“I wanted to study further but my family could not afford the cost of medicines for father, let alone cover expenses of my education. We were six sisters and one brother. My father wanted to arrange marriages of all of his daughters while he was alive. It would have lessened the burden on the family to feed so many mouths. Furthermore, it would have saved the family from dishonor lest any girl developed any affairs. So he arranged my marriage in a hurry without enquiring about the groom. All he knew was that the man I was going to marry worked in an automobile shop which turned out to be a lie. I did not know what “marriage” meant. I had just attended some marriage ceremonies and knew that the bride wears beautiful clothes and everybody congratulates her and prays for her happiness and she gets lots of gifts. I wanted all that but I never knew what happens when the guests leave the house.” says 13 years old Shahana belonging to a small village in district Bhakkar of Punjab who was studying in 8th class when she was forced to marry because her father had diabetes and heart problems and he couldn’t afford raising his children. She faced dreadful violence at home, gave birth to two girls and there was no one earning in the house.
In Pakistan, marriage at an early age is a reality for many young girls. According to UNICEF from 1987-2005, child marriage amounted for 32% of all marriages in Pakistan. Parents get their daughters married at an early age due to cultural, social and financial reasons. Early marriage often leads to early conception and high risk pregnancy. Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (2006-07) mentions in its section on teenage fertility that almost half of the girls of 15 to 18 years of age were already pregnant or had a baby to take care of. It gives us pretty clear picture of how many children get married before reaching the age of 18 years. The high prevalence of child marriages is also supported by a study on domestic violence conducted by Rutgers WPF – 60% of women covered under the study were married before the age of 18.
“I don’t know what childhood is as I had to take responsibilities like a mature woman at the age of 11. Now I want my children to enjoy each and every moment of their childhood”, said Irum Naz who was married to 61 years old man when she was just 11 years old. She has three children to take care of and an ailing husband who needs spinal cord surgery. She is illiterate, and is unable to cope with the demands of such life. She curses her parents for taking the decision of marrying her at such a tender age. [Farzana Ali Khan for Asian Human Rights Commission]
Parents who decide to marry off their daughters when they are children do so for many reasons. Those living in poverty may feel they have little option but to accept the bride price offered for their young daughter’s hand. Parents facing conflict and insecurity may feel that marrying off their daughter will ensure her safety. And some families may choose child marriage just because that is the way things have been for generations. Just recently 10 years old Tehmina who belonged to Bhanger caste was married through Watta Satta. In exchange her parents received Rs.80, 000 and ownership (paitlikhi) of her first born female child, as customs define. After being subjected to severe forms of domestic violence, she was given a divorce and sent back to her parents. Once again, her mother is looking to sell her off to the highest bidder in order to benefit from her.
Child marriage is one of the most prevalent forms of violence against women. It leads to estrangement from the family at a very young age. It repress individual freedom and curtails the right to pursue health activities, right to education and can also result in bonded labour, slavery, sexual exploitation and domestic violence. It has been documented to be an impediment to social development for young girls. The strain on the physical health of a child bride puts heavy biological stress for a set of activities that their bodies are unable to cope with. In addition to early child marriage, mostly girls are also expected to cater to the domestic chores, that includes many times physical support in agricultural field work, while her body is already trying to cope with multiple past pregnancies. Besides physical effects, there are serious emotional effects that young girls have to deal with. An adolescent girl is many times not encouraged to meet her parents ending up feeling estranged in her new surroundings. Early marriages not only constrict the physical health of the girls but also of their children. Due to early marriages, the mother is not ready to assume the responsible and well planned love function that motherhood entails. The care and supervision of children is ignored because a young mother is not mature enough to carry out the responsibilities that are required by her children, as she herself is a child.
Pakistan is signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) which mentions the right to protection from child marriages, furthermore, child or early marriage refers to any marriage of a child younger than 18 years old, according to Article 1 of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Pakistan signed in 1990. Of course there has not been any awareness about these laws, especially in the rural areas of Pakistan where many people think that if a girl is not married soon after puberty, then she becomes a threat to the family’s honor.
In Pakistan the issue of early marriages remains un-addressed and no measures are taken by the state to arrest this trend. Though some patchy efforts were made by the civil society and UN organizations, but they were not enough even to make it a main stream issue of children particularly girls. Though we have a law “Child Marriages Restraint Act 1929” to discourage child marriages, but the law, as is obvious from the title, was enacted 82 years ago during British Raj, and has not been modified since then. It discriminates between boys and girls as it sets the marriageable age for boys at 18 years, while that for girls at 16 years. The punishment for violating this law is a fine of Rs 1000 or one month imprisonment. Furthermore, if a marriage involving young children takes place, the adults who agreed to the marriage and arranged it are punished, but the marriage does not stand dissolved. As usual, the implementation of this law is non-existent.
A few days ago, the Sindh Assembly set a precedent by passing a law declaring marriage below the age of 18 years punishable by law and a violation of the rights of children, becoming the first province to do so but there is still a dire need of proper rules set up, a meaningful awareness campaign in the province especially among the police, marriage registrars and judiciary. It is very important for the state to take corrective measures. We are hoping that all the other provinces would also take this important step of passing the law. The monitoring and implementation of the law should be mandatory, while the law should be publicized properly so that everyone in the country knows about it.
Published in dailytimes on June 5, 2014
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