Child Marriage. by Steffanee Price

Child Marriage. by Steffanee Price https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4 Global Health and Development Blog including References and Picture References. en-us 2018-01-10 03:58:01 UTC 2025-03-03 12:55:04 UTC hello@padlet.com What is Child Marriage? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220034134 This padlet discusses the issue of child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa and across the globe. The well-known charity, ActionAid, defines child marriage as “any formal marriage or informal union where one or both people are under 18 years old”. ]]> 2018-01-10 04:11:29 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220034134 Facts about Child Marriage. pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220038586 · Worldwide, around 700 million women still alive today were married as children and many of them were forced unwillingly into their marriage.

· 125 million of child brides live in Africa, equaling 17% of child brides around the world.

· 39% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa end up as child brides.

]]> 2018-01-10 05:04:49 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220038586 Where is Child Marriage Happening? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220039175 ActionAid outlines how child marriage is a global issue that happens across the world’s continents despite being most common in sub-Saharan Africa (countries such as Niger and Central African Republic) and South Asia (countries such as India and Bangladesh). It is also important to consider how the process of globalisation has contributed to prevalence of child marriage across the globe. ]]> 2018-01-10 05:12:59 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220039175 How has globalization contributed to child marriage? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220039828 It is common for people who migrate to different countries to bring with them their own traditions, beliefs and cultures. This can be demonstrated with not just child marriage but through other cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Waris Dirie, a famous advocate for the complete eradication of FGM highlighted this in her book, Desert Children. She claimed that people from different countries will form their own communities within the larger community where they will continue with their own cultural practices regardless of the countries law in which they reside. This contributes to the prevalence of child marriage as it demonstrates how even in countries where there are laws against it; children are still not fully protected.]]> 2018-01-10 05:19:26 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220039828 What is the significance of the issue of child marriage with regards to global health? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220040387 One massively significant threat child marriage poses to global health is its capacity to encourage the prevalence of potentially life threatening conditions such as HIV and HPV which can later become AIDs or cervical cancer (more details can be found in ‘What are the risks and consequences of child marriage?’ section). Multiple studies have found evidence of this and were written up in a 2016 thesis by Alissa Koski.

Child marriage also impacts global maternal health and mortality greatly which is already a massive issue across developing countries for other reasons such as FGM and lack of sufficient antenatal care.

All the global health threats resulting from child marriage also effect global development.

]]> 2018-01-10 05:25:23 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220040387 What is the significance of the issue of child marriage with regards to global development? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220041000 A book by two American journalists, ‘Half The Sky – How to Change the World’, demonstrates how crucial women are to the development of countries and the world as a whole in so many different ways. Child marriage can hinder so much of what women could do had they not been forced into marriage at an early age. Child marriage also effects global development through its lack of education child brides receive and lack of education on any level can hinder global development.

All of these point outline just how significant the issue of child marriage is with regards to global health and development.

]]> 2018-01-10 05:33:54 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220041000 What are the reasons for child marriage? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220041501 Global citizen gives many elements responsibility for child marriage. They claim that in some cases it is simply a demonstration of gender-based violence against women, in some countries it is just another right of passage in a girls life after other rights of passages such as FGM and it often occurs, as it is a part of the culture in the country. However, despite all of these reasons, Global Citizen along with many other sources, such as UNICEF and ActionAid, say that money and poverty play one of the biggest roles in the occurrence of child marriage.]]> 2018-01-10 05:41:26 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220041501 Is money and poverty to blame? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220042958 In many countries, it is still the norm for men to be the family members that bring in the money and in developing countries where having many children is the norm, daughters can often be seen simply as an economic burden on the family and so marrying them off young can help relieve some of the financial strain on the family.

Another role money and poverty can play in the prevalence of child marriage is actually touched upon by Waris Dirie in a book she wrote called Desert Dawn based on her life growing up in Somalia as part of a family of desert nomads. In some countries, like in the case of Somalia, dowry’s can be paid in exchange for brides. Waris Dirie discusses how her father looked to trade his daughter’s hands in marriage for camels as these are extremely valuable assets to desert travellers and many richer older men wanted younger brides. This demonstrates how selling child brides can be financially beneficial to some families that are living in poverty.

