Stealing her innocence

 At a time when her friends are playing house, with the pretend Daddies, Mommies, kids and the whole family setup she is caught up in the reality of it. Her mind does not even comprehend what is going on, but the decision has been made for her. Her heart is not on the formalities going on around her, the little girls’ head is raised not in pride that her family is gathered because of her, no! She is looking at her little age mates from across the neighbourhoods that are busy playing, jumping around the yard. That’s where her heart is but her Mom told her today is a special day so she has to be extra good, she cannot play with the other kids. At age eleven she is being ‘sold’ into marriage, she is paying the price for her family’s’ poverty simply because she is a girl. By giving her into marriage they have not only robbed her of her innocence. But by just performing that one act of marriage they have deprived her human right to education, health, opportunity and equality to name but just a few.
The union of marriage is supposed to be a formalized relationship between consenting adults. Whereas child or forced marriages occur when a child is coerced, threatened or tricked into marriage without her informed consent. A child is classified as anyone under the age of eighteen. Child marriage seems like an outdated practice yet it is happening in our time. It’s a practice that is thrusting children into marriage without them knowing the dangers of matrimony at a tender age. This means that more girls are prone to diseases like cervical cancer, increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, death during child birth and many other complications during pregnancy.

Globally 14 million girls under the age of eighteen are married off every year. This means that every two seconds a girl is being forced into marriage somewhere in the world. Statistics from UNICEF (Monitoring the Situation of Children and Women) show that in  Zimbabwe one in every three girls gets married before they reach the age of eighteen, that is 30 percent of women are married  before they reach the legal age. Some factors which lead to this include cultural issues for example if a girl gets home late, it is culturally ‘acceptable’ for that girl to be chased away from home. If she was with her boyfriend she is supposed to go stay with that guy. Her parents do not even look into if the two were in that relationship for the long haul or not. Simply because she came home late it is assumed that the guy has deflowered her and has also shown disrespect to the girls’ family by bringing her back home after dark.

In most cases poverty has been seen as the underlying factor as parents marry off their girl child to old rich men, just to get money to put a boy child through school. Outdated you might say, but it’s happening in this century.

Nyari Mashayamombe Director of Tag a life Foundation which deals with issues relating to children’s rights says that child marriages are a cause for concern in Zimbabwe. “Child marriages are very prevalent in Zimbabwe not only in rural areas but even people from affluent suburbs are affected just that not much is talked about it. Yes the prevalence is higher in low income earning suburbs this is mainly due to the fact that girls there have less exposure to good role models they can look up to.  In most cases the girls Mothers’ who fall into this practice would have been married off at an earlier age so when it happens to their daughter they think it’s normal. If the, Mom got married off at a young age chances are her daughter will go the same road. But the underlying factor is usually poverty,” said Mashayamombe.

For child marriages to end a multi facetted solution is required. Attitudes need to change for parents to know marriage does not mean heaven and bliss for their child. At the same time the girl child has to be educated to know getting married early will not solve their problems but can actually add on to whatever troubles they might be having. The community also has to be educated so as to change some cultural practices that deter progress for girls. Child marriages mean high development costs and limited life options for girls so all efforts to empower the girl child are rendered null and void.

“We need to step up and put child marriage as an agenda for development. Yes not every child is intellectual but there are so many opportunities open for girls nowadays. We need to keep the girl child in school for longer so that she becomes more independent. We need to empower the girl child,” reiterated Madamombe.
The Zimbabwe Constitution states in Section 26 that the State must take appropriate measures to ensure that children are not pledged in marriage but this right is not being recognised. The Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states that marriage before the age of eighteen should not be allowed as children would not be having the full maturity and capacity to act on their own rights.
Girls who delay marriage stay in school longer and it has been proven that the more a woman pursues her education, the more options are available to her to advance herself positively. When she advances herself, she benefits not only herself but her family and community as well. As Zimbabweans we need more women role models to inspire future generations. Musha mukadzi, kwete mwana!