”Yes, she’ll do” - the increase of child marriages in the wake of covid 19

By Vilma Ellemark

Death rates, lockdowns and social distancing are what we normally have come to associate with the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in the wake of this health crisis there are also numerous structural problems that have been exacerbated, such as the issue of child marriage. After discussing why child marriage happens, why it is problematic and how the pandemic has worsened this issue one message becomes clear: Equal access to vaccines is crucial to re-open societies and turn the downward trend where more and more girls have to say: “Yes, I do.”

“One, two…” On the count of three a girl under the age of 18 has likely gotten married somewhere in the world. Child marriage, which mostly affects girls but also boys is a widespread problem known to restrict the rights of children and hamper development. Children and adolescents are either forced to enter marriage or do so by choice due to a number of reasons, including poverty and social norms, according to the organization Girls Not Brides. For example, when a family experiences poverty, marrying off a daughter is sometimes seen as a way to decrease the family’s financial burden. In cultures where it is custom that the bride’s family pays a dowry, it is usually lower for younger and uneducated girls, which explains why younger girls are married off. However, girls sometimes also enter marriage by their own choice. Marriage can raise a girl’s status as a wife and later on mother, as well as secure financial stability. Due to gender discrimination and social norms, girls face greater barriers to education and income, which makes them more economically dependent on men. Consequently, marriage is often seen as an opportunity to secure an income when more conventional paths are blocked.

Regardless of whether girls enter marriage by free will or by force, studies have shown that child marriage is highly problematic and has a number of negative consequences, both for the girls and for society as a whole. According to the organization Equality now, girls married at a young age face greater risks of domestic violence because of the power imbalance in marriages between younger girls and older men. The same imbalance also often makes it difficult for the girls to negotiate contraceptives with their partners, resulting in early pregnancies which are dangerous for the girls’ health. Since girls’ bodies are not fully developed, pregnant girls between 15 and 19 years old face greater risks of complications during the pregnancy as well as infant mortality. They are also more likely to have a difficult time accessing medical care during the pregnancy which exacerbates this problem further. On a more societal level, child marriage tends to cause a vicious cycle of poverty, according to Plan International and Girlsnotbrides. Although girls sometimes get married to secure financial stability, marriage often means that they quit school earlier, which only diminishes their future economic opportunities and independence. Instead of becoming economic actors providing their families with a higher income and thereby contributing to society’s overall economic development, child brides tend to end up in poverty with their new families. Recalling that poverty causes child marriage in the first place, this means that these families might have to marry off their own girls, passing on poverty to future generations. The international work to combat child marriage has been extensive, with the issue being adressed as one of the top targets to attain Sustainable Development Goal nr 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. During the past ten years there has been a positive development with women getting married before the age of 18 decreasing from almost one in four to one in five globally, according to the United Nations. However, the UN also warns that the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted these advancements and expects 10 million more girls to become married by 2030 than the original estimations. The big question at hand is of course: why so?

It is widely established that the issue of child marriage worsen during crises. According to Girls Not Brides, 20% more girls were married during the crises in Yemen and South Sudan. This is because the normal risk factors for child marriage often worsen during hard times, including increased poverty and more limited access to education. Both of these factors fit the situation that has arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing, business closures and travel restrictions resulting from the health crisis have together generated an economic downturn. For many fami-ies this has meant losing parts of or all of their income which increases the risk that they will marry off their daughters to gain economic stability, according to the UN. The pandemic restrictions have also meant that many schools have had to close. Accordingly, girls’ access to education has been even more restricted which risks driving them towards marriage instead. Finally, the UN also warns that lockdowns and social distance restrictions have complicated activities seeking to prevent child marriage. This is because services and awareness campaigns have not been able to function normally.

Child marriage is a widespread and problematic phenomenon which has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic because of school closures, social distance restrictions and the economic downturn. While we in the Global North have started to re-open societies and return to life like it was before Covid-19, the pandemic is far from over in other parts of the world. In Ethiopia, which belongs to the top five countries where child marriage is most prevalent, only about 2,3% of the population is vaccinated, according to Reuters’ Covid-19 tracker. Schools are still recommended to remain closed, meaning that girls are at a higher risk of being married than normal due to limited access to education. For countries in the Global North that adopted the SDG goals it should therefore be of greater interest to solve the current unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines across the globe. Not just because this inequality is inherently and morally unfair, but also because girls are negatively affected in ways we have claimed to work against. One, two, and another girl is married on three. Time is ticking.♦

▼UN Regional Goodwill Ambassador Jaha Dukureh speaks at It’s Time! A Collaboration to End Child Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): A civil society sponsored Parallel Event to the 62nd Annual UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2018. Image by UN Women Gallery, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0