Abstract
This paper highlights the need to focus on changing the attitudes and beliefs of Egyptian society about child marriage as a way of holistically addressing multiple facets of the problem. In detail, this paper emphasizes the need to educate the country’s population about child marriage as one part of the holistic strategy and empowering girls to know and understand their rights as another part of the same plan.
The evidence is gathered from several developing countries, such as Nigeria, Zambia, Guatemala, and India, which have made significant gains by adopting the above suggestions. Overall, the study demonstrates that current recommendations to stop child marriage in Egypt are flawed because they are focused on promoting legal solutions at the expense of societal attitudes and subjective social norms that should ideally end the practice.
Introduction
The Inter-African Committee (IAC) defines child marriage as any type of union that involves girls below the age of 18 who are not physically or psychologically ready to bear the burden of such unions (Bravo, Martinez, & Ruiz, 2014). In some circles, this practice is considered a form of violence against women because it requires the victims to assume certain responsibilities and roles with a partner who is often a stranger to them. Additionally, many victims of child marriages are forced to enter into such unions without being physically or psychologically ready to be a wife or even assume the responsibility of a mother (Bravo et al., 2014).
This study is rooted in the fact that many researchers have explored several issues relating to child marriage in Egypt without proposing tangible or holistic solutions to curb it. Stemming from this background, this paper demonstrates that the journey towards finding a long-term solution to the practice is hinged on educating the public about the disadvantages of child marriage and empowering adolescent girls to negotiate for a better life by staying in school and resisting attempts to make them early wives. These findings are outlined as a long-term nature of managing or addressing the problem in the North African state, and it is rooted in evidence that was gathered from Nigeria, Zambia, India, and Guatemala.
How Other Researchers Have Analyzed the Topic (Literature Review)
Several researchers have discussed child marriage as a common social problem in Egypt (Sowey, 2017; Wijffelman, 2017; Bravo et al., 2014). Their analyses have mostly focused on understanding the causes and incidences of the practice within Egyptian communities and the effects of the same on adolescent girls. Based on the same analytical approach, they have drawn a link between financial issues, cultural beliefs, religious doctrines, and child marriage. They say this network of issues has supported the practice for centuries (Sowey, 2017; Wijffelman, 2017; Bravo et al., 2014).
Notably, many of the researchers who have investigated child marriage as a social problem in Egypt have underlined a financial motivation for most families that engage in it. For example, Maswikwa, Richter, Kaufman, and Nandi (2015) have argued that poverty is one of the greatest causes of child marriages in Egypt because families are looking to make an extra income by marrying off their daughters to (often) wealthy men from their communities or even from out of the country. Therefore, current discussions have centered on exploring the theme of poverty in some Egyptian communities and how it has not only forced fathers to consent to ad-hoc unions involving their daughters with other men but also provide young girls with an opportunity to escape the “limiting circumstances” of their homes (Sowey, 2017; Wijffelman, 2017; Bravo et al., 2014).
In other words, it is common to find some girls agreeing to be married to older men to escape the poverty that surrounds them at home. Based on the above findings, many researchers have argued that child marriage is prevalent in low-income families (Sowey, 2017; Wijffelman, 2017; Bravo et al., 2014). This view is also supported by researchers, such as Khater and ZeinEldin (2013). Most of their views have been presented using a cause-effect dichotomy whereby they have spent a lot of time drawing a link between financial issues (cause) and the prevalence of child marriage (effect) in Egypt.
Some studies have delved deeper into investigating the issue of child marriage in Egypt by focusing on explaining the effects of the practice on its victims. For example, studies by Wodon (2015) have pointed out that child marriages have a significant impact on the educational standards of their victims and on their self-esteem. Although most of the views presented in the discussions are elaborate, the same studies have several limitations, which are highlighted below.
Limitations of Current Studies
One limitation of current studies that have investigated child marriages as a social problem in Egypt is their biased focus on the causes of the vice and not necessarily on the solutions. The few that have proposed solutions have limited their analysis to legal views, which have not helped the country to solve the problem holistically. In fact, according to the study by Elden and Mosleh (2015), which was developed by sampling the views of community influencers, many Egyptians are aware of the existence of these legal solutions or laws preventing child marriage but do not follow them because they are not aligned with their cultural and religious beliefs.
