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THE IMPACT OF EARLY MARRIAGE ON THE LIVES OF GIRLS LIVING IN OIL RICH AREAS OF BULLISA DISTRICT IN

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the; background to the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions; scope of the study; significance of the study, justification of the study and definition of key concepts.

1.1 Background to the Study

Child marriage is a widespread violation of human rights. It is an impediment to social and economic development, and it is rooted in gender inequality. The low value placed on girls and women perpetuates the act and acceptability of child marriage in societies where the practice is common. Child marriage is defined as any legal or customary union involving a boy or girl below the age of 18. This definition draws from various conventions, treaties, and international agreements, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and recent resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council. While boys sometimes marry young, this paper addresses the practice primarily as it affects girls who make up the large majority of children who are married under 18. If current trends continue, more than 140 million girls will marry early in the next decade or nearly 40,000 per day (UNICEF 2014 UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). 2014a. Ending Child Marriage: Progress and Prospects. New York:

Oil discovery in developing nations is characterised with euphoria, joy and celebrations as a result of both the financial and other developmental benefits that are expected to be derived from its discovery (Heinberg, 2006; Darkwah, 2010; Panford, 2017). Society‟s continuous dependance on oil for a wide range of activities will make its discovery in any location to be celebrated by the citizenry (Heinberg, 2006). Citizens of newly discovered oil nations also know about the numerous blessings that can be accrued from its discovery casting their minds back on the success stories of some oil endowed nations (Boohene, 2011). However sometimes the lives people in Oil rich areas is faced by challenges.  UNICEF (2014) reported that globally, more than 700 million women alive today married before the age of 18. Each year, 15 million additional girls are married as children, the vast majority of them in developing countries. Child marriage is widely considered a violation of human rights, and it is also a major impediment to gender equality. It profoundly affects the opportunities not only of child brides, but also of their children. And, as a study we issued this week concludes, it has significant economic implications as well.

Every day, we learn more about the drivers of child marriage in different contexts and the ways in which to help end this harmful practice. But to date, we have had only limited information on the negative impacts of the practice across countries, and very little understanding of its economic costs.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank have been collaborating on a multi-year research project to assess these impacts and costs. We looked at the impacts of child marriage on early childbearing, fertility, contraceptive use, intimate partner violence, educational attainment, earnings in adulthood, and decision-making ability within the household, among other outcomes. We also considered impacts on the children of child brides, including, for example, their risk of being stunted and of dying before age five. The collaboration, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Global Partnership for Education, concludes that child marriage imposes very significant social and economic costs, not only at the individual level, but also for societies and for the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The study finds that child marriage could cost developing countries trillions of dollars by 2030 – the year by which the UN, through its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calls for the elimination of the practice.

By far the largest economic cost related to child marriage is from its impact on fertility and population growth. By contributing to larger families and, in turn, population growth, child marriage delays the demographic dividend that can come from reduced fertility and investments in education. The associated cost could run in the trillions of dollars globally (in purchasing power parity) between now and 2030.

Approximately 40% of women aged 20-24 worldwide who were married before the age of 18 live in Sub Saharan Africa, thus resulting in early marriage being largely Sub Saharan African phenomena. Within Africa the literature identifies countries in North as having made the demographic transition to higher age of marriage for girls, lower total fertility rates, higher education for girls; and increased status for females. While 22% of women aged 15-19 were married in Egypt in 1975, by 2003 this figure had declined to 10%. Similarly, in Tunisia, 11% of women aged 15-19 were married in the year 1975 but by 2001 this figure had declined to only 1% This pattern is representative of North Africa where figures range from only 1% of women aged 15-19 married in Tunisia and Libya to the highest levels of 17% in Yemen as at 2001. It is against this background that a recent UNICEF report refers to progress in North Africa as `good news’ and points out that age of marriage appears to be rising – most rapidly in Asia and in North Africa. South of the Sahara, however, one finds a different story in this zone of “natural fertility” where fertility is high and little or no control is practiced. The context of early marriage in this zone must be understood within an environment of poverty, gender inequality, and cultural taboos against premarital sex for girls, religious beliefs and patriarchal predisposition for controlling female sexuality.

In Niger, the country with the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world, eliminating child marriage in 2015 would have led by the year 2030 to annual benefits of up to $1.7 billion in additional welfare, $327 million in savings to the education budget, $34 million through reduced infant mortality, and $8 million through reduced child stunting. In addition, earnings today are $188 million below what they could have been without child marriage, and these losses would grow over time if child marriages continue. Altogether, failing to end child marriage would cost the country billions of dollars, with the impact falling disproportionately on the poor. Findings from the study demonstrate that child marriage is not only a social issue, it is very much an economic issue. We hope that by demonstrating these economic costs, we will be able to foster broader investments to end this harmful practice and ensure that all girls have access to the opportunities and the futures that they deserve.

