[HOME ] [ABOUT] [PHOTOS] [VIDEO] [BLOG] [HOUSTON] [TEXAS] [U.S. NEWS] [WORLD NEWS] [SPORTS] [POP CULTURE] [CONTACT]
Bringing child marriage to an end helps women and their nations
Girls as young as five are forced into child marriages
by Joseph Earnest August 1, 2013
Newscast Media WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of State is developing a campaign to promote the prevention of child marriage as a main principle of U.S. foreign and development policy, in keeping with a law passed in March 2013.
Policy development experts in this area explained to a Washington audience July 31 why the prevention of child marriage is critical to improving the status of women and advancing prosperity in the developing world.
“Ending this practice is not just a moral imperative, but a strategic imperative,” said Rachel Vogelstein of the Council on Foreign Relations, “because it has broad implications for U.S. foreign policy goals.”
Vogelstein is a former adviser in the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and the editor of a recent publication, Ending Child Marriage: How Elevating the Status of Girls Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that by 2020, 50 million girls will have married under the age of 15.
Research clearly shows that early marriage ends a girl’s education. Girls without education don’t become productive, high-value workers who contribute to increasing their community’s prosperity. Without education, they aren’t aware of good nutrition and health habits, and this affects the children they bear, data show. They are more likely to be victims of gender-based violence, and more than twice as likely to be beaten by their husbands as older women, according to one survey.
For those well-documented reasons, the need for U.S. attention to prevention of child marriage has taken on new importance in the State Department’s annual evaluation of human rights practices worldwide and in action plans at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"The strategy is first and foremost about changing attitudes," said Caren Grown, USAID’s acting senior coordinator for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The USAID vision aims to "change the attitudes of community elders, of parents, of men, of religious leaders, of key stakeholders in the population." Grown said U.S. efforts must align with locally based initiatives to convince communities that child marriage perpetuates poverty and inhibits national development by denying opportunities for girls and the children they'll bear.
Governments may come to recognize the adverse consequences of the practice, even when it occurs in rural or isolated areas or among certain ethnic or religious groups. For example, the average age of marriage in Bangladesh rose by about eight years as industries expanded and increased the need for a capable labor force, influencing social norms on child marriage, research showed.
Findings like that, Grown said, can influence an economic development strategy to create a skilled and educated workforce "that gives women and men opportunities that actually could be an important catalyst here."
While the strategy is still being evaluated, Grown said, it appears to be a promising initiative for changing social perceptions on the value of daughters. The World Bank is conducting similar programs in sub-Saharan Africa that show promise for discouraging child marriage.
In Ethiopia and Tanzania, USAID and partners are working through existing health assistance programs to help married teenage girls with family planning and counseling.
Noting the new U.S. foreign policy directive on the issue, Vogelstein cited a building momentum to reduce the practice of child marriage. More than 250 nonprofit organizations are working on the issue around the world, she said. Add Comments>>
Source: USAID/Dept of State/WHO
|
|
Join the Newscast Media social networks
for current events and multimedia content.
Copyright© Newscast Media. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Privacy Policy