At age 5 months, a girl stops being breastfed by her mother. At age 5 years instead of starting school she goes to work in the fields – to learn her trade. At age 10 she is given some shocking news. Now at age 11, she sits in her dark, shadowed room. Her knees up to her chins, her face –her tears – buried in her hands. Quietly dreading her future, which will become definite within the next 24 hours.

               Every year an estimated 14.3 million girls under the age of 18 are unwillingly forced to marry men twice, threes times, four times or even five times their age. This means that a shocking 38,000 girls are becoming wives against their will every day. Girls of – albeit in extreme cases – as young as 4 years old are being made to marry into lives completely unsuitable for them. This might seem like a false story to some, but it is in actual fact nothing more than the harsh reality.

              This is a problem that is rife in most parts of Africa. 16 of the top 20 “child marriage hotspots” are throughout the continent, with the other 4 in Asia. Niger, being the worst with a disgraceful amount of 75% of girls under the age of 18 being made to marry. The worst part is: it’s the poorer, less educated girls who are sucked into this life of hurt and misfortune - the girls who had little chance of a high living standard, are almost twice as likely to be chosen as those from a richer household. In Niger, 75% of the girls are from families who live on $2 a day. These girls are having the slim possibility of good fortune and happiness torn away from them from as young as 4 years old. Where is the justice?

               The lack of rights for these young women – girls – leads to more serious cases. Cases involving violence. Studies have shown that girls who marry before the age of 18 are twice as likely to suffer from domestic violence as those who marry later. There is an excessive amount of harm, risk and violence involved in these child marriages around the globe. Just the thought of a girl below the age of 12 being harmed by older men is sickening, yet these girls have no say in how they are treated. They have no say in anything from the day they are born. It is believed that pregnancy is the leading cause of death to girls under the age of 19, with almost five times more adolescent girls dying from pregnancy related problems than women in the 20s.

              Among countries with child marriage rates exceeding 70%, teenage fertility and maternal mortality rates are also extremely high. The laws in these countries need to be stricter and justice is required for these girls to live their lives the way all young women should, full of youthful enthusiasm and excitement. Not full of pain and unhappiness. Every 3 seconds it took you to read this article a teenage girl was forced to marry an older man against her will. It is evident that changes are needed. And they are needed now.

 

By James Sheridan, Wilson's School