The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage research, conducted jointly by The World Bank and The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), shows that the biggest economic impacts of child marriage are related to fertility and population growth, education, earnings and the health of children born to young mothers. The study highlights that investments in ending child marriage can help countries achieve multiple development goals.

Lakshmi (2016), Executive Director of Girls Not Brides, said: “that child marriage doesn’t just impact the lives of the 15 million girls married every year, but also has a major negative impact on the economic development of the countries in which these girls live. Governments and other policy-makers should be spurred on by this research to commit additional energy and resources to ending child marriage by 2030. By ridding the world of child marriage, we can help alleviate poverty and ensure that girls everywhere have access to a brighter future.”

The discovery of oil, nick-named “black gold” in many developing countries including uganda is always greeted with great optimism and joy. This is because of the financial and economic resources that accompany the discovery of the resource (Heinberg, 2006; Darkwah, 2010; Osei-Tutu, 2012; Panford, 2017). There is also the perception from the citizens of the oil endowed nation on the part of government to convert the oil into energy in order to relieve the country of its continuous reliance on hydroelectric power (Boohene, 2011). This great optimism according to Heinberg (2006) is due to society’s dependence on oil. According to him, society has developed technology that depends on oil to function and the fact that petroleum provides a concentrated source of energy for transportation and its nature to be transformed into a wide range of products from plastic to clothing to industrial chemicals, its discovery will lead to jubilation from citizens of the endowed nation.

However, though the discovery of oil in Uganda has been welcomed with a lot of jubilation from citizens. The country’s citizens have not focused on the challenges that develop with oil discovery. Its against this background that this study intends to investigate into the impact of early marriage on the lives of girls around oil rich areas of Bullisa District.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Oil discovery in developing nations is characterized with euphoria, joy and celebrations as a result of both the financial and other developmental benefits that are expected to be derived from its discovery (Heinberg, 2006; Darkwah, 2010; Panford, 2017). Society‟s continuous dependance on oil for a wide range of activities will make its discovery in any location to be celebrated by the citizenry (Heinberg, 2006). Citizens of newly discovered oil nations also know about the numerous blessings that can be accrued from its discovery casting their minds back on the success stories of some oil endowed nations (Boohene, 2011).

This celebration, expectation and great joy is, however usually met with disappointment as the oil and gas discovery in many instances end up being more of a curse than a blessing (Auty, 1993; Sachs, 2001, 2003; Humphrey, 2007; Pessoa, 2008; Osie-Tutu, 2012). In her study of the socio-economic effects of oil exploration in Nigeria‟s Delta region, Iwejingi (2013) identified occupational dislocation, abject poverty, ill health, social conflict and deprivation as some of the social, economic and environmental problems resulting from oil extraction activities from the region. In Sudan for instance, people were forced to evacuate their premises for the construction of sulphur crude oil venture leading to loss of ancestral homes, life and property (Darkwah, 2010).

In 1925, Petroleum Potential of Uganda was documented by a Government Geologist E.J. Wayland. From 2006 onward, a series of oil discoveries put Uganda on the global energy map. But almost immediately after the discovery of oil, a series of regulatory disputes between the Ugandan government and international oil companies delayed development and production. Uganda’s first oil exports are now not expected until 2020 at the earliest.

Though Uganda is still not a recognized oil exporting country , the discovery of oil alone in the Bullisa district has caused many changes to the areas were oil was discovered as such this has raised the expectation of the people around and attracted many people to these areas hoping to benefit from the oil production. Before the discovery of oil Bullisa was part of Masindi however in 2006 the eight parliament formed Bullisa district this all raised the expectation of the residents around hoping for a better modern life however there is poverty still in Bullisa and high level of unemployment this has thus forced many parents to send their children to marriage at an early age it to this background that this study intends to investigate into the impact of early marriage on the lives of girls  living in oil rich areas of Bullisa district.

1.3 Objectives of the study

1.3.1 General objective of the study

The general objective of the study is to examine the impact of early marriage on the young girls in an oil rich area like Bullisa.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

1. i) To establish the causes of early marriage among the people of Bullisa.
2. ii) To examine the challenges of early marriage on the lives of the girls and family.

iii) To find out possible strategies to end early marriage among the people of Bullisa.

1.4 Research Questions

1) What are the causes of early marriage among the people of Bullisa?

2) What are the challenges of early marriage on the lives  of girls married early?

3) What are the possible strategies to be put in place to end early marriage?

