Too Young to Marry

Too Young to Marry




When Kakenya Ntaiya was a 7-year-old schoolgirl in Kenya, she worried that her family would soon marry her off and she would be forced to become a child raising children. She had good reason to worry: Her family had announced her engagement at age 5.

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Ntaiya beat those odds with help from a supportive mother and her own determination to stay in school. She even agreed to undergo the local discriminatory tradition of female genital cutting in exchange for being allowed to finish high school. With help from village elders, she earned the right and the funds to keep studying, promising she would make her community proud.

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A mix of financial pressures and social and tradition-related practices that discriminate against women and girls leads parents to marry off their daughters so young. Many believe that finding a husband for a daughter will keep her safe, especially in times of social instability or fragility. Parents see girls as economic burdens who will not help support them in old age but whose labor will benefit the new husband’s family.

Natural disasters, armed conflict and social upheaval create more opportunities for the social ill of child marriage to take hold. Among the perils unleashed by such upheaval are food shortages, intermittent or entirely absent legal authorities, and shuttered or only occasionally functioning schools. Families looking for a path to protect their girls view marriage as one of the most acceptable options, given all the risks—including sexual violence—facing their children. A 2013 World Vision report noted that “fear of rape and sexual violence, of unwanted premarital pregnancies, of family shame and dishonor, of homelessness and hunger or starvation were all reported by parents and children as legitimate reasons for early marriage.”

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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/02/20/too-young-to-marry/