Child Marriage

Investigative Final Paper
Child Marriage
Child marriage is recognized as a major development issue that affects girls in many
developing countries such as Egypt. In the past years, child marriage was common all over
Egypt, but as time passes and education gets better, people thought the child marriage issue had
been eliminated. Unfortunately, it is not, maybe child marriage has been decreased in Cairo and
Alexandria, but on the other hand, nowadays, it increased again in the small cities and took new
forms. Child marriage is a significant problem that affects Egypt's future. Nevertheless, to solve
this issue, we need to investigate child marriage and its percentage in Egypt. We have to know
precisely where it is happening, the reasons behind this issue, and child marriage consequences.
We conducted interviews with someone who faced this issue and with an expert.
First, child marriage is any formal or informal union where one or both parties are under 18 years
old. It happens across countries and cultures. According to Egyptian streets, the number of child
marriages in Egypt reached 600,000 marriages only in 2015-2016. This number is concluded
from a study conducted by the International Population Council, the National Council for
Population and Development, and Assiut University on rates of early marriage in upper Egypt.
Although the definition of child marriage includes boys, most children married at 18 years old
are girls, and the study also proved that the average age of marriage in Egypt is 20 for females
and 26 for males. However, early marriage is still exaggerating in rural areas in Upper Egypt; the
study revealed that the child marriage percentage rises to 33.3 percent in rural areas. However,
3.7 of girls currently under 18 are already married, and 5.2 percent are engaged. These
percentages represent about 250,000 girls in rural areas in Egypt. According to Egypt today, 13.9
million children, "male and female," are victims of child marriage, which means 14.4 percent of
the total number of children in Egypt; the rates are higher in rural areas. Surprisingly, the
percentage is 9.1% in Giza, 8.1% in Cairo, and 7.7% in Sharqia, much less in Port Said and Suez
governorates, at 0.9%.
Before searching for reasons behind the high percentage of child marriage in rural countries, we
have observed that the low ratio in Cairo and Alexandria is because these cities are more exposed
to media outlets. For example, Azhar launched awareness campaigns against child marriage in
This study source was downloaded by 100000857510203 from CourseHero.com on 01-13-2023 07:30:13 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/178975459/Child-Marriagedocx/
October 2017 to raise the age of marriage to 18 years according to a law drafted in 2008
prohibiting child marriage as a part of Egypt's child law. Moreover, an Egyptian series called
"ELkasserat" was released in 2013 about the marriage of girls under 18 in upper Egypt and the
consequences of this issue on society. This series was produced by the director Magdy abo
Emera, and Salah El-Sadani was the protagonist in this series who has made a role of an old rich
man who targets underage girls to marry them illegally.
After searching about the reasons behind such action in Egypt, we have found that this issue has
many reasons and forms. Some of the reasons are poverty, traditions, illiteracy, reinforcement,
coping, fear, and behavior. At the same time, the conditions are Marriage brokers: Muta
"Pleasure Marriage," Misyar, and Pregnancy.
1- Poverty is one of the main drivers of child marriage, which forces some families to let their
girls marry before the legal age, especially for older men. Child brides are more likely to be poor
and to remain poor. Where poverty is acute, giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to
reduce their expenses: one less person to feed, clothe and educate. Also, they believe that marry
their daughters at a young age makes them avoid more expensive dowries, which the marriage of
older girls often demands. However, what they do not see and know that girls who marry young
are less likely to receive the education they need to live a healthy and empowered life. Without
an education, they are less able to earn an income to lift themselves and their families out of
poverty when they get divorced and have to work, and in most cases, they get divorced with the
responsibility of children who are the result of this marriage.
2- Traditions: child marriage is a traditional practice that in many places happens because it has
happened for generations. In some communities, when girls start to menstruate, they become
women in the community's eyes. Marriage is, therefore, the next step towards giving a girl her
status as a wife and mother. Child marriage as a tradition often goes unquestioned because they
have been part of a community's life and identity for a very long time. However, not all traditions
should be followed without questioning and applying them to ourselves and our daughters as
some of them could be harmful and lead to more severe issues. In some communities, it is
considered a tradition that if the girl does not get married before the age of 18, she will be a
maiden in the eyes of society.