1.5 Scope of the study

1.5.1 Geographical scope

The study will be carried out in Bullisa district, Biso subcounty because this is the area were oil was discovered and has many inhabitants.

1.5.2 Content scope

The study will focus on the impact of early marriage on the lives of the girls engaged in nearly marriage with emphasis on: the causes of early marriage, effects of early marriage on lives of the girls married early and the strategies to prevent early marriage.

1.5.3 Time scope

The study will look into the period between 2006 – 2019 because this is the time period that oil was discovered in and Bullisa was created as a district.

1.6 Conceptual frame work

Independent Variables                                                           Dependent Variable

Source: Panford, (2017)

Fig 1.1: Conceptualization of impacts of early marriages on girls

The above conceptual framework examines the relationship between early marriage and the lives of girls. The independent variable is measured in terms of: causes of early marriages which includes; poverty, cultural belief, less value put on girls, bride price, and vulnerability due to war, while the dependent variable are:  lack of education attainment by the girls, ruined future and dreams, violence and health hazards.

However, these relationships may be interfered with by the intervening variables such as: Environmental factors, parental guidance, and government policy. It is assumed that early marriage influences the lives of the girls married early.

1.7 Significance of the study

To government of Uganda

The study will reveal to the government the challenges that early marriages poses to the country and therefore this will guide the guide on the ways it needs to do handle the vice.

To the society

The study will provide information to the society on the cause of early marriage and this will inform them on the different ways the need to do to stop the vice.

The academia

The study will provide the academic with possible strategies that can be developed to stop early marriage in a given community.

1.8 Operational definitions

Early marriage, also referred to as child marriage, is defined as any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.0 Introduction

This chapter will deal with the literature review. Different themes will be reviewed in order to synthesize what is known and not known about the topic. The literature will be reviewed according to the specific objectives: the causes of early marriage, effects of early marriage on the lives of girls and possible strategies to end early marriage.

2.1 Causes of early marriage among the girls

World Bank (2010) reported that financial transactions around marriage contribute to the practice of early marriage. In contexts where bride wealth or bride price is practiced (i.e. a groom or groom’s family provides assets to the bride’s family in exchange for marriage), families may reap immediate economic benefits from marrying their daughters. In such cases, families may obtain a greater financial amount the younger the bride is. In circumstances where dowry is practiced (the bride’s family provides assets to the groom’s family), a younger and less educated bride may require a lower dowry, which would incentivize parents to marry daughters at a younger age. When parents marry off their daughter, there are often economic and social reasons for them to make that choice. However, the short-term economic reasons that influence parental choice do not serve the long-term interests of girls.

UNICEF (2013) also reported that poverty is one of the main drivers of child marriage. Child brides are more likely to be poor and to remain poor. Where poverty is acute, giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce their expenses: one less person to feed, clothe and educate. In communities where economic transactions are integral to the marriage process, a dowry or “bride price” is often welcome income for poor families. Families sometimes marry their daughters at a younger age to avoid more expensive dowries which the marriage of older girls often demands.

In addition, in the past decade, girls and young women “especially those from the poorest households” have faced unequal opportunities for educational access compared to boys and young men. It is estimated that only 70% and 56% of countries will meet the Education for All (EFA) goal of gender parity at the primary and lower secondary level by 2015 deadline, respectively (UNESCO, 2014). Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South West Asia (SWA) are the regions where gender disparities in access and primary and lower secondary completion are most acute. Of the group of countries with the worst gender inequality in secondary education, 60% are in SSA, whilst SWA has two countries within this group (UNESCO, 2014). Several factors have been put forward to explain gender disparities in education among which poverty and socio-cultural norms are crucial.

On the socio-cultural norms, early or child marriage in SSA and SWA plays a pivotal role in the lack of success to reach gender parity. The highest prevalence of child marriages in the world is concentrated in SSA, while from the total of 60 million child marriages, 50% of young married girls reside in South Asia (ICRW, 2013). In addition, when interacted with poverty, the influence of socio-cultural norms (in particular of child marriage) on educational exclusion becomes more intense. Poorest girls are more than three times likely to marry by the age of 18 than those from the richest homes and the child marriage rate of girls with no schooling is three times larger compared with those who hold some secondary education (UNFPA, 2012). Because low levels of schooling among young married girls can also be linked to common factors related to ability, poverty and backward traditional settings, the early marriage-education relationship is likely to be endogenously determined.

