Child Marriage in Bangladesh

Bangladesh - On July 13, 07 50 young girls took to the streets of Sathkira to protest the marriage of their 13-year old classmate, Habiba Sultana. These saavy girls not only marched for Sultana, they also filed a formal police complaint which resulted in Sultana’s father, who had betrothed his young daughter to a 23-year old neighbor, signing a legal document preventing him from allowing Habiba to marry until she turns 18. (Source: Daily Star)

In Bangladesh & several overpopulated & underdeveloped countries, child marriage is a harsh result of extreme poverty & overwhelmingly stark economic conditions. With 50% of Bangladesh’s population living on less than one dollar a day, parents feel pressured to ease financial stress by lessening the number of mouths to feed. Currently in Bangladesh, 40% of girls are married by the age of 15 & 60% are mothers by 19. The legal marrying age for females is 21 & for males, 18.

With little knowledge of their bodies, understanding of their responsibilities as a wife & often abused by their in-laws (commonly for her parents inability to pay the full dowry), the girls are usually removed from school & forced into a life of domestic bondage. The ICRW (International Center for Research on Women) states that child brides are much more likely to contract HIV than women in their 20s. This is a result of their new husbands being older, having more previous sex partners & the girls “inability to negotiate fidelity & condom use.” Then of course there is the issue of child pregnancy. For females aged 15-19, death during childbirth is the number one cause of death. In developing countries, many girls die from hemorrhage, obstructed childbirth & obstetric fistula. In case you are wondering what obstetric fistula is – this is a new phrase for me too, here goes: Obstetric fistula is when a hole occurs either between the vagina & the rectum or the bladder & the vagina. The result is an inability to control the flow of urine or feces. That’s right everyone, those two beautiful holes turn into one & you can’t turn off the poo or the pee. Those jailbait jokes aren’t quite so funny anymore, huh?

Other countries with high child marriage rates:

Afghanistan, India, Niger, & the Republic of Congo.

Who’s got the facts & who’s trying to help:

http://www.crin.org, (Child Rights Information Network) http://www.endfistula.org/(self-explanatory)
http://www.icrw.org, (International Center for Research on Women)
http://www.unicef.org (Project Kishori Abhijan)