Therefore, many researchers who have proposed legal solutions to curb child marriages in Egypt have failed in providing a holistic understanding of the problem. This study seeks to fill this research gap by not only exploring legal solutions to the vice but also providing solutions that address the cultural, social, and religious impediments of curbing the problem. A description of how the investigation was undertaken is outlined in the section below.
Methodology
The methodology chosen in undertaking this research was based on desk research. Within this framework, the researcher reviewed published research materials from several databases, including Google Scholar, Emerald Insight, and Sage Publications. The selected methodology was chosen for the study because it was logistically impossible to undertake a nationwide review of the research topic. The mode of operation was centered on reviewing what other countries have done to stop child marriages in their respective jurisdictions and evaluating the same recommendations relative to the Egyptian political, economic, and social dynamics.
Stated differently, there was a deliberate attempt to investigate whether some proposals made to stop child marriages in other jurisdictions could be used to stop the practice in Egypt. Since the focus of the paper is on varying the social, cultural, and attitudinal aspects of societal development to stop the practice, an emphasis is made to investigate how Egypt could promote a “cultural revolution” that would help end child marriage and complement existing legal solutions on the same. Some limitations of the current study appear below.
Limitations of the Study
One limitation of this study is its focus on Egypt. The North African nation has different political, economic, and social dynamics from other countries that practice child marriage, which would make it difficult for readers to apply its findings outside the country’s context. At the same time, it would be difficult for users of the research information to understand some of the concepts and terms used in this paper beyond the nation’s context.
For example, the definition of minors as being children who are under the age of 18 years is specific to this study because some regions/jurisdictions define the same population differently. For instance, certain jurisdictions consider minors to be people who are aged below 16 years as opposed to 18 years. Therefore, some of the findings developed in this study are contextual and specific to the Egyptian political, economic, and social dynamics.
This study is also limited to proposing solutions that would end child marriage in Egypt. This is a small area of analysis because the social vice is a multifaceted issue. For example, as explained by Bravo et al. (2014), financial reasons have led to its spread, while cultural barriers have made it difficult for researchers to fully understand why it has never been completely addressed. The findings of this study are limited to solutions that would help end the problem.
Therefore, much of the analysis is not on understanding the social problem as several researchers have done, but on reviewing practical solutions that would address it. The last limitation of this study is the time taken to complete it. In other words, the data collection and analysis process had to be completed within a specific time to deliver the project on time. The findings of the study appear below.
Findings
Studies developed by Yount et al. (2016) say that early marriage is a common occurrence among rural communities in the Middle East. In fact, statistics show that as much as 35% of such marriages occur among such communities (Yount et al., 2016). In urban areas, the percentage could fall to below 1.6%. According to data provided by the Egyptian census, as much as 11% of females who are between 16 and 19 years old are married or have been married before (Elden & Mosleh, 2015). Elden and Mosleh (2015) also reveal that 4 out of 14 families in Egypt have reported marrying their daughters before their 18th birthdays.
About 4% of the same sample reported having married their daughters to non-Egyptian men (Elden & Mosleh, 2015). The findings derived from the desk research showed that educating the public about the negative effects of child marriage and empowering adolescent girls to know their rights are the best strategies for changing these statistics. These views are further explained below.
Educate the Public
Stakeholders should pay close attention to the need for educating the public about the effects of child marriage on the social and emotional wellbeing of young girls and (by extension) the women in society. Particularly, they should be taught that child marriage is synonymous with the commodification of women because when girls are married in exchange for a specific sum of money, they are merchandised. As Montazeri, Gharacheh, Mohammadi, Rad, and Ardabili (2016) point out, the public should be educated about the negative effects of child marriage, such as the inability to forge relationships with people of the same age and the abrupt withdrawal of girls from their social support networks, to discourage them from supporting the practice.