Sonita (2012) suggest that historical, religious, cultural, economic and sociological factors interact to keep the girl child at risk of early marriage in sub-Saharan Africa. Given that early marriage is an effective mechanism for transferring a father’s patriarchal rights over his daughter to an often time older male in the community, these practices reinforces the family’s social status and consolidate economic relationships. Religious injunctions and time honored cultural practices are used to justify the preference for early marriage by both fathers and mothers in these contexts.

Other risk factors of significant note are wars and civil conflicts, as well as the maximization of fertility where infant mortality is very high. The economic context in which early marriage exist in Africa is one of household poverty, vulnerability, uncertainty, seasonality of labor, labor surplus economies in a low productive rural setting. In this context, poverty is a significant risk factor as marring girls off before the age of 18 is experienced positively for poor families who are relieved of the responsibility of feeding, clothing and protecting the girl child in an uncertain and insecure society. Moreover, in a labor surplus, low productivity economy where even men are not able to secure employment, early marriages means that girls are recruited into the labor intensive domestic economy for the replication of the family. The fact that this is a labor sector which is not recognized, unpaid, exploitative and akin to slavery is often lost on husbands, society, the girl’s family as well as the child brides as the economy is perceived as presenting no other options for girls over 18 to earn a livelihood. Against this background the demand for child brides is continuingly being met by a ready supply of young girls who are excluded from school by real and opportunity costs of going to school.

World Bank (2015) report that while economic risk factors for early marriage derive the pre-industrial agrarian economy of sub-Saharan Africa, socio-cultural risk factors such as religion and culture are underpinned by a traditional social stratification structure in which women are accorded low social status. In such traditional systems, the male dominated power structure conflates religious injunctions with customary practices to justify marrying off girls before puberty. This is so in both the Christian traditional regions of Ethiopia as it is in Muslim countries of Northern West Africa such as Chad, Mali and Niger. The question of how economic realities interact with culture, religion and gender roles in traditional settings requires in-depth consideration through empirical investigation. Studies on nupitality and gender roles in traditional societies, however, suggest that the more traditional the society, the greater the likelihood that religious tenets will be used to justifying early marriage for girls. Such a context renders progress against early marriage difficult as male, and in some cases female custodians of culture and religion must be persuaded to abandon their support for this harmful traditional practice.

Providing a girl with a dowry at her marriage is an ancient practice which continues in some parts of the world. This requires parents to bestow property on the marriage of a daughter, which is often an economic challenge for many families. The difficulty to save and preserve wealth for dowry was common, particularly in times of economic hardship, or persecution, or unpredictable seizure of property and savings. These difficulties pressed families to betroth their girls, irrespective of her age, as soon as they had the resources to pay the dowry. Thus, Goitein notes that European Jews would marry their girls early, once they had collected the expected amount of dowry.

A bride price is the amount paid by the groom to the parents of a bride for them to consent to him marrying their daughter. In some countries, the younger the bride, the higher the price she may fetch. This practice creates an economic incentive where girls are sought and married early by her family to the highest bidder. Child marriages of girls is a way out of desperate economic conditions, or simply a source of income to the parents. Bride price is another cause of child marriage and child trafficking.

Social upheavals such as wars, major military campaigns, forced religious conversion, taking natives as prisoners of war and converting them into slaves, arrest and forced migrations of people often made a suitable groom a rare commodity. Bride’s families would seek out any available bachelors and marry them to their daughters, before events beyond their control moved the boy away. Persecution and displacement of Roma and Jewish people in Europe, colonial campaigns to get slaves from various ethnic groups in West Africa across the Atlantic for plantations, Islamic campaigns to get Hindu slaves from India across Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush as property and for work, were some of the historical events that increased the practice of child marriage before the 19th century.

Among Sephardi Jewish communities, child marriages became frequent from the 10th to 13th centuries, especially in Muslim Spain. This practice intensified after the Jewish community was expelled from Spain, and resettled in the Ottoman Empire. Child marriages among the Eastern Sephardic Jews continued through the 18th century in Islamic majority regions.

A sense of social insecurity has been a cause of child marriages across the world. For example, in Nepal, parents fear likely social stigma if adult daughters (past 18 years) stay at home. Other fear of crime such as rape, which not only would be traumatic but may lead to less acceptance of the girl if she becomes victim of a crime. For example, girls may not be seen as eligible for marriage if they are not virgins. In other cultures, the fear is that an unmarried girl may engage in illicit relationships, or elope causing a permanent social blemish to her siblings, or that the impoverished family may be unable to find bachelors for grown-up girls in their economic social group. Such fears and social pressures have been proposed as causes that lead to child marriages. Insofar as child marriage is a social norm in practicing communities, the elimination of child marriage must come through a changing of those social norms. The mindset of the communities, and what is believed to be the proper outcome for a child bride, must be shifted to bring about a change in the prevalence of child marriage.

