Happily Never After: Realities of an Underage Marriage

Sadiqah Abubakar
Jul 20, 2017 · 4 min read
Zeinabou is one of millions of child brides in West Africa, Photo Credit: Pan African Visions

Child marriage is a complex issue which has existed for centuries, it is a practice that is deeply rooted in our cultures and traditions for generations. Although the Nigerian law under the Child Rights Act prohibits child marriage, and states the legal age consent in Nigeria to be 18 years old, but nonetheless people give priority to cultural beliefs, traditions and customs over legislative law. According to UNICEF’s State of World’s Children 2016, in Nigeria 43% of girls are married off before they reach their 18th birthday, while 17% are married before they turn 15.

The prevalence of child marriage is still very high especially in Northern parts of Nigeria, where illiteracy, extreme poverty, poor educational attainment, exorbitant school rates, fear of sexual promiscuity and out of wedlock pregnancies, strong social and religious beliefs which are the main drivers of early marriage is really high and the only option for parents is to marry their daughters early. Child marriage is mostly a rural phenomenon where prospects for girls are very limited or almost non-existent, and women are programmed to think and believe that the ultimate and highest achievement for them is marriage which robs young girls of their education, social interactions and mobility, long term development prospects.

Early marriage often affects girls by holding them back on their educational pursuits thereby killing their potentials halfway as most drop out of school to concentrate more on domestic duties, having or raising children. Without proper education girls and adult women have fewer opportunities to earn income, be financially independent and provide for their children. A child bride is likely to depend on her husband financially once she is married, which makes her more vulnerable to persistent poverty if abandoned or divorced, or worse if the husband dies which is very common in child marriages due to the fact that child brides are significantly younger than their husbands.

Girls married young are also at risk of facing domestic violence, sexual abuse, intimate partner violence and emotional abuse because they are often powerless and lack the resources, legal and social support to leave an abusive marriage. They are also likely to face social isolation and discrimination from their husband and in-laws. If widowed, early child brides and their children are liable to become trapped in a cycle of poverty for a greater part of their lives.

“I urge governments, community and religious leaders, civil society, the private sector, and families-especially men and boys-to do their part to let girls be girls, not brides.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Child marriage is not just a social and gender discrimination issue, it also has serious negative health consequences. Girl’s married young may face difficulties accessing quality healthcare due to extreme poverty, heightened risk of experiencing pregnancy related complications and difficulty in childbirth, increased risk of developing fistulas, Cervical cancer, and maternal mortality are very high compared to their peers who delay marriage beyond adolescence. Child marriage not only threatens the mother’s health, it also threatens the lives of their babies, research has shown that mothers under the age of 18 have 35–55% increased risk of delivering pre-term or having a low birth weight baby, infants born to child mothers tend to have weaker immune systems and face a heightened risk of malnutrition (Wikipedia.org).

Changing stubborn practices is very challenging, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) more than 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020, and projects that an estimated 70 million minors are at risk of being married by 2030. World Bank and International Center for Research on Women conducted a study using data from 15 countries with high child marriage rates, the report found that a girl marrying at age 13 will have 26% more children over her life time than if she married later and that ending child marriage would reduce national fertility rates by 11%. The potential social and economic costs of child marriage are numerous, according to a recent study, ending child marriage could add billions of dollars to developing countries’ economies by slowing population growth, improving education and health outcomes for young girls and their children, fewer deaths, reduced government budgets, and boosting women’s earning potential.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo & Hon. Minister of Women & Social Development Sen. Aisha J Alhassan at the officail launch of a nation-wide campaign to end Child Marriage

The battle to end child marriage is challenging and has been ongoing for a long time, breaking the chain will be difficult, but it’s a battle worth fighting. Statistics from UNICEF’s state of the World’s Children shows a 9% decline in the prevalence of child marriage in Nigeria since 2003, and in 2016 Nigeria adopted the African Union campaign to end child marriage. The ministry of women affairs and social development launched a national strategy to end the practice, the strategy’s vision is to reduce child marriage by 40% by 2020, and end the practice entirely by 2030. According to an article on Aljazeera.com titled “Nigeria urged to Reduce Child Marriages” by Chika Oduah; there are significant improvements by the government to address factors leading to and resulting from girls marrying early, by implementing programs to increase girls’ enrollment in schools, providing scholarships for girls, treating fistulas caused due to complications during childbirth. So many girls are empowered to stand up for themselves and say no to early and forced marriages, and there are various ongoing campaigns on radio, television and social media on ending such practices.

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A peace advocate, an activist on gender equality and women empowerment.

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