Children themselves, the family, community and the government, all four should be brought to discussion and policy implementation. We might not be able to eradicate child marriage fully but this will surely reduce this practice and we all benefit.