An additional factor causing child marriage is the parental belief that early marriage offers protection. Parents feel that marriage provides their daughter with a sense of protection from sexual promiscuity and safe from sexually transmitted infections.  However, in reality, young girls tend to marry older men, placing them at an increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection. Protection through marriage may play a specific role in conflict settings. Families may have their young daughters marry members of an armed group or military in hopes that she will be better protected. Girls may also be taken by armed groups and forced into marriages.

2.2 Challenges of Early marriage

The term “early marriage” is used to refer to both formal marriages and informal unions in which a girl lives with a partner as if married before age of 18 (UNICEF 2005; Forum on Marriage and the rights of women and girls 2001). For UNIFPA (2006) Early marriage, also known as Child marriage, is defined as “any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years, before the girl is physically, physiologically, and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing.” Child marriage, on the other hand, involves either one or both spouses being children and may take place with or without formal registration, and under civil, religious or customary laws.

Globally 39.000 girls marry every year, and child marriage is commonly defined as any marriage or union before the age of 18. Very early marriage is defined as individuals who marry before the age of 16 (Boyden, Pankhurst, & Tafere, 2012). In most cases, the girl child is the one to be affected by child marriage (UNFPA, 2012b). Child marriage lies at the junction of a whole range of issues for the girl. The practice of child marriage is most common in rural, poor communities (ICRW, 2012) and in low-to middle income countries (LMIC). In LMIC one out of nine are married before the age of 15 and one-third of girls are married before the age of 18. UNICEF estimates that 720 million women living in the world today were married as children (UNICEF, 2015a). In 2012 the number of girls aged 20-24 who married before the age of 18 was 70 million globally (UNFPA, 2012b). If the trend continues with a yearly increase of 15 million, within the next decade 150 million child brides will be reached (ICRW, 2012). Child marriage persists despite widespread efforts to eliminate the practice (Kalamar, Lee-Rife, & Hindin, 2016). However there has been some progress in reducing the rates of child marriage, especially for the youngest girls (UNFPA, 2012)

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the most comprehensive international bill of rights for women, states that any betrothal or marriage of a child should not have any legal status. The Committee that monitors this convention states further in General Recommendation 21 (Article 16(2)) that the minimum age for marriage for both male and female should be 18 years, the age when “they have attained full maturity and capacity to act”. Most early marriages are arranged and based on the consent of parents and often fail to ensure the best interests of the girl child. Early marriages often include some elements of force, (Otoo-Oyortey and Pobi 2003).

While more women are now marrying at later ages, in many regions, early marriage remains

the norm. Overall, 20-50 percent of women in developing countries are married by the age of 18, with the highest percentages in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (Singh and Samara 1996 cited by LeFevre et al. 2004).

Early motherhood has been the subject of a growing number of studies, research projects and

intervention programs in Africa. African women in general marry at a much earlier age than their non-African counterparts, leading to early pregnancies. Surveys carried out in some Sahelian countries offer alarming examples. In Niger, for example, according to the 1992 Health and Demographic Survey (HDS), 47% of women aged between 20 and 24 were married before the age of 15 and 87% before the age of 18. A total of 53% had also had a child before the age of 18, (Locoh Therese 2000).

Child marriage can entrench and deepen poverty because it compromises girls´ development in education, livelihood skills and personal growth (Otoo-Oyortey & Pobi, 2003). According to OtooOyortey and Pobi this perpetuates the “feminization of poverty” by violating the girls right to choose their own future. Findings by Raj (2010) show that the practice of early marriage tends to reproduce into the next generation because children of young uneducated mothers are less likely to continue beyond minimum schooling (Raj, 2010). According to Plan (2015), young married girls are likely to drop out of school and marry young like their mothers did (Plan, 2015)2.2 Effects of early marriage on young victims and family.

Nour (2006) explored factors affecting power relations in marriage and risk of STIs. Findings from Nour show   that men who marry young girls tend to be older because they have to work for some years to generate income for the dowry. Men are also expected to have had multiple sex partners and be sexually experienced when they marry. Polygamy is a common practice in Sub-Saharan Africa, and as the child brides are economically dependent on their husbands, they lack power to negotiate and to demand monogamy. Child brides cannot leave their husbands as the girls are most likely unable to repay the dowry (Nour, 2006).

