Banning Child Marriage in the United States

For the past few months, I have read multiple U.S. news articles about adolescent girls,

ranging from ages eleven to seventeen being forced to marry someone they barely know.

Intrigued on my own family perspectives, I brought it up at the dinner table recently. To my

shock, my mother told me about how she was forced to marry at 12 to a man 13 years older than

her in her home state of North Carolina. Luckily for my mum, she was able to divorce early on.

Yet, this is not the case for many victims. I believe that the United States needs to enact a

national ban on child marriage to protect the physical and psychological wellbeing of adolescents

in our society. If more organizations dedicated to battling child marriage were created and

funded to provide aid to the victimized or those vulnerable to child marriage and the minimum

age to marry was set to 18 for all states, with no exceptions, the United States could ban child

marriage effectively nationwide.

According to UNICEF, (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), child

marriage is defined as “a formal marriage or informal union before age 18” (UNICEF “Child

Marriage”). Whilst boys can also be victims of child marriage, it is disproportionately more

prevalent amongst girls. It is estimated that, across the globe, 12 million girls are married under

the age of 18 annually (Girls Not Brides “About Child Marriage”). Although, commonly

presented as an issue that only exists in poor nations, child marriage takes place in the United

States more than what is spotlighted. In the past 15 years, approximately 200,000 child marriages

have taken place in the United States; equivalating to about 13,000 child marriages a year

(“13,000 Children a Year Are Married in America.” The Independent).

With that statistic, it must be questioned, why does this outdated practice continue to

happen even in developed nations like the U.S.?

 At its root, child marriage is founded upon the idea that women and girls are somehow

inferior to men and boys. In traditionally patriarchic societies, it can be hard to break these

ideals. However, gender inequality is only a small fraction of the complex issue of child

marriage. Factors, such as, poverty, lack of education, cultural practices, and insecurity

perpetuate the practice of child marriage. The severity of these contributing factors vary region

to region (Girls Not Brides “Why Does It Happen”). In the United States, poverty and religious

practices are huge pushing factors. Much like in less developed countries, when a low-income

American family feels like they cannot afford to take care of their daughter or are offered money,

rather than have their child subjected to poverty, they feel obligated to give consent to have their

child marry young. Another scenario is when religion plays a part. Observably, Mormons and

conservative Protestants are the earliest to marry, followed by mainline Protestants and

Catholics, and then Jews and the religiously unaffiliated. Following religious practices, parents

will at times arrange their children’s marriages to ensure that they marry successfully within the

same denomination (Uecker “Advances in Pediatrics”).

The United States can attack its own problem with child marriage at its core if there were

more organizations dedicated to helping child marriage victims. Currently, Unchained At Last is

the only nonprofit organization devoted to helping victims. One organization doing all that

Unchained At Last does is not enough by far (Unchained At Last). Also, no longer can there be

loopholes, such as, judicial or parental consent to get married under the age of 18. Most states

allow marriage at 16 and 17 with parental consent, and some states make exceptions at and

below lower ages if judicial approval is acquired, or in cases of pregnancy (Harmon, Amy, and

Alan Blinder. “Delaware Has Banned Marriage Under Age 18. Other States Also Consider

Limits.”). It is not impossible to pass legislation to ban child marriage. In 2018, Delaware,
followed by New Jersey, banned child marriage outright with no exceptions. It is time that the

other states follow suit.

Regardless of societal norms, customs or tradition, marriage before the age of 18 is a

fundamental violation of human rights. More times than not, child marriage results in

interruption of education for females, complications in child bearing due to early pregnancy,

social isolation, and limitations on career advancements for female victims (UNICEF DATA

“Child Marriage.”). The latter directly affects the fight for gender equality and has long lasting

effects on society.

With all the above noted, it is clear that child marriage is detrimental to the overall state

of individuals involved. There is no excuse for child marriage in the United States where

freedom is exalted. To allow child marriage in the United States is to infringe upon the very

freedom that every citizen is guaranteed with. The United States needs to work harder at banning

child marriage and advocate for those victimized by a practice that the government allowed to

take place for too long.

 Works Cited

Unchainedatlast.org, www.unchainedatlast.org/about/.

Baynes, Chris. “13,000 Children a Year Are Married in America.” The Independent, Independent
Digital News and Media, 21 July 2017,
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/200000-children-married-us-15-years-child-
marriage-child-brides-new-jersey-chris-christie-a7830266.html.

“Child Marriage.” UNICEF DATA, data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/.

“Child Marriage.” UNICEF, 7 Aug. 2018, www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html.

Girls Not Brides. “About Child Marriage.” Girls Not Brides, www.girlsnotbrides.org/about-
child-marriage/.

Girls Not Brides. “Why Does Child Marriage Happen?” Girls Not Brides,
www.girlsnotbrides.org/why-does-it-happen/.

Harmon, Amy, and Alan Blinder. “Delaware Has Banned Marriage Under Age 18. Other States
Also Consider Limits.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 May 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/us/child-marriage-minimum-age-minors.html.

Uecker, Jeremy. Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 June 2014,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4096940/.