POVERTY: On this International Day of the Girl Child, a girl is forced into marriage every three seconds

By Katie Tong

Adolescent Girls in Emergencies Specialist
Plan International

Today is the inaugural International Day of the Girl Child which focuses on child marriage. Shockingly, every three seconds a girl is forced or coerced into early marriage – that’s about 200 by the time you get to the end of this article. A staggering 10 million per year.

Today signals a landmark in history as the UN and international community recognise the unique challenges that girls face and reinforce their commitment to end gender stereotypes, discrimination, violence and economic disparities that disproportionately affect girls.

To reinforce the UN’s declaration, Plan International has also launched its campaign named Because I’m A Girl. Plan recognises that globally 1 in 3 girls are denied an education by the daily realities of poverty, discrimination and violence.  Every day young girls are taken out of school, forced into marriage, and subjected to violence.

Emergencies amplify girls’ suffering. Whether it is a conflict or natural disaster, violence against girls and women, especially sexual violence increases, often dramatically.

Experience shows that in emergencies the rate of child marriage can often increase. I have blogged  about this issue from northern Cameroon, where child marriage is rife.

The older women I talked with in Kai Kai in the Far North admitted that should men offer dowries for their young daughters they would readily give their hand in marriage – how could they not, they asked, given their current circumstances of poverty and deprivation?

UNICEF reports from Niger said that extreme hunger during the food crisis has led to an increase in child marriage. There are anecdotal reports from Syrian refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan, from Pakistan and Bangladesh after their floods that increasingly young girls being ‘sold’ to suitors.

Why is this happening? Primarily for one or more of three reasons:

1. Economics. Hunger is driving child marriage.  In times of increased poverty, a dowry in exchange for one less mouth to feed seems like the most sensible economic reason;
2.  Protection. Parents become concerned about the safety of their young unmarried daughters in places such as camps for refugees or displaced persons where sexual violence and exploitation can be rife. Here they are surrounded by and interacting with men and boys they don’t know. These are breeding grounds for gender-based sexual violence. Sex outside of marriage brings dishonour to the family so an early marriage is seen to be a way to protect a girl and keep her safe;
3. Education. An adolescent girl will either be in school or married. There is no other option. This is why Plan’s BIAAG campaign focuses on keeping girls in school. Avoiding child marriage is just one of the benefits. This means that if we can keep education options open for girls in emergencies – either formal or non-formal – then we are giving families a chance to avoid early marriage. 

Awareness and sensitisation is usually a route to combat this culturally ingrained practice however in emergencies the increase in child marriages is not due to lack of sensitisation but rather a result of desperation or deprivation.

Our approach in emergencies therefore ought to address issues of deprivation and not just sensitisation in order to end gender stereotypes, discrimination, violence and economic disparities that disproportionately affect girls.