There are also attempts to educate communities about the negative effects child marriage has on girls because they have fewer chances of receiving formal education and are more prone to violence, such as physical and sexual abuse, relative to their counterparts who marry at an older age (Bravo et al., 2014).
The public should be further educated about the effects of such practices on the community because they lead to a cycle of poverty since they lack protection from family members and are exposed to abuse and forced sexual relations (Montazeri et al., 2016). These views stem from studies that have shown that the legal and policy positions adopted to prevent the occurrence of child marriage cannot work without educating the public about the effects of the same. Nigeria is one country that alludes to such evidence because social workers have tried to educate the population about the negative effects of the practice with relative success. The evidence is presented below.
Evidence from Nigeria
The role of religious education in the understanding of how communities could be sensitized against child marriage cannot be ignored because religion is a strong force in the social, economic, and political development of Egypt and other Middle Eastern states. Indeed, as Walker (2015) proposes, such religious institutions need to be consulted and involved in the program because they play an instrumental role in the development and transformational role of Egyptian communities. Walker (2015) also adds that religion acts as a capital resource that people can draw models, values, and resources that could be useful in creating transformational change.
Nigeria is one Sub-Saharan country that has successfully used faith-based leaders in educating people about child marriage and changing their views about the same. Figure 1 below explains how it has been accommodated in an intricate model.
The above model was implemented in Nigeria by first recruiting scholars and gaining their trust. USAID, which championed the model’s use in the West African country, defined the process as involving the process of “identifying champions and building alliances to promote stakeholder buy-in, fostering partnerships to build local ownership and sustainability. ESD allied with a local implementing partner or institution in each country where it successfully engaged” (Walker, 2015, p. 50). As explained in the diagram, the second step involved in the program implementation process was educating Muslim scholars about the right knowledge concerning child marriage. Walker (2015) defines this stage as the implementation process where faith-based organizations are equipped with the knowledge to appeal to the public.
Walker (2015) has also highlighted cases where it has been used in Pakistan to build arguments for communities to end child marriage. While this process may be easily regarded as “training,” its application in Pakistan was done as a consultative process. The application of the same model by USAID in Yemen also supported the same goal, and it was premised on the need to educate faith-based organizations about child marriage using authenticated religious statements (Walker, 2015). There was also an effort to improve the communication skills of the leaders in managing the faith-based organizations.
The third stage of model implementation anticipates that the message on child abuse should start to be disseminated, and the public should be responding positively. The basis for this expectation is that people’s behaviors and practices towards child marriage should start to change in line with new knowledge. This third stage of model development is regarded as a transformative one (Walker, 2015).
The fourth stage, or the outreach period, is characterized by the willingness of religious leaders to work in tandem with others to improve their attitudes and beliefs about child marriage, which leads to the abatement of the practice. This stage is considered a critical one by its proponents because they expect that a change in knowledge or behavior should happen here (Walker, 2015). The fifth stage is the last one, and it refers to a period where the results of the initiative are verified and measured.
The model mentioned above has been successfully used in Nigeria to not only discourage communities from supporting child marriage but also to encourage them to adopt positive health behaviors. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), as well as GirlsNotBrides and ICRW, are three institutions that have supported such initiatives and have also recorded immense success in using the model to sensitize the public about the negative effects of child marriage (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). There is a campaign tagged “Not in your name” that was developed by UNFPA and employed the above model with tremendous success.
It was a call to action by concerned members of Nigerian communities to stop child and sexual abuse of young girls within the context of ending child marriages (Walker, 2015). A rallying call that was used to inspire members to advocate for an end to the practice read:
Not in our name should any girl, boy, woman, or man be abused, violated, or killed. Not in our name should a girl child be deprived of her education, be married, be harmed, or abused. Not in our name should any young person be denied their full human rights. (Walker, 2015, p. 51)
Nonetheless, Walker (2015) says the best case for the use of faith-based organizations and religious leaders in instituting social change is documented in the PLAN Niger report, which states that religious leaders are instrumental agents of social change because people often look up to them for spiritual and social guidance. Based on these findings, its authors emphasize the need to include them in educational programs because religion and tradition often exert a strong force in such communities. Complementing the need to educate people about the negative effects of child marriage should be buoyed by complementary initiatives to empower adolescent girls, as described below.