Poverty is one of the major factors underpinning early marriage. Where poverty is cute, a young girl may be regarded as an economic burden where one less daughter is one less mouth to feed (UNICEF 2001, Forum on marriage and the rights of women and Girls 2001; Mathur 2003 and Nour 2006). Parents encourage the marriage of their daughters while they are still children in hope that the marriage will benefit them both financially and socially, while also relieving financial burdens on the family. The marriage to a much older sometimes even elderly man is practice common in some societies. In traditional societies in Sub-Saharan Africa, the bride’s family may receive cattle from the groom, or the groom’s family, as the bride price for their daughter, (UNICEF 2001).

In communities where child marriage is prevalent, there is strong social pressure on families to

conform. Failure to conform can often result in ridicule, disapproval or family shame. Invariably, local perceptions on the ideal age for marriage, the desire for submissive wives, extended family patterns and other customary requirements, are all enshrined in local customs or religious norms. In many contexts child marriage is legitimized by patriarchy, and related family structures, which ensure that marriage transfers a father’s role over his girl child to her future spouse. The marriage or betrothal of children in parts of Africa and Asian is valued as a means of  consolidating powerful relations between families, for sealing deals over land or other property, or even for settling disputes (UNIFPA, 2006).

Early marriage is one way to ensure that a wife is protected, or placed firmly under male control; that she is submissive to her husband and works hard for her in-law’s household; that the children she bears are legitimate, (UNICEF 2001; Mathur, 2003 and Nour 2006). On the other hand, for many societies that prize virginity before marriage, early marriage can manifest itself in a number of practices designed to ‘protect’ a girl from unsanctioned sexual activity. In North-East Africa and parts of the Middle East in particular, control may also include the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM to restrict sexual pleasure and temptation. Some parents withdraw their girls from school as soon as they begin to menstruate; fearing that exposure to male pupils or teachers puts them at risk. These practices are all intended to shield the girl from male sexual attention, but in the eyes of concerned parents, marriage is seen to offer the ultimate protection measure.

Early child bearing and unwanted pregnancies: Young girls who get married will most likely be forced into having sexual intercourse with their, usually much older, husbands. This has severe negative health consequences as the girl is often not psychologically, physically and sexually mature. Early marriage is associated with early child bearing. Young married girls are under tremendous  pressure to prove their fertility in the first year of marriage. Girls, who marry young, inevitably have children early, and have many children, because their knowledge of contraception is poor and their power to negotiate its use is weak.

Domestic violence and sexual abuse: As young girls are often married to men who are much older than themselves, the age difference tends to reinforce the powerlessness of the girl, who is thus at greater risk of abuse and less likely to assert herself. Young married girls are more likely to be beaten or threatened and more likely to believe that a husband might sometimes be justified in beating his wife. Women who believe that are more likely to have been married before age 18 than those who believe that there is never justification. Child brides are often more susceptible to domestic violence. (USAID Gender Assessment, 2003-2005). In Egypt, data indicates that 29% of married adolescents were beaten by their spouses—or their spouses and others. Of these, 41% were beaten when they were pregnant. (Population Council, 2000 cited by ICRW, 2008).

High maternal mortality and morbidity: The World Health Organization estimates that the risk of death following pregnancy is twice as great for women between 15 and 19 years than for those

between the ages of 20 and 24. The maternal mortality rate can be up to five times higher for girls aged between 10 and 14 than for women of about twenty years of age. Pregnant adolescents face far more health problems than older women, particularly single girls who often receive less prenatal care. Adolescents are far more susceptible to suffering from anemia than adults, which greatly increase the risk and complications linked to pregnancy. They are equally more at risk of malnutrition, high blood pressure linked to pregnancy and eclampsia than women who are over 20, (Women’s International Network 2000 and IHEU 2006).

Increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS: Fear of HIV infection, for example, has encouraged men in some African countries to seek young virgin – and therefore uninfected –partners. On top of pregnancy-related complications, young married girls are also at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Young married girls are even at higher risk because their older husbands may already be infected in previous sexual relationships.

Furthermore, the age difference between the girl and the husband and her low economic status make it almost impossible for the girl to negotiate safe sex or demand fidelity. Early marriage usually means that young girls enter marriage without adequate information about critical sexual intercourse, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and childbirth.

The health problems linked to early marriage not only affect the pregnant mother and the fetus, but also continue after child birth. The consequences reach beyond the lives of young married girls

themselves to the next generation. The immaturity and lack of education of a young mother

undermines her capacity for nurture evidence shows that infant mortality among the children of very young mothers is higher – sometimes two times higher – than among those of older peers,(UNICEF2001)

Early marriage stands in direct conflict with the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), (Mathur 2003). It threatens the achievement of the first six goals respectively, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primarily education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases, (UN 2007). When the relationship between age at marriage and development is examined, it becomes clear that later marriage is a precondition for the attainment of desired development related goals. These can include completion of school, acquisition of training for employment, and attainment of the skills and information related to the roles of citizen, family member, and consumer that are part of a successful adulthood, (Mathur 2003 and UNICEF 2003).

