New report finds girls trapped in child marriage face alarming violence

• New study finds married girls are 5 times more likely to experience sexual violence than their unmarried peers
• Unmarried girls and young women were much more likely to be in school than their married peers, sometimes by a 10-fold difference.
• Married girls and young women were 17% more likely to report feeling sad or worthless.[1]

3 October 2023 – A report released today by international aid agency, World Vision, reveals that the effects of child marriage on girls' hopes for education, and mental and physical well-being are more dire than previously understood.

The research, ‘Young and Married’ was carried out in Bangladesh, Mauritania, Nepal and Tanzania since 2021 and aims to identify the experiences and needs of married girls and young women. It shows that girls are pushed into child marriage due to traditional gender norms, poor education systems, and physical violence, and gain only limited decision-making power over their lives afterwards.

Dana Buzducea World Vision’s Partnership Leader for Advocacy and External Engagement said: “Every year, approximately 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18, and placed at high risk of sexual abuse, domestic violence, depression, and arrested education. Sometimes child marriage seems like a rational response to constrained choices and the best available option for girls and young women – but it should never be. Girls living under the shadow of early marriage have their agency determined by their context and community expectations, with very little space for self-determination.”

This report shows that poverty and physical violence are pushing girls into marriage – girls who are married are less likely to have been in school pre marriage than their unmarried peers, and once married they are 25% less likely to experience physical violence. However, married women and girls were more than five times more likely to experience sexual violence,[2] with almost 30% married girls in Tanzania saying they had been forced to have sex more than once in the past 12 months.

Marriage was also the most common reason for girls to have left school, with unmarried girls and young women up to 10 times more likely to be in school than their married peers. The increased isolation and exposure to sexual violence is having an impact on girls’ mental health too, married girls and young women were 17% more likely to report feeling sad or worthless.[3]

“This report is an alarming illumination of the issues affecting both married and unmarried girls and young women,” Buzducea continues. “Married girls’ reported70% higher empowerment score,[4]  is based largely on their increased access to sexual reproductive and antenatal care, compared to the unmarried girls.  Negative social norms left many girls afraid to access such services, even when they were available. Girls told us that if they access these services pre-marriage, it may force precipitate a marriage, or experience increased violence.”

“No child should be forced to marry.  Every girl, no matter where she is born, deserves to have an education, to choose her own path in life and, at the very least, to be free from sexual violence. Unfortunately, this is not the case for millions of girls right now. With Day of the Girl quickly approaching, more than anything, this report shows us the necessity of changing harmful social norms, so that girls are valued, protected from all forms of violence, and have the chance to enjoy life in all its fullness.”

 

ENDS

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Report available to download here

The research took place between 2021 and 2023, and used a cross-sectional convergent mixed-method design in Tanzania, Mauritania, Nepal, and Bangladesh.[5] Quantitative data comes from a survey of 9,469 married and unmarried girls and young women aged 12 to 24 years,[6] and focus group discussions with married and unmarried girls and young women between 16 and 18 years old.[7]

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian and development organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice.  World Vision and their partners are working in communities to improve families’ economic prospects, strength violence prevention and child protection services, and improve education systems.

World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.  For more information, please visit www.wvi.org or follow us on Twitter @WorldVision    

 

[1] On a country level, the increased feeling of sadness and worthlessness among married girls was predominantly in in Bangladesh, Mauritania, and Tanzania.

[2] This was defined as violence perpetrated by their husbands for married girls and incidents of violence perpetrated by a family member or partner for unmarried women. The sociocultural context of violence, especially sexual violence, was not captured by this study and may potentially affect the approach to defining, measuring, and interpreting the experience of sexual violence.

[3] On a country level, the increased feeling of sadness and worthlessness among married girls was predominantly in in Bangladesh, Mauritania, and Tanzania.

[4] The empowerment score is based on this validated scale, and incorporates girls’ levels of agency, decision-making power, and social capital.

[5] The research covered a fairly representative geographic spread of districts in each country, based on World Vision’s programmatic footprint. Research sites by country were:

Bangladesh: Dinajpur, Barishal, Bandorban, Sunamgonj, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Bagerhat, Cumilla, Mymensignh, Sylhet

Mauritania: Nouakchott-South, Brakna, Gorgol, Assaba

Nepal: two districts from each ecological region — Jumla District and Bajhang District (Mountain), Doti District and Achham District (Hilly), Mahottari District and Rautahat District (Terai)

Tanzania: Handeni, Korogwe, Mkinga and Kilindi Districts (Tanga Region), Itilima and Maswa Districts (Simiyu Region) Kishapu District (Shinyanga Region), Buhigwe, Kakonko and Kasulu DC Districts (Kigoma Region).

[6] The total sample size was calculated to allow each age group to be compared to any other group in the same or different country at 90% power and evaluate 10-point differences, so a confidence interval or +5 would be obtained. The total sample size was slightly less than the 10,176 planned because, in all countries, fewer married girls and young women aged 12 to 14 years were available, which limits some findings, especially for Nepal and Tanzania (Table 3.1 in Appendix A, highlighted in yellow).   

[7] Four focus groups were held per country in the fall of 2022 with 6 to 10 girls and young women between 16 and 18 years old; half of the discussions were with married girls and young women and the other half with unmarried girls and young women. Discussions focused on girls and young women’s future dreams and expectations, experiences of and plans for marriage, key health outcomes, experiences accessing health and social services, and sociodemographic details. Unfortunately, the quality of the data from Nepal and Mauritania was inferior, so only findings from two of the four countries are presented here. Details of data collection and analytic methods can be found in Appendix A.