Empower Adolescent Girls
As highlighted in earlier sections of this paper, ending child marriage requires a holistic approach. One aspect of the practice that needs review is the importance of increasing access to health care and counseling services to young girls and empower them to make better decisions or to report offenders to authorities. This approach is part of a larger attempt to empower girls because the more knowledgeable they are about their rights, the easier it will be for them to rebuff attempts to marry them off (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Additionally, working directly with them will give social workers an opportunity to impart knowledge about child marriages and their effects on different aspects of their social and economic development. Furthermore, using this method, it would be easier for community members to teach them about their rights and empower them in the same light. By doing so, they would be in a position to tap into existing support networks that will enable them to create a stronger force in discouraging the practice within their specific circles of influence.
There are multiple examples of how girl empowerment has been used to minimize incidences of child marriage in Africa and around the world. Egypt could “borrow a leaf” from the same. The subsections below explain how different countries have adopted unique strategies to reduce the incidence of child marriage in their jurisdictions. Evidence from Zambia appears below.
Evidence from Zambia
Zambia addressed child marriage by introducing the Safe Space Program to empower young girls and improve their self-esteem. The goal was to make them more resistant to efforts to marry them off to older men (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). The program addressed different aspects of social development, including imparting young girls with life skills, health knowledge, and financial knowledge so that they can take charge of their lives.
The program also registered immense success because it helped the girls to build their skills, learn and meet new people, and to forge new friendships that helped them to see the benefit of staying away from underage marriages (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). These skills were imparted to the young girls in an informal setting where they received the services of mentors who guided them through the program.
According to Wodon (2015), such programs should be replicated in different contexts because they have shown high efficacy in building the self-confidence of young girls and promoting their self-efficacy, which is needed or instrumental for them to thrive. Their success has also been replicated in communities where there are no strong educational structures and where child marriages are common. They offer an alternative model for girl empowerment because they provide girls with an opportunity to meet and interact with peers, thereby reducing their vulnerability to child marriage. This goal is achieved because they are less isolated from their friends (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Some jurisdictions have also used some of these programs to empower women economically, as is the case of those which have cash transfer components. In some rural communities, such programs have also been implemented by rewarding attendees with goats or chicken (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). The level of success in increasing the child marriage age has been documented. The basic work of such empowerment programs is to help young people to be agents of the desired change. The Girls Not Brides Organization (2017) supports this assertion by saying,
“Supporting young people to be agents of change can be an effective and empowering process in and of itself” (para. 3).
Some researchers have also demonstrated that non-governmental organizations that have used this strategy to end child marriage have not only employed young people as agents of change but also as stakeholders to help in the design of empowerment programs (Bravo et al., 2014). Such efforts have been used to form youth groups that advocate for change in society and encourage dialogue between young people and their parents, especially concerning child marriage and why parents should also support girls by promoting their empowerment, as opposed to curtailing it through child marriage. Similar positive results have been reported in India, as described below.
Evidence from India
Besides Zambia, which has shown an impressive record of success in girl empowerment, Egypt could also learn from India, which has similarly used the same approach with relative success. The Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP) championed girl empowerment as a technique of not only ending child marriage in the subcontinent but also a tool for protecting young girls from the consequences of child marriage and sexual or domestic violence (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). The program was mostly concentrated in the Aurangabad and Jalna districts of India (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Its aims are to empower unmarried adolescent girls, protect married and young girls from the adverse effects of early motherhood, and sensitize the male population on child marriage, gender issues, and masculinity. Guided by these goals, the holistic approach of the program was aimed at delaying the age at which young girls are to be married and similarly delay when they first conceive. The program also strived to reduce maternal and reproductive morbidity rates.