UNESCO (2010) reported the harmful effects of this practice on the young victims as well as on family, society and the economy. The harmful effects of early marriage on the girl child is explored through five interwoven themes in the literature starting with the harmful effects on girls’ health and moving on to examine harmful effects on psychological development, human rights and girls’ economic survival. Studies on harmful effects of early marriage on girls health reveal that girls who are married off before the age of consent, 18 years, experience earlier sexual début, give birth to more children and loose more children to neonatal and childhood diseases. Studies show a strong positive correlation between an early median age of first marriage and an early median age of first birth.

In addition, infant morbidity and mortality is higher amongst children born to mothers under 18. These children have an increased risk of dying before their fifth birthday by 3.5 percentage points on average, and an increased risk of stunting by 6.3 percentage points. The annual estimated economic benefits of ending under-five mortality and stunting would be close to US$98 billion annually by 2030. Ending child marriage would have an impact on reducing early childbirths and reducing child deaths.

International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW 2012) argue that girls younger than 15 are 5 times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death worldwide for women 15 to 19. Similarly, recent studies based on DHS data demonstrate a strong positive correlation between HIV prevalence and the median age of first marriage as well as first sex. While the correlation between early marriage and vesico-viginal fistula (VVF) has been hotly contested, case reviews of VVF patient’s shows clearly that most are young wives with limited education who often married to older men. Hence the significant incidence of VVF in locations with high rates of early marriage include; Ethiopia, Niger, Mali and Northern Nigeria where education rates are low. The harmful effect of this phenomenon is also borne out by the fact that early marriage is largely equated with forced marriage as girls are removed from school to become child wives.

UNICEF (2013) reported that spousal age difference can make women more vulnerable to health risks and social isolation by creating power dynamics. These power dynamics can increase girls’ vulnerability to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. In addition, young married girls are more likely to be illiterate and of low social status. They tend to have no access to financial resources and restricted mobility; they are therefore less likely to leave home to socialize with others, limiting their ability to obtain information on reproductive health, contraception, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This power differential can also limit girls’ ability to negotiate contraceptive or condom use, putting them at high risk for contracting STIs and HIV.

Westoff (2010) postulate that early childbearing poses serious health risks for mother and child. Marriage often signals the beginning of frequent and unprotected sexual activity. Many girls under the age of 18 (and particularly girls under the age of 15) are not physically mature and therefore unprepared for sexual intercourse or childbirth. Sexual intercourse at a young age is associated with physical pain and pregnancy-related complications, such as obstetric fistula. Pregnancy-related health problems can have emotional and social consequences and pose a financial burden to the household.

In addition, Westoff argues that girls who marry as children are less likely to complete secondary education: every year of marriage before the age of 18 reduces the likelihood of girls’ secondary school completion by four to six percentage points. Continuing schooling also helps reduce child marriage – each year in secondary school education reduces the risk of child marriage for girls by six percentage points. In addition, the more education a girl has, the more likely her children will be educated.

Otoo (2016) argue that child marriage and early childbearing have significant implications. Women married before 18 are likely to have more children, impacting their own health and welfare as well as that of their families. More children in a household reduce the ability to pay for food, education and healthcare. At a national level, child marriage contributes to population growth by increasing fertility. The report estimates that a girl marrying at 13 will have on average 26% more children over her lifetime than if she had married at 18 or later. This has a national impact by placing an increased burden on basic services. The study found that by ending child marriage, birth rates would decrease, productivity increase, and countries could benefit from economic growth and a shifting population age structure, often referred to as the ‘demographic dividend’.

2.3 Strategies to prevent early marriage among girls

UNICEF (2013) recommended that interventions at policy and project levels are a good mechanism of combating early marriage. Global and local stakeholders have sought to reduce the incidence of early marriage using both prevention and service support interventions. Legal and policy interventions to outlaw early marriages and protect the girl child have emerged as the major prevention program. Other prevention interventions include girl child education programs, and mass media sensitization projects to educate parents about the dangers of child marriages as well as economic empowerment programs to improve the economic status of girls within the family. Support interventions target the already married adolescent to provide legal, psychosocial, livelihood skills and microcredit services to vulnerable child wives.

