Let's Save Girls from Early Marriage

Anju Malhotra & Sharon Hauser

Jan. 11, 2006

Patuma, an 11-year-old girl in Malawi, made headlines recently in her local newspaper when she ran away from a 40-year-old man her grandmother was forcing her to marry. The story reported that her grandmother, determined to have the marriage consummated, locked the little girl in the man's bedroom and stood guard outside overnight.

Patuma (not her actual name) sought refuge with the local social welfare department, which wants to prosecute the man for defilement of a juvenile. This legal action is progress in Malawi, a southern African nation where an astounding 44 percent of girls between 15 and 19 are married off. The girl told the newspaper she ran away because she simply wanted to stay in school. The social welfare department is holding her in hopes of granting that wish.

Worldwide, 51 million girls between 15 and 19 are married, most because of deep poverty and lack of opportunity. Over the next decade, that number will double to 100 million girls. While most common in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, child marriage also occurs in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Many families see marriage as a safe and protective place for girls. But the opposite is usually the case. Preteen girls — not emotionally or physically ready for marriage — are especially at risk. Marriage generally ensures that their education stops, that they remain poor and are likely to experience serious health complications, particularly in pregnancy and childbirth. The work of International Center for Research for Women in India suggests that girls married young are also more likely to experience domestic violence. Young brides often have no money of their own and little control over decisions that affect their daily lives. Other research in Kenya and Zambia shows young married girls may be more at risk of HIV and AIDS than unmarried girls.

Child marriage generally means early pregnancy, when the risk of death for both mother and child is much higher. Some young brides experience obstructed labor and obstetric fistula, a tearing of the vagina, bladder and/or rectum during childbirth. This causes uncontrollable leakage of urine and feces, which deems many married girls to be considered "unclean" and shunned or abandoned by their husbands and communities.

Save the Children is working with young mothers in Malawi to make childbirth safer. Although fistula is preventable and requires a simple surgical procedure to fix, the United Nations estimates that more than 2 million girls and women in the developing world live with this condition.

International nongovernmental organizations are working with governments, religious groups and others on ways to curb this devastating practice.

Here's where Hoosiers can make a difference. Congress is considering legislation, the International Child Marriage Prevention and Protection Act, to help girls like Patuma. It would make smart investments to bolster educational and economic opportunities for girls and their families and would also expand access to life-saving health services for married and unmarried girls worldwide.

By urging Congress to support this bill, people could help millions of girls like Patuma to stay in school, escape a life of poverty and give future generations their best chance to survive and prosper.

Dr. Malhotra is a group director for the International Center for Research on Women. Hauser, an Indianapolis native, is program manager for Save the Children in Malawi.

The above article was published on Jan. 11, 2006 in the Indianapolis Star.