Because of Poverty, Culture, and Tradition Boys as young as 8 are being forced into Marriage.

I am 35 year old and until now, I had no idea that children where being married to children on the other side of the world. To say I am privileged is an understatement. My culture does not force children to sacrifice their childhoods in such a tragic way. I have heard of child brides before, this topic makes the news and social action communities regularly. No one though has made mention of child grooms. They need a voice too! In fact if we can help child grooms, we can help child brides too because many girls are being married off to little boys not just older men. We need to go at this issue from every angle we can. All children need to be protected!

The legal age of marriage in Nepal is 18, but that doesn’t matter in poor communities….  WHY?

The root of the issue seems to be poverty! When a little boy is married to a little girl, the boys family not only gets a dowery sometimes to include animals, furniture, or something else of value, the little girl also moves into the boys home relieving some of the burden of the other females in the house as the girl is expected to do chores and take care of the family.

Why would anyone marry off their daughter? Because when younger the dowery can be LESS than if she was older and if they wait, they might not be able to marry their daughter off. If their daughter gets married that is one less mouth to feed in their own home.

Culture Plays a Big Part in child marriage!

Waiting for a child to get older is not looked highly on in their culture, there is pressure from family and neighbors or marry children young. In poverty communities keeping good relationships with others can be life saving. There is a great deal of pressure to do as you are expected.

The other part of this culture issue is that grandparents feel that the more grandchildren they have, the more likely they will granted an afterlife. I can’t speak to their religion beyond the fact that the pressure of this must be very hard on children who expected to marry and reproduce. Of course they want the best for their beloved grandparents but at what cost?

The Cost Is Too High!

I can’t imagine anyone reading this thinks that child marriage is a good idea. Forcing children to marry is a human rights violation. What though can we do about it? This movement is not asking for your donation, just a click to check out this page that talks about how you can help!

Thinking of child fathers on Fathers Day

My husband is an amazing father, he has been since our first child when he was 22. Can you imagine though the mess he would have been had he been a father at the tender age of just 12? That is the reality for child grooms. They have to drop out of school to take care of their families, they can’t get good paying jobs, so the cycle of poverty continues. These children forced to be fathers so young are set up to fail in the worst ways. It is incredibly disturbing and heart breaking. Babies having babies…..  with almost no hope or future. Some of these too young fathers though are daring to speak out, daring to go against their own culture, daring to want better for their own sons and daughters and they need us to hear them!

You can read about these too young fathers and sign the petition to get them help and stop the cycle. They need our voices.  Share the CARE site on your social media to share the stories and support the cause!

“CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty with a commitment to empowering women and girls. CARE is committed to its mission to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. CARE seeks a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security.”

 

 

Photo Credit:  Cassie Wedemeyer (Linqia)