Photograph by Fazal SheikhFrom the pamphlet "Beloved Daughters"
From the pamphlet "Beloved Daughters"
http://www.fazalsheikh.org/
While Poverty and World Hunger are serious and well-known problems in our world today, there is another problem, one that far less people know about, and that is child marriage. Child marriage is a custom in some countries, where girls are married usually as young as thirteen. In other cases, however, daughters have been used as payment for things such as gambling and are married as young as eight years old. Other parents who cannot afford to pay and support their children also marry them off to older men.
Child marriage is a huge problem because many young girls are affected by it. It damages them socially, emotionally and physically and their lives are obliterated-they do not receive basic schooling once they are married and are expected to stay at home to cook and clean…and eventually produce children to make a family. Child marriage also increases the spread of HIV, an epidemic we are desperately trying to stop.
We, as a group, were interested in this topic because we are young girls ourselves. We are also 15-the age that most child brides get married at- and we cannot imagine being married off and taken away from our families at this time in our lives. At this age we should be making friends, having fun and gaining important knowledge in school. Those are all things that child brides will not have a chance to do and will never be able to do if they remain married.
PBS: “Child Brides,” NOW
www.pbs.org/now/shows/341/take-action.html
International Women’s health Coalition
www.iwhc.org/getinvolved
International Center for Research on Women
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