3- Illiteracy has a considerable role in this issue; families who are not well educated or not
educated at all are the families that usually marry their daughters at a young age as they do not
know the consequences of such a crime and also because they do not see education as a way to a
brighter future. They do not believe that their daughters could do anything with education. They
think that their daughter's work is in the kitchen, not in any place else. They do not understand
that they are killing their daughters, not marrying them; they are killing them psychologically,
emotionally, and physically. National Institutes of Health awareness of reproductive health issues
in developing countries is growing, leading to a high HIV childbearing, especially for young
girls.
4- Reinforcement: unfortunately, yes, reinforcement is a reason in Egypt for child marriage.
Some young girls faced marrying early because their parents took money from someone rich and
could not afford to return the money, so the rich guy married their daughter for few days instead
of the money. Also, in some places, girls are married because someone killed or lost one of the
animals of another family, so they take this one daughter or sister for some guy in their family
instead of the animal. Furthermore, in these cases, the families and girls are forced into this
marriage, not only girls.
5- Coping is what is driving this country straight to hell. People always love to cope with other
people. Sometimes people marry their girls not because they are convinced but only because the
other girls who are of the same age got married to not feel that their girl is less than those girls.
In Cairo and Alexandria, the situation is different as child marriage is much less than in rural
areas; however, nowadays, marrying is the new trend, so because they are well educated and
cannot do such action, they only let them get engaged and marry them when they are 18.
6- Fear: Many parents marry their daughters young because they feel it is in their best interest,
often to ensure their safety in areas where girls are at high risk of harassment and physical or
sexual assault. Also, they marry them because they think that when those girls grow up, they will
bring shame to their families and run away with some guy. They sometimes fear that she does
not marry when she is older, so they marry her when she is young. That is why many families
marry their daughters to their relatives even if the daughter does not accept the marriage but,
they think that they are saving their daughters from shame this way.
7- Behavior is the last reason; it is the behavior of the girls and the way their parents treat them.
It usually happens when girls run away with some guys after their families refuse a behavior or
an act they did, and those girls hate being controlled and love someone, so instead of sitting and
talking to their families, they run away and marry.
On the other hand, the types are:
1- marriage broker is a marriage that involves more than two parties. It consists of the husband,
bride's family, and the broker, who is the one that knows the girls and introduces them to the guy
who chooses from them and gives money to the broker who split them with the girl's family. This
marriage is usually for one day and is called Mutaa "pleasure marriage."
2- Misyar: A contract between two people only valid through a certain period then ends. Khaliji
people usually practice this marriage as they travel a lot and stay for a short time in every
country and want to have a wife during their stay. Those people usually marry young girls
because they want someone who does not speak or tell anyone so that no problems could happen.
3- pregnancy is also a form of marriage, as some people want to have kids, but their wives
cannot get pregnant, so they marry a young girl to make her pregnant, then take the child and
give her some money and leave her.
All mentioned before is a part, and the consequences of child marriage are another part and the
most crucial part. Child marriage has terrible implications if those families know they would
never do such an action to their daughters.
1- Increase in divorce rates because of incompatibility between the couple.
2- Depriving the little girls of their right to choose their husbands.
3- Forcing young girls to undertake social responsibilities before they attain maturity makes
them feel isolated and limited to freedom; married girls often feel disempowered as they are
deprived of their fundamental rights to health, education, and safety.
4- Health problems resulting from repeated pregnancies and birth-giving, child brides are neither
physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers. They face more risks of
experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, contracting HIV/AIDS, and
suffering domestic violence. With little access to education and economic opportunities, they and
their families are more likely to live in poverty.
5- Negative impacts on newborns health since it is linked to mothers' maturity and experience.
6- Deformation of mother's genitalia.
7- Newborn deaths.
8- Mothers' deaths.
9- Deterioration of mother's psychological status.
10- Increase in schools dropout rates because girls leave the education system to marry.
11- Increase in rates of young widows (economic burden on young women usually with no
education and no income and having to raise children).
12- Ill-treatment of women and young girls and violation of their human rights.
13- Depriving girls of completing their education and getting a degree.
