In her article “Too Young to Wed”, author Cynthia Gorney seeks to address the issue of child brides. The article begins by describing the illegal wedding ceremony of three child brides. While two of the girls are aged 15 and 13, the youngest, Rajani, is only 5 years old. The three young brides are being married off by their family to men they have never met. The article reveals that the community overlooks illegal weddings easily especially if the brides have reached puberty.
The article states that an outsider observing illegal ceremonies feels an impulse to rescue the young brides. However, child marriage is a complicated activity and such an action would not help. Forced early marriages happen for a variety of social reasons. In some cases, they occur because the risk of a girl losing her virginity before marriage is unacceptable. In other instances, these marriages are carried out as business deals where a family gives the bride child away to settle a debt or resolve family conflicts.
The article notes that early marriage in most cases ends the academic life of a child. However, poverty makes it impossible for some families to avoid this practice. Girl education is hard for many poor families who give priority to the education of their sons. In such communities, early marriage is encouraged by the older females of the family including aunts and grandmothers. However, men are responsible for most forced marriages. In the case of 10-year-old Ayesha who was married off to a 50-year old, the women in the family tried to stop the marriage. However, Ayesha’s father threatened to kill her if she reported the matter to the police. Now the girl lives in misery with her old husband.
The article highlights the case of the 10-year old Nujood Ali who requested a divorce after she had been forcefully married to a man in his 30s. Nujoob’s case was different since she decided to fight back against this practice. Her actions brought the issue of forced child marriages to public attention. It also encouraged other children to take action when faced with similar situations. Even so, the article reveals that not all children would have the courage to do this. The government and child protection agencies need to do more to help deal with the problem. The article suggests that more education programs are needed to reach more underage girls and their families and therefore discourage this habit.
The underlying community issues that encourage child marriages should be dealt with in order to prevent this practice. Community-led programs that encourage people to move away from this practice result in the reduction in child marriages. The case of Shobha Choudhary who was married off when only eight years of age is highlighted. Because of a free education program offered by the Veerni Project, this young girl was able to continue studying even after marriage.
However, Shobha still has to live with her uneducated husband since doing otherwise would disgrace her parents. The young girl was sponsored to go through college by the article’s author and her husband. Shobha is now studying computers and learning English. The article concludes by highlighting the case of a 13-year-old bride who died after injuries sustained following sexual intercourse with her new husband
Reference
Gorney, C. (2011). Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides. Web.