Marriage is an institution ordained by God. It is a union of two people (Adults), usually a man and a woman, to become husband and wife. This union called marriage is to be undergone between two mature people, with mature minds.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines marriage as, “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.” Marriage as recognized in the constitution is to be undergone by the adults from 18 years and above. Anything marriage contracted below 18 years is said to be child marriage.
What is child marriage?
Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal union entered into by an individual before reaching the age of 18. The Oxford English Dictionary defines child as, “a person who is below the age of adulthood; a minor, a person who is below the legal age of responsibility and accountability. Therefore, when a child engages in child marriage, it means throwing the responsibilities of an adult to a child, usually a female, and which that child will not be able to handle.
Parents who engage their children in child marriage often feel that this marriage provides their daughters with a sense of protection from sexual harassment and safe from sexually transmitted infections. However, in reality; young girls tend to marry older men who have had lots of sexual expeditions thereby, placing them at an increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
Child marriage has lasting consequences on girls. These consequences range from their health, to education, to domestic violence, to social and economic development. A large percent of girls who enter into child marriage are often being compelled to by their parents, the society, their tradition, the girl ignorance and the consequences accrued to involving in child marriage are often suffered by the girls who engage in it.
Let’s see some of the effects of early marriage
There are so many effects in engaging in early marriage which includes:
(a) Health risk –Early marriage threatens the health and life of girls. First of all, when a girl is married as a child, she cannot make the decision of when to give birth, the society forces her to give birth at such a tender age. Therefore, complications may arise from pregnancy and child birth, which are the major causes of death among adolescent girls below the age of 19 in Nigeria. Pregnant girls aged 15 to 19 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as women in their 20s and girls under the age of 15 are five to seven times more likely to die during childbirth.
(b) Illiteracy And Poverty – Child marriage often ends a girl’s education, in line with this; uneducated girls are more prone to child marriage. Early marriage hinders a young girl’s ability to continue with her education as most drop out of school following marriage to focus their attention on domestic duties and having or raising children. Education, they say is the bedrock of the society. And a saying goes “Educate a girl child and educate the whole nation. Without education, the female child has fewer opportunities of living her dreams, of becoming someone great in future, of contributing positively, her own quota to the society, thereby making her prone to early marriage. In addition, child marriage leads to poverty in the sense that these girls do not have education, thereby leaving her with fewer opportunities to get a job, earn an income, and financially provide for herself and her children, resulting in poverty.
(c) Kills The Girls’ Dreams – Early or child marriage results in a loss of childhood – Girls are withdrawn from realizing their dreams and aspirations in life, their rights are violated and they lose the ability to choose how their life is fulfilled. The dream of becoming someone great and influential in life is killed through early marriage, as it hinders them from pursuing their education, from getting a degree in school. Early does not give room for the girls to showcase their God’s given talents, it make them only focus their attention on the marriage.
(d) Early marriage deprives them from enjoying real relationship that exists between husband and wife because it serves as boss to subordinate relationship because of the age difference. The girls are not allowed to contribute meaningful ideas to the family as they are seen as nanny or house maids for some kind of domestic duty.
Despite the havoc caused by child marriage, there are ways early marriage can be stop in our environment is enforcement of law prohibiting early marriage, various programmes should be organized by the government, relevant bodies and individuals in order to empower young women, by teaching them on how to start a trade teaching them the importance of education, teaching them a skill through various trainings. Such programmes should be encouraged and available not only in schools, but in communities and rural areas as well.
Child marriage has indeed caused more harm than good as it has stripped many young girls of their childhood, their dreams, their basic human rights and their health, however if we can follow these recommended steps, then, we can be able to eradicate child marriage in our society.
Edith Nse Friday
Fridaynse@yahoo.com
08025293937