Interviews:
In an interview with Mai El-Ghaity - who played a role of a young girl getting married to an old
man in the series "El-Kasserat," and she does not know that she became a wife to that man, so
she asks him when she can return home - said that when she was reading her role she was
surprised and wondered how she would play the role of a wife for Salah El-Sadany at that age
and at first, she thought that she would play his daughter's role. However, she asked her mother
as she was still young, and her mother encouraged her to do the role for the importance of posing
this issue in the media. She added that she was expecting that the series will be exposed to many
critiques because it is a sensitive issue. The series sparked controversy from the first episode,
which showed a young girl dying after marriage on her wedding day, so the series was criticized
by many people, mainly because the age of actresses who played the wives' roles was so young
and was shocking for the audience. However, people in charge of this series have justified that by
saying that they meant to choose young girls at that age in order to shed light on the issue.
In an interview about children marriage with doctor Hamida Zayed, she said, "Child marriage" is
generally understood to mean marriages before age 18, but marriage occurs much earlier for
many girls. In some countries, girls as young as 7 or 8 are forced by their families to marry older
men. The reasons girls are married are diverse like some parents believe that they are protecting
their daughters and increasing their economic opportunities through marriage. However, child
marriage exposes girls to increased health problems and violence, denies them access to social
networks and support systems, and perpetuates a cycle of poverty and gender inequality. Child
marriage effectively ends a girl's childhood, curtails her education, minimizes her economic
opportunities, increases her risk of domestic violence, and puts her at risk for early, frequent, and
very high-risk pregnancies. Girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than
women in their 20s and face a higher risk of pregnancy-related injuries, such as obstetric fistula.
Child brides are often unable to negotiate safer sexual practices and are at a higher risk of HIV
and other sexually transmitted infections. Children of child brides are 60% more likely to die in
the first year of life than those born to mothers older than 19, and families of child brides are
more likely to be poor and unhealthy.
In another interview with M.N, a girl who lives in Gharbaya, she said that she is 16 years old and
is engaged to a man who is 22 years old. She said that by the end of the first year of her
engagement, she found her parents coming and telling her that she is getting to marry in a month,
so she asked them how she is getting married. She is still in school, and she is not legal yet. She
mentioned that her parents said that she is dropping school because it is not important; what is
essential is marrying and starting a family, and said that she does not have to be 18 to get
married; there is something called orfy now. She said that although she loves her fiance so much,
she refused and stood against the traditions and her family and all her community and talked to
her fiance, asking him to delay their marriage until she is 18 to finish her high school because
she believes that education for girls is essential as much as marriage. Also, she does not want to
marry orfy because she thinks it is wrong and should be banned. She told us that she knows
many girls who are 15 and 16 years and are married; she said that those girls did not get married
without anyone knows, they get married orfy and did a huge wedding party that all the town
attended; however, some of those girls died when they were giving birth to their first child which
makes her afraid that this could happen to her.
In my opinion, to stop this behavior in Egypt, the government should add this issue,
reasons, and consequences in the core curriculum that those children are learning. The girl who
stood against the traditions, society, and her parents is only one girl from hundreds of girls who
live in Gharbya and get married every day. Education should teach those girls to stand out for
their rights and fight for them. They should teach them that it is their right to finish their school
and go to college, to teach them that they have the right to choose their spouse, they have the
right not get married until they are 18 and marry legally to save their rights and their children
rights. Egypt should not only set rules and raise the marriage age; however, they should accuse
any lawyer who marries a girl with 10 to 20 years in prison and the same for the parents.
Government should offer those families an equal life and giving them decent salaries so they can
normally live without marrying their girls for money. The government should set a prize for
anyone who tells the government about any family planning to marry their young daughter.
Media and series should focus on the consequences of those young girls instead of focusing on
the act itself. Those girls, after divorce they become emotionally and psychologically damaged,
so they do not get married again, which will lead to a massive problem in the future. If this issue
did not solve as soon as possible after a while, it would become a widespread phenomenon in
Egypt.
Reference:
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/about-child-marriage/
https://egyptianstreets.com/2017/05/18/600000-egyptian-women-married-before-age-of-consent-
study/
https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/36606/Important-numbers-on-child-marriage-in-Egypt
https://www.pambazuka.org/gender-minorities/egypt-early-marriage
https://egyptianstreets.com/2014/07/23/the-story-behind-child-brides-in-egypt/
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/themes/poverty/
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/why-does-it-happen/
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/my-community-child-marriage-a-barrier-to-girls-education/
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/what-is-the-impact/
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Investigative Final Paper

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