Poverty can be linked to a lack of education and many people living in poverty do not understand the severity of the consequences of child marriage.

]]> 2018-01-10 05:58:05 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220042958 What are the risks and consequences of child marriage? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220043596 Child marriage has numerous devastating consequences. One of which is the increased risk of sexual violence particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, as through most of these parts of Africa, marital rape is not seen as a crime.

Another huge health risk of child marriage is HIV and HPV infection that can later result in AIDs or cervical cancer. This risk is the result of many child brides having much older husbands who have been sexually active for many years increasing their risk of having such infections. The risk also comes from many of these countries allowing polygamous relationships resulting in more sexual activity and greater risk of the spread of infections.

Child marriage can also result in young women and children having detrimental, sometimes even life threatening maternal health. This may be due to their lack of education on vital antenatal care or from having multiple children at such a young age.

Furthermore, child marriage is a gross violation of women and children’s basic human rights. The United Nations states that all children have the right to an education and children who are married off at young ages nearly never have a full education and as demonstrated through this blog child brides frequently suffer from women’s rights abuses such as sexual violence.

]]> 2018-01-10 06:06:41 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220043596 What is being done to help tackle the issue of child marriage and who is doing it? pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220043778 Many NGO’s, such as ActionAid, Amnesty International, Girls Not Brides and many more are attempting to tackle child marriage at the root level by going into communities and trying to use the power of education to stop such practices. This is so important as, with many traditional, cultural and socially normal practices, laws and legislations can only do so much in terms of progress. In many developing countries laws can be put in place but most of the time little is done in terms of convictions and prosecutions rendering many legislations not helpful whereas education to tackle problems at the root level by making local people understand the effect of such practices can be far more effective.

Although NGO’s are so important when it comes to issues like child marriage, their links with the local communities are crucial as education coming from locals is much more effective than coming from outsiders, where it may look more like criticizing that educating.

Although not completely effective on it’s own it is important for laws regarding child marriage to change for many reasons. Girls Not Brides outlines this very clearly on their web page which can be found on the following link: https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage-law/

]]> 2018-01-10 06:09:20 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220043778 References. pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220044514 ActionAid. (2017). Child Marriage.

Available at:

https://www.actionaid.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/violence-against-women-and-girls/child-marriage?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6aPQyKfM2AIVar7tCh3QGwiBEAAYASAAEgIn-PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Accessed on: 19th December 2017

Girls Not Brides. (Unknown). Child Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Available at: https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/region/sub-saharan-africa/

Accessed on: 19th December 2017

International Women's Health Coalition. (Unknown). The Facts on Child Marriage. Available at: https://iwhc.org/resources/facts-child-marriage/

Accessed on: 19th December 2017

Selby, D, Global Citizen. (2016). Child Marriage: Everything You Need to Know. Available at: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/child-marriage-brides-india-niger-syria/

Accessed on: 19th December 2017

Koski, A. (2016). Chapter 1: Introduction and Background Information. In: Child Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa: Trends, Effects on Health And Efforts to Limit the Practice. Montreal: McGill University Thesis. p16-18.

Available at: http://machequity.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Koski_thesis.pdf

Accessed on: 20^th December 2017

Girls Not Brides. (Unknown). CHILD MARRIAGE & THE LAW.

Available at: https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage-law/

Accessed on: 20th December 2017

UNICEF. (Unknown). A Profile of Child Marriage in Africa.

Available at: https://www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-low-Single(1).pdf

Accessed on: 20th December 2017

Dirie, W (2005). Desert Children. Unknown: Virago.

Accessed on: 20th December 2017

Dirie, W (2004). Desert Dawn. Unknown: Virago.

Accessed on: 20th December 2017

Wudunn, S, Kristof, N (2010). Half the Sky – How to Change the World. Unknown: Virago – First Vintage Books.

Accessed on: 20th December 2017

]]> 2018-01-10 06:16:49 UTC https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220044514 Picture References. pynkness182 https://padlet.com/pynkness182/6kiombmbeuw4/wish/220044581 Abro, (2014), No Title [ONLINE].

Available at: http://i.dawn.com/large/2014/08/53fa90612b3eb.jpg