TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED

By: Brooke Melford

round the

world, nearly 5 million

girls under the age of
15 get married each
year (about 13,000 a
day) and some of those
are as young as 8 or
9. (Dickey).
Unfortunately, many of
these children do not
know what they are
being forced into.
Forced child marriage
is a huge problem
happening in the
middle-east today.

Victims of child
marriage
Child early
forced marriage, also
known as CEFM, is a
horrible problem
happening in many
places today. According
to the ICRW, or the
International Center for
Research on Women,
the top 10 places
forced child marriage is
occurring for girls
before they are 18
years of age is in Niger,
Chad, Central African
Republic, Bangladesh,
Guinea, Mozambique,
Mali, Burkina Faso,
South Sudan, and
Malawi. All of these
percentages are above
50.

More girls are affected by forced child marriage

then boys. Child marriage affects girls in far greater
numbers than boys, and with more intensity.
However, data on the
number of boys affected by child marriage are
limited, making it difficult to draw definitive
conclusions on its status and progress. Nevertheless,
available data confirm that boys are far less likely
than girls in the same region to marry before age 18
(UNICEF).
Also, according to USAID, on average, only 5
percent of males marry before their 19th birthdays
contrasting with the many girls that do. In the Muslim
religion, parents wish to have boys as their offspring.
They believe girls are useless to them, but still, to
give up your own child to an older man when they are
as young as 8 years old? How appalling and ignorant
of them. Children do not deserve this. I find this
despicable.
Causes & Effects of marrying young
Children are forced into marriage for a variety
of reasons. Their family, their religion, money issues,
etc. The outcomes of these forced marriages can
cause children horrible physical and mental
complications.
Some of these marriages are business
transactions, barley adorned with additional rationale:
a debt cleared In exchange for an 8-year-old bride; A
family feud resolved by the delivery of a virginal 12year-old cousin (Gorney). How can parents give up
their own child just to clear some debt or because of
a little family controversy?
Also, according to USA today, in Pakistan, poor
families often marry off their daughters as young as
ten years old. Doing so shifts the cost of supporting
them off to their new husbands. I cannot comprehend
what these families are thinking. They care more
about themselves than their own children? How
barbarian!
If there were any danger in early marriage,
Allah would have forbidden it. A Yemeni member of
parliament named Mohammed Al-Hamzi told me in

TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED

By: Brooke Melford
the capital city of
Sanaa one day.
(Gorner). How could
people not realize that
a child as young as 8
years old, marrying a
man that could be as
old as 50 years old, is
wrong? It is horribly
wrong and it disgusts
me. Children should not
have to go through
such things as this.
Often, young
girls go through
pregnancy when they
are forced into
marrying and are
physically abused.
According to the ICRW,
girls that are younger
than 15 years of age
are more likely to die
giving birth than
women in their 20s and
pregnancy is
persistently among the
leading causes of death
for girls ages 15 to 19
around the world.
Also, according
to the ICRW, girls are
likely to contract HIV
because the men that
they marry have more
sexual
experience.
To be 15
years old
and to carry
a baby is
something
that I cannot
even
imagine. It is

something that they should not have to go through.

Physical abuse is also a contributing factor to the
effects of child marriage. I was forced into marrying
a man who was 20 years older than me, Adnan said.
For 20 years, I stayed with him and endured his
abuse and mental and physical torture- He made me
suffer. Adnan went through this for 20 years until
she finally decided to leave this man, no matter the
consequences from her family. She couldnt take it
anymore. Her family cut her off but now she is
fighting for girls that are forced to marry young, just
as everyone should.

Help is coming
Multiple organizations are helping to try to
abolish forced child marriage. The convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, for example, covers the right to protection
from child marriage in article 16 which states: The
betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no
legal effect, and all necessary action, including
legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age
for marriage The right to free and full consent to
marriage is recognized in the Universal Declaration of
the Human Rights, which says that consent cannot be
free and full when one of the parties involved is not
sufficiently mature to make an informed decision
about a life partner (UNICEF).
Also, according to USAID, The United Stated is
taking a whole-of-government approach to address
the issue of
CEFM by
committing up
to $5.3 million
to stop child
early forced
marriage in
regions,
countries, and
communities
where

TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED

By: Brooke Melford
interventions are most
needed and most likely
to receive results.
Everyone one us should
provide these children
with the help that they
need. Child early forced
marriage needs to be
put to an end. The lives
of these children are all
horrific. Some of the
childrens whole lives
are so destroyed and
disarranged.

It is hard to believe that the issue of forced

child marriage is actually happening. It is a horrible
and disgusting situation. Put yourself in the childs
footing. How would you feel if you were 9 years old
and you woke up in the morning? You walked down
the stairs and there was an older man maybe in his
30s or 40s and your parents told you that you would
be married to him. You begin to cry. You dont
understand. You will have to leave your family and all
of your belongings and live with this man and you are
still just a child. Children need their mothers and
fathers.

TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED

By: Brooke Melford
Work cited
CHILD MARRIAGE AMONG GIRLS. UNICEF STATISTICS. United Nations
Childrens
Fund (UNICEF),
Dec. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.
Child Marriage Facts and Figures. RSS. International Center for Research on
Women (ICRW),
2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.
Dickey, Christopher. Ending Child Marriage. Newsweek 29 May 2013: 1 Student
Resources in
Context Web 26 Jan. 2015
Facts Sheets. Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: United States Governments
Response.
Usaid from the American People, Aug. 2014. Web.
03 Feb. 2015.
Gorney, Cynthia. Too Young to Wed, National Geographic, vol. 219, no.6, pp. 77-99
Nailia Inayat, Special for USA TODAY. Cultures Clash over Forced Child Marriage in
Pakistan. USA Today. Gannett, 07 June 2014. Web. 03
Feb. 2015.