Supported by well-wishers, the Indian government, and social workers, the program focused on giving attention to young adolescent girls with low self-esteem by bringing them together in a forum where they could learn new skills and gain knowledge about child marriage. People who were close to the program say it succeeded in helping the girls to build their confidence and self-efficacy (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). At the same time, it equipped them to negotiate for a better quality of life and a delay in marriage.
Structurally, each young girl who is enrolled in the program should be in it for six months. Most of the girls who were recruited were aged between 11 years to 19 years (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). They meet their mentors and peers twice a week to learn about their rights. They also gain knowledge about their health status and, more importantly, their sexual health development. Besides the Life Skills Program, IHMP also developed Adolescent Health Clubs for young girls who have already completed their training. The clubs are meant to create a network of volunteers who are also willing to transfer what they have learned to other young girls in their communities.
Those who have succeeded in doing so are successful peer educators. More importantly, these clubs have been instrumental agents of change in their communities because they are piling more pressure on parents and community members to change their perception of child marriage and change their beliefs, norms, and attitudes that propagate the same practice (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Unlike other health programs, which are primarily focused on empowering young girls, IHMP’s program also strives to change the beliefs and attitudes of the society towards child marriage by reaching out to the male population as well. Concisely, it involves boys and young men in the program and aims to change their notions or ideas about masculinity. The program also strives to initiate conversations about the best age that girls should marry in the hope that their male counterparts would also understand the ramifications of girls marrying too early (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). Gender issues are also discussed in such platforms as the boys are taught about the value of women in society and the need to respect them as well.
A key part of the entire program is the adoption of holistic approaches to address child marriage issues. Particularly, the involvement of community members as stakeholders is central to the operations of the program because IHMP believes in the need for social workers to facilitate conversations with key community members (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). There is a keener emphasis on engaging parents who have young girls with the aim of teaching them about protecting their children from early marriage, but the community at large is involved in the same talks as well. The target of the social workers is to change the social norms in India, which keep adolescent girls away from school and into marital unions.
The strategies adopted include using the social norms approach to institute behavior change, promoting interpersonal communication between adults and their daughters, and encouraging the formation of a strong social influence for parents to keep their girls in school and advocate for the delay of marriage (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Integral to the success of the IHMP program is community-based monitoring. Village health committees have been tasked with this responsibility and engage key community members in the same process. Involving key community members is regarded as an effective approach of IHMP to initiate lasting change in the community.
Since its inception in 2013, the IHMP program has been evaluated by the International Center for Research on Women, and the results have shown an increase in the median age for marriage in the affected Indian communities from 16 years to 17 years (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). The percentage of underage marriages in the community also significantly declined from 80.7% to 61.8% (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). This percentage change was witnessed 18 months after the intervention started. Evaluations were also done to review changes in access to services for married adolescent girls, and the results revealed that the median age at first birth increased from 16.9 years to 18.1 years. It was also established that coverage of antenatal care was 56.1% versus 24.3% (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Some lessons that could be learned from the implementation of the above program in India was that by working with victims of child marriage and adolescent girls, the program effectively demonstrated to community members the disadvantages of child marriage. It was also established that imparting life skills education to adolescent girls could significantly improve their self-esteem and self-efficacy in ways that could help them better negotiate about the marriage age.
Program evaluators also found that when girls are empowered and allowed to interact in groups or clubs, they assume a better position to exert pressure not only on their parents but also on the community about the need to stop child marriage because of its negative effects on their growth and development (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). In other words, empowerment helps them to reason out the facts with their seniors. Another positive takeaway from the program was the increased interest by other NGOs and well-wishers to increase the funding opportunities for programs that strive to create a positive social impact on matters of child marriage.
Evidence from Guatemala
The Population Council is an organization in Guatemala, which started a program known as “Opening Opportunities,” which strived to stop child marriages in the country by empowering young girls with the skills and support to resist child marriage. The program was started in 2004, and it was supported by multiple organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nike, and the UNFPA (among others) (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). Similar to the Indian case, the Population Council also designed a program that involved a holistic view of child marriage. It was designed to impart girls with the skills and knowledge needed to make informed decisions about their sexual health rights and improve their access to community services aimed at helping them make safe choices about their lives.
