Child marriage
Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union where one or both parties are under the age of eighteen. This practice is recognized as a human rights violation, though it remains prevalent globally, including in some regions of the United States. While child marriages often involve young girls, boys can also be affected. Factors contributing to child marriage include poverty, cultural traditions, and the desire for familial security, as marrying daughters young can alleviate financial burdens or protect them from harm in certain communities.
Historically, child marriage was common due to low life expectancy and societal norms linking puberty with readiness for marriage. The practice is closely associated with gender inequality, as it often perpetuates a cycle of limited education and economic opportunities for young brides. Health risks are significant; young mothers face higher rates of childbirth complications and their infants are more likely to die in infancy. Although global rates of child marriage are declining, the pace is insufficient to keep up with population growth, prompting international advocacy efforts aimed at education and empowerment to combat the issue. Organizations are working to enhance legal frameworks and support girls' rights, emphasizing the importance of education in preventing child marriages.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Child marriage
Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union in which one or both of the individuals involved are younger than eighteen years old. The practice is considered a human rights violation and though many places have laws against it, child marriage remains widespread around the world, including in the United States. The majority of the time, a child marriage involves a girl marrying before the age of eighteen, but in some cases minor males marry as well.
According to 2018 data from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), each year twelve million girls around the world are married before they turn eighteen. According to 2023 data, the global number of child brides is estimated to be around 650 million. In the United States, several states allow individuals younger than eighteen years of age to marry. While most states require parental consent or have a minimum marrying age, many do not.
Background
Child marriages were the norm around the world for centuries. Child marriages were common due to poverty, insecurity, and lack of education, among other reasons. Various communities and cultures had their own traditions and reasons for young marriages. Historically, life expectancy played a large role in the widespread acceptance of child marriage. Life expectancy was very low, often just forty to forty-five years. Child marriages enabled people with short lifespans to reproduce and grow the population. Girls were usually available for marriage as soon as they reached puberty, although some were married even before they reached childbearing age.
Poverty and security issues are also factors that lead to the practice of child marriage. In some places where a dowry, or bride price, is paid, it is often a source of income for poor families. If the bride's family pays the groom's family a dowry, the bride-price is usually less if the bride is young and uneducated. Giving a daughter in marriage when she is young also allows parents to reduce family expenses, which allows them to better care for other children and family members. Many families also marry their daughters young because they feel it will ensure her safety in areas where girls are at high risk of harassment and physical or sexual violence.
Child marriages became a tradition for many cultures, mainly because they had been happening for generations. In some communities, when a girl starts to menstruate, she becomes a woman in the eyes of society. Marriage is the next step in her expected role in the community, which is usually to progress in status to next become a mother.
In the twentieth century, as more women and girls started receiving an education and gained rights such as the vote in developed countries, many societies questioned the practice of child marriage. The rate of child marriages dropped in developed countries.
Overview
Since child marriage usually involves minor girls, it is linked to gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are inferior to men and boys. A number of harmful practices can often go hand-in-hand with child marriage. For example, in southern Ethiopia, child marriage usually follows the practice of female genital mutilation or cutting, which is considered a rite of passage to womanhood.
According to UNICEF, while child marriage had decreased from previous years, the incidence of child marriage still remained high in many countries as of 2023, including 76 percent in Niger, 61 percent in Central African Republic, and 60 percent in Chad. Many die in childbirth and experience childbirth complications, because their immature bodies are not yet ready to carry children. According to the International Women's Health Coalition as of 2019, a girl younger than fifteen who gives birth is five times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in her twenties. Infants, too, are at risk. Babies born to mothers younger than eighteen years of age are 60 percent more likely to die in their first year of life.
Child marriage is considered a human rights violation. It poses many risks and challenges to young girls. In addition to a lack of education, girls married young are often not ready emotionally to become wives and mothers. Because of this, child brides are at a greater risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquiring immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and suffering domestic violence. With little access to education and the economic opportunities that stem from it, child brides and their families are more likely to live in poverty.
