Today, there are over 700 million women that were sold as child brides. This practice of selling young girls is especially prominent in India, where the state of Rajasthan is considered to be the center of child marriages, as more than 50 percent of girls there are married before they turn 18. Whenever a woman is pregnant in India, especially in Rajasthan, she and her husband basically hope and pray they will be having a son.
Girls are seen as a liability in India; people just see them as yet another mouth to feed. When two people are getting married in India, the parents of the bride have to pay a dowry to the husband. The younger that the bride is, the smaller the dowry, so girls at the age of 5 are being married off because it is cheapest to do it then.
Being sold as a child bride can lead to a lifetime of disadvantage for girls. Once a girl is sold as a bride, she is forced to leave her family and will most likely never get to see them again. Most of the time, her husband takes her out of school and is forced to stay at home and work for his family.
Compared to girls that get married after they turn 18, child brides are three times more likely to be raped by their husbands; they begin to believe that it is OK for a man to beat his wife and they are more likely to commit suicide. Child brides are abused physically, sexually and verbally every day, all of which leads to higher rates of suicide. Little girls get to a point where they would rather be dead than be with a man who hurts them.
The organization Girls Not Brides is trying to bring an end to child marriages. They have realized that empowering girls is integral in bring an end to the practice. The organization has developed support networks in countries where child marriage is prominent and they have made programs where girls can learn their rights and how to exercise them. They recognize that working with boys and men is important because it will help change the view that society has on girls.
Men hold all the power in many societies and by working with men they can change societal norms regarding child marriages. Girls Not Brides is also working to provide high quality and safe schooling for girls. If girls have access to quality education, it can empower them so much, it will help them get jobs so that they can become financially independent and it can help them know that they can not be forced into a marriage that they do not want to be a part of. One of the main things that they want to do is establish and implement laws that prevent child marriages. There are laws in place that try to prevent child marriages from happening, but nobody enforces them.
Every minute, 28 girls under the age of 18, are being forced into a marriage they don’t want to be in. Their basic human rights to an education and choosing when and whom they would like to be married are being taken away from them. These young girls are being abused, sexually and physically. And most of the world is treating them like they don’t exist. Somebody needs to fight for the rights of these girls and if you would like to help, visit girlsnotbrides.org.