Running from 2004 until today, the program involves young mentors who are aged between 18 -25 years (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). A key responsibility accorded to them is the promotion of discussions on sensitive issues such as sexual health and violence. Unlike formal education contexts, most of the discussions in the program are done informally and in a culturally sensitive manner. The key goals of the program are to ensure girls have space within the community to be children, promote mentor-led sessions, encourage safe health practices in the community, and support girls’ education (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
As part of efforts to support female empowerment, the Population Council started a pilot program that involved government support through the Ministry of Education’s Division for Extra School Education (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). The government’s role has been to certify mentors who have gone through the program as they embark on educating young girls in the village about basic rights centering on child marriage issues. However, the educational material is designed to include this content as a “side note” of the conventional education curriculum.
The program is regularly reviewed by different bodies to make sure it sticks to its core goals, which are to increase the awareness of girls’ rights, promote solidarity of young girls through peer group engagement, and provide alternative economic and social roles for women (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). Initial quantitative and qualitative evaluations have revealed that the program has created delays in child marriage because 97% of those who participate in it remained unmarried (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
There was also an increase in school attendance and participation that could be directly attributed to the program because 98% of girls who took part in the program stayed in school (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). Comparatively, the percentage of girls who stayed in school between the ages of 8 years and 11 years was 87.5% (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). The percentage of young girls who stayed in school between the ages of 12 years and 18 years old within the program was also considerably higher than the national average of 40.7% (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
The evaluation process also showed that the program led to a significant decline in adolescent pregnancies because 97% of mentors who took part in the program did not marry or conceive in the course of it (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). At the same time, it was established that 94% of the same respondents argued that they were willing to delay pregnancy until their late 20s (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Lastly, the program evaluation process also revealed that it increased the self-esteem of the attendees. This outcome sufficed because they were equipped with knowledge regarding their rights. They were also taught how to communicate effectively among one another and with people who were older than them (mostly their parents). The statistics showed that the program helped 64% of the participants to speak more confidently in public and to articulate their views better (especially about female sexuality) (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). In fact, most of the respondents reported a self-esteem average of 7.7 out of a possible 8 points (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017).
Based on the above example, an empowerment approach could significantly help in the reduction of child marriage incidences because it helps in supporting girls to be agents of change within their communities. Empowering them helps to envisage what alternative roles exist for them in the society besides being a wife to someone else (Girls Not Brides Organization, 2017). Furthermore, doing so would help them forge or chart their own unique paths in life. Collectively, the evidence gathered from Zambia, India, Guatemala, and Nigeria show that child marriage could be tackled by adopting innovative strategies of community engagement.
Discussion
From the onset of this study, the main problem identified in this investigation was the failure of other researchers to explore solutions for ending child marriage from a non-legal perspective. Many studies highlighted in this paper have also narrowed their analysis to explain the causes and effects of the social vice on its victims and on communities. Few studies have provided a holistic understanding of how to stop child marriage or outlined necessary steps that Egypt could take in managing the practice (especially based on the background that legal solutions advanced to address the issue are ineffective).
The incidence of child marriage in Egypt was the dependent variable of the analysis, while culture, education, and societal attitudes were the independent variables. The three independent variables were selected for the study because they informed the beliefs and practices of the Egyptian community.
Some of the solutions advanced in this study are holistic in nature because they tap into the beliefs, norms, and attitudes of the Egyptian people that prompt them to support child marriage in the first place. The findings proposed in this paper also demonstrate how the government can eradicate the problem completely as they are aimed at providing communities with a new template of how to view the concept of child marriage.
Particularly the emphasis on empowering adolescent girls is a powerful tool for creating a paradigm shift in how the community views child marriage because adolescent girls who understand their rights and are empowered with adequate knowledge to negotiate with their parents and relatives about child marriage are more likely to resist attempts to marry them off compared to their counterparts who are not knowledgeable about their rights. This recommendation addresses one end of the problem, which is the victims’ vulnerability that has not been addressed by many researchers in the past. The other end of the problem should be solved by educating communities about the negative effects of child marriage.