Globally, the rates of child marriage are falling, but they are doing so slowly and there is fear in the aid community that if progress is not stepped up, it will not keep up with population growth and will stall. UNICEF data from 2023 indicates that while child marriage decreased over the previous three decades, rates of progress need to be scaled up dramatically to offset population growth in the countries where the practice is most common. UNICEF reported that, worldwide, 650 million women alive in 2018 were married as children; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reported that, as of early 2019, 5 percent of girls worldwide are married before the age of fifteen. The UNICEF data indicates if rates of decline are simply sustained and not increased, the impact of population growth will mean that more than 150 million more girls will be married before their eighteenth birthday by 2030. Girls Not Brides reported that at the current rate of progress it will take 300 years to end child marriage.
Many organizations worldwide are committed to ending child marriage, and are working to do so through educating and empowering women and girls. Work is being done to ensure girls have access to education, health information and services, and life-skills training. Studies show girls who are able to stay in school are more likely to avoid child marriage. In 2016, UNICEF and the UNFPA launched the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage. The program was designed to support girls in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Although in many countries marriage before age eighteen is illegal, poverty drives many families to break the law and follow community traditions of young marriage.
Efforts are also being made to enact tougher laws against child marriage, and ensure governments enforce those laws. In the United States, the non-profit group Unchained at Last, which aims to help young women and girls leave forced marriages, estimates the number of children married in America between 2000 and 2018 was nearly 300,000. The group was working with states to pass laws banning the practice, and in May 2018, Delaware became the first state to pass legislation banning marriage for those under the age of eighteen; New Jersey followed not long after, passing its own ban in June of that year. As of 2024, only thirteen states had passed legislation banning child marriage.
Bibliography
"About Child Marriage." Girls Not Brides, www.girlsnotbrides.org/about-child-marriage/. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
“Child Marriage.” UNICEF, 2023, data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
"Child Marriage." United Nations Population Fund, www.unfpa.org/child-marriage. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
"Child marriage: Rationale, Historical Views, and Consequences." World Atlas, www.worldatlas.com/articles/child-marriage-rationale-historical-views-and-consequences.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
Harmon, Amy, and Alan Blinder. "Delaware Has Banned Marriage Under Age 18. Other States Also Consider Limits." The New York Times, 17 May 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/us/child-marriage-minimum-age-minors.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
Hart, Marion. "1 Billion Girls. That's Why We Must End Child Marriage." UNICEF, 8 Mar. 2016, www.unicefusa.org/stories/1-billion-girls-thats-why-we-must-end-child-marriage/30051. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
“The Latest Evidence on Child Marriage: Trends in Prevalence and Burden Around the World.” Girls Not Brides, 13 July 2023, www.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/events/the-latest-evidence-on-child-marriage-trends-in-prevalence-and-burden-around-the-world/. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
Lemmon, Gayle Tzemach, and Lynn S. ElHarake. Child Brides, Global Consequences: How to End Child Marriage. Council on Foreign Relations, 2014.
Livio, Susan K. "No Child Brides in N.J.: Senate Approves Ban on Minors Getting Married." NJ.com, 13 Mar. 2017, www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/nj‗senate‗votes‗to‗outlaw‗minors‗from‗getting‗marr.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
“Only 13 of 50 US States Have Passed Legislation Banning Child Marriage; We Still Have a Long Road Ahead.” Equality Now, 31 July 2024, equalitynow.org/news‗and‗insights/only-13-of-50-us-states-have-passed-legislation-banning-child-marriage-we-still-have-a-long-road-ahead/. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
Reiss, Fraidy. "Why Can 12-year-olds Still Get Married in the United States?" The Washington Post, 10 Feb. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/10/why-does-the-united-states-still-let-12-year-old-girls-get-married/?utm‗term=.cc2df42c5e50. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.
“United States’ Child Marriage Problem.” Unchained at Last, 2021, www.unchainedatlast.org/united-states-child-marriage-problem-study-findings-april-2021/. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.