ICWR (2014) stated that child rights, child protection legislative prevention approaches can be used to fight against early marriage. Child rights, enforcement and legal protection approaches have been promoted by UNICEF and the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) in the UNDP from as early as 2001 as a mechanism for catalyzing political leadership and compliance with global standards and conventions. DAW and the UNICEF have argued that in protecting the rights of the girl child international standards on elimination of discrimination and violence against girl children are an important starting point. Thus a comprehensive package of international legislation and conventions on child rights in general and the rights of the girl child in particular have been recommended throughout countries with high rates of early marriage as an effective means of reducing the scourge. Several governments on the continent have adopted global standards and legislation to prevent early marriages. Governments have also established legal minimum ages at marriage for both women and men and have sought to protect the rights of the child through legislative instruments. Global and regional legal instruments with implications for early marriage in Africa include: • The Convention on the Rights of the Child • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) • The Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1964) Articles 1, 2 and 3 • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination of Women (1979) Articles 2 and 16 • The United Nations Supplementary.

UNICEF (2016) reported that the need to keep girls in school is the underlying justification for the global consensus around recent education reforms which are being implemented in Asia and Africa. Research findings suggest that the longer the period of education to which girls are exposed, the less likely they will be married off as a child. United Nations driven initiatives such as the Education for All campaign, the Universal Basic education reforms, the MDGs, as well as the new focus on Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) all set goals of enrolling and retaining more girls in schools to increase low enrollment and reduce dropout rates. The United Nations has made the case for keeping girls in school as a means to reduce high rates of early marriage in countries such as Niger. One of the most successful interventions designed to keep girls in school is the community empowerment and conditional cash transfer project first piloted in India in the 1990s and now implemented in West Africa with the support of international development agencies. Similarly, in Ethiopia, USAID is supporting initiatives to delay the age of marriage through a combination of economic incentives and life skills training. Emerging findings from the ICRW community empowerment project of adolescent girls in 55 communities in Senegal, suggest that collective upliftment coupled with life skills is associated with increases in the age of marriage for girls. Given the context of poverty in which early marriage takes place, conditional cash transfer programs (CCTP) in which care givers are compensated for income lost by sending girls to schools have been found to be effective and sustainable at minimal costs.

World Bank (2012) reported that global and local advocacy networks for prevention and service delivery Global and local advocacy coalitions have been active in several African countries to improve prevention as well as to support service delivery interventions. Coalitions have been successful in putting early marriage on the agenda for African governments and well as global policy making bodies. One such initiative of note is the coalition of NGOs from six West and East African countries, working with support from the United Kingdom-based Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and Girls, which met in Burkina Faso in February 2003. The coalition issued a declaration calling upon African governments, civil society organizations and the international community to work together to end child and forced marriages. “We call on governments and international development agencies to recognize the efforts being made by civil society organizations in addressing the concerns and situation of girls and women affected resources to respond to the challenges posed by child and forced marriages. That our governments and the African Union adopt a clear and unambiguous position on child and forced marriages and rectify the legislative loopholes between religious, customary and civil marriages, and sign the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and ensure that special measures are taken to help end this practice”

Ikamani (2015) argue that services support interventions such as family planning Services and youth empowerment initiatives for married adolescents The 1990s witnessed path breaking interventions targeted at married adolescent girls to provide them with quality family planning services and information. International development partners such as Pathfinder International, Population Council, the MacArthur Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation as well as USAID initiated programs in Kenya and Ethiopia in East Africa and Ghana, Mali and Senegal in West Africa to provide such services. The married adolescent approach recognizes married girls as being in legitimate unions and seeks to provide them with information and services to reduce the number of births, improve their health seeking behaviors thus increasing their life chances. In short, married adolescent initiatives aim to provide a mix of information and catalyze the uptake of reproductive health, family planning and HIV/AIDS services.

Sonita (2015) suggested that enforcement of existing laws and policies on early marriage is a good mechanism of combating the vice. He argues that although laws on early marriage exist in many countries, the implementation and enforcement of such laws is often weak. Technical assistance is needed to increase the number of in-country professionals who can appropriately monitor and evaluate programs to better implement, review, and update laws and policies intended to prevent child marriage. A committed multi-sectoral approach that integrates action plans from the health, education, legal, economic, and labor sectors can help reduce the incidence of early marriage and pregnancy.

Nour (2010) argue that supporting girls’ education beyond primary school is important in the fight against early marriage. Investments must be made to support girls’ education. Evidence suggests that educated girls are less likely to agree to marry at a young age. Development programs need to be creative in implementing programs that support a girl through the critical drop-out period, along with secondary and vocational opportunities that are acceptable to the girls’ families. He adds that provision of safe and non exploitative means of livelihood outside the home. Education and professional training that build the capacity of girls and young women to generate income can enable them to postpone marriage. When education is not a feasible option, income-generation programs can empower women and girls with the skills and tools to reduce their dependency on family members and gain some autonomy.