Friday 14 June 2013

Little Girls for Sale!

Hi.
The stats are crazy frightening. 1 out of 9 girls in developing countries will get married before 15. I read about a girl, 17, she was stoned to death for refusing to marry a man. A man who was old enough to be her grandfather.

It's heart breaking to imagine that these families sell off their little daughters like farm animals, to the highest bidders, just to make themselves a few buck.
In Niger, stats show that 75% of girls are married before they turn 18. In Bangladesh it's 66% and in Chad and The Central African Republic it's 68%.
14.2 million girls annually and 39000 daily are forced into extremely early marriage.

In some countries in the middle east, Saudi Arabia for example, I learnt there isn't even a minimum age for marriage, therefore, poor parents can easily sell off their daughters at any age they want. In Iran the minimum marrying age is 13, in Yemen it's 15.

Child Marriages exposes girls to all manner of danger including maternal mortality - You can imagine a 15 year old child conceiving and trying to bring a new baby into the world. A baby giving birth to a baby.

I'd say the best defence against this is an education. But that's another problem. If people see their daughters as commodities that they'd sell off eventually they will not bother taking that daughter to school, would they?? It therefore borders on the readiness of the government in these nations to make education free and compulsory for every one.

We also have to keep drumming into their ears, how pathetic the concept of child marriage is, maybe just maybe we can stop it. And I am in!
A girl is just as useful as a boy, if not more.

Till next time,, Keep dreaming!!

3 comments:

James. said...

Unfortunate.

sefiyah said...

Thank you for this. It's about time we take a stand on this issue, girls must not continue to suffer slavery all in the name of marriage. This even happens in other places that you have not mentioned. And i also feel education is the most potent cure for this disease, this generation must end child marriage. I started a page on facebook for this very reason, i think we can change this. I will keep you posted and suggest the page to you on facebook.

Unknown said...

True. We can change things and things will change. Eventually.