This strategy should aid in decreasing community support for the practice. Consequently, there could be greater collaboration between community members and law enforcers in apprehending suspects who are engaged in cases of child marriage. This community goodwill has been lacking in the past because people are still stuck on their cultural practices and beliefs that they should be followed regardless of whichever laws are formulated to stop child marriage. Educating the public about the importance of stopping the practice could also help to change this situation.
The evidence gathered from Nigeria, Zambia, India, and Guatemala show that Egypt has an opportunity to further reduce the incidence of child marriages in the country because these case studies have recorded significant levels of success in increasing the age adolescent girls get married and the number of child marriages in the countries. Although some of the programs highlighted are specific to the jurisdictions in which they were implemented, it is important to note that they have the same objective as Egypt (ending child marriage) and are generic in nature. Therefore, they should be replicated in different contexts because they have shown high efficacy in building the self-confidence of young girls and promoting their self-efficacy, which is instrumental in helping them to thrive in today’s modern and fast-paced society.
The main lesson Egypt could learn from some of the examples highlighted in this paper about how to prevent child marriage is that adopting a holistic approach to the management of the problem is the surest way to have a transformative impact on the lives of adolescent girls in the country. Another issue that stakeholders should note is the need to document and analyze innovations and effective policies that will convince policymakers to facilitate the formulation or development of evidence-based policy-making decisions.
Egypt should also learn that if it formulates some of the programs suggested in this report, it needs to scale them quickly enough to prevent the possibility of having isolated incidences of success. More importantly, as Khater and ZeinEldin (2013) suggest, such programs should fit within the country’s existing policy framework. Adopting some of the findings highlighted in this paper would help to develop a mindset that questions some of the religious or cultural beliefs that people hold on to when supporting child marriages.
Conclusion
Child marriage is a formal or an informal union between a minor and an adult who is often older. In many jurisdictions, the practice is prohibited, but cultural norms and beliefs often take precedence over legal considerations. Such is the case of Egypt because several laws prevent its citizens from engaging in this practice, but it still goes on unabated. Several works of literature have explored the causes and effects of the vice on its victims, and most of them have pointed out that financial considerations and poverty are the top causes of such unions. Additionally, many studies have shown the connection between religion, culture, and the spread of the practice.
In other words, Egypt is not a unique state because some sections of its population practice child marriage; other Middle Eastern nations, sub-Saharan communities, and Asian countries also do so. Based on this assessment, child marriage is a widespread problem. Its effects have been documented as well, and they border on burdening its victims with high psychological, social, and economic costs that impede their ability to develop well or achieve other milestones in life like getting a good education.
This paper demonstrates that most of the recommendations made to stop the vice are flawed because they are mostly focused on approaching the issue from a legal standpoint. Consequently, stakeholders have always missed the opportunity to implement holistic interventions that would ensure they address the problem from multiple perspectives. The research question that guided this investigation was premised on the need to investigate interventions that would stop the practice in the Middle Eastern nation.
This paper recommends the need to focus on changing the social makeup of Egyptian society and influence their perceptions, attitudes, norms, and beliefs about child marriage as a way of holistically addressing multiple facets of the problem which support the practice. In detail, this paper emphasizes the need to educate the Egyptian population about child marriage as one part of the holistic strategy and empowering girls to stand up for their rights as another part of the same plan. The evidence is gathered from other developing countries, such as Nigeria, Zambia, Guatemala, and India, which have experienced the same problem and made significant gains by adopting the above suggestions.
The findings of this paper are instrumental in helping people to understand gender issues in the Middle East because child marriage is considered one of the social vices affecting most Middle Eastern states. Furthermore, Egypt is an influential state in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Therefore, understanding possible solutions to child marriage as a social problem could have ramifications for other states, like Yemen, which also suffer the same problem. Collectively, the findings of this paper would have wider implications on the social and cultural development of young girls in Egypt and the wider Middle East region.
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