Society & Change

Vol. XI, No.4, October-December 2017

ISSN :1997-1052 (Print), 227-202X (Online)

Child Marriage in Bangladesh:

A Question to Girlhoods

Sangita Das*
Abstract
Bangladesh is the fourth highest country in the world for female child
marriage. According to report (State of the World’s Children) of UNICEF,
Niger is in the first position with the rate of 76% on average and
Bangladesh with65% of girls married before age 18 (UNICEF Report,
2015).As per Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 the minimum legal age for
marriage is 18 years for females in Bangladesh. Along with this Act child
marriage is punishable by law. (Ferdousi Nahid, 2013) The right to free and
full consent to a marriage is recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) and in many subsequent human rights
instruments -consent that cannot be “free and full” when at least one
partner is very immature. (Stark Barbara, 2005) Bangladesh also acceded
to the UN Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage
and Registration of Marriages on 5 October, 1998. These laws, however,
have little impact on the frequency of child marriage in Bangladesh. In past
three decades where Bangladesh progress in equal education and earning
opportunity of women over the same period the incidents of child marriage
has increased which is a fundamental violation of Human Rights and needs
to be considered as a serious issue that hinders the development of
Bangladesh.
This paper is focused on an impact of early marriage of a girl perpetuates
an unequal society restrict personal and psychological development and a
hazardous health effects. Regarding these it attempts to cite some
recommendations to reduce and eliminate eventually this major drawback.
This is a qualitative research methodology collected from secondary
sources i.e, Published Articles, Journals and Internet.
The findings suggest that the Bangladesh government will find it impossible
to satisfy both their rural constituency and human rights activists simply by
reforming child marriage law. The driving factors rooted in traditional
patriarchal perception which needs to bechange by addressing non-
assessable affects and impacts for the life of the girls.
Keywords: Child Marriage, Human Rights, Women.

* Research & Documentation expert UNDP, Former Senior Lecturer,Department Of

Law, BGC Trust University Bangladesh
45
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

Introduction
Child Marriage is defined by global organizations as a formal marriage or
informal union entered into by an individual before reaching the age of 18.
(Unicef Report, 2016)But it is more harsh to face than to defined. It is a
practice rooted more in tradition than religious custom, and one that spans
the globe, from Asia to Africa to the Americas. With 42% of girls married
before 18, South Asia is home to almost half of the world‘s child brides.
(Upreti Mellisa, 2016).Amongst South Asian Countries, Bangladesh stands
in the fourth highest position of child marriage around the globe. In spite of
numerous official mandates vowing to address child marriage, millions of
girls annually wed before their 18th birthday. Many before their 15th.
Others before their 10th or 8th or 6th — in spite of the fact that marriage, all
too often, leads to the end of their education, their childhoods, and,
sometimes, their lives.
In Bangladesh52%of girls are married by their 18th birthday and 18% by the
age of 15.(UNICEF Report,2016).

This graph shows South Asia covered by 31 .3 million which is around half
of the world‘s developing countries affected by Child marriage epidemic.
United Nations Children‘s Fund. Progress for Children: A World Fit for
Children Statistical Review. New York: UNICEF; 2007.
http://www.unicef.org/ publications/files/Progress for Children No.6
revised.pdf
According to UNICEF‘s State of the World‘s Children Report 2011, 66
percent of girls in Bangladesh are married off before the age of 18, and 32
percent before the age of 15 in Bangladesh. The situation in Sylhet, Chapai
nawabganj, Rangpur, Jessore, Bhola and parts of Khulna is worse than in
the rest of the country. A recent study in 2012 by the International Centre
for Disease Research in Bangladesh (ICDDRB 2012) shows that the
prevalence of child marriage in urban areas of Bangladesh is 53 percent and
46
 Society & Change

70 percent in rural areas. However, it is nothing new in Bangladesh rather is

deeply embedded in the improvised and traditional cultural settings. In
practice, certain poorer class communities in the urban rural areas have
continued the practice and child marriage are also performed by some high
status people who have their own reasons for being ‗traditional‘. Often rural
families‘ parents encourage early marriage out of fear that the dowry price
will increase as their daughter ages.
Factors Driving Child Marriage
At its heart, child marriage is rooted in gender inequality and the belief that
girls and women are somehow inferior to boys and men. (Girls Not Brides,
Report) When a couple lives ‗in union‘, as if married – raises the same
human rights concerns as marriage. When a girl lives with a man and takes
on the role of his caregiver, the assumption is often that she has become an
adult, even if she has not yet reached the age of 18. Apart from perception
drivers will vary from one community to the next and the practice may look
different across regions and countries, even within the same country.
Gender Inequality
Child marriage is a product of social and cultural norms that devalue women
and girls and discriminate against them, often limiting their roles to the
domestic realm and thus preventing them from accessing educational,
vocational or economic opportunities outside the household. According to a
United Nations International Children‘s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report,
such discrimination ―often manifests itself in the form of domestic violence,
deprivation of food, a lack of access to information, education and
healthcare; and to general impediments to mobility.‖ Child marriage is both
a cause and a consequence of the most severe form of gender
discrimination. Just as devaluing women and girls leads to early marriage,
so does the child bride‘s lack of power and voice result in further gender-
based discrimination.
Poverty
More than half of girls from the poorest families in the developing world are
married as children. (ICRW Report,2015) Where poverty is acute, families
and sometimes girls themselves believe that marriage will be a solution to
secure their future. Giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce
family expenses by ensuring they have one less person to feed, clothe and
educate. Families may also see investing in their son‘s education as more
worthwhile investment. (Girls Not Brides, Report) In some cases marriage
of a daughter is a way to repay debts, manage disputes, or settle social,
economic and political alliances. In communities where a dowry or ‗bride
price‘ is paid, it is often welcome income for poor families; (Girls Not
Brides, Report) in those where the bride‘s family pays the groom a dowry,
they often have to pay less money if the bride is young and uneducated.
47
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

Insecurity
Many parents marry their daughters young because they feel it is in her best
interest, often to ensure her safety in areas where girls are at high risk of
harassment and physical or sexual assault.; (Girls Not Brides,
Report)Harassment and intimidation play a major role in driving child
marriage. Unmarried adolescent girls often face unwanted advances and
threats, including the threat of abduction from suitors, and parents, feeling
unable to protect their daughters and with no prospect of help from police or
local authorities, see marriage as a solution. (Human Rights Watch, 2015)
Social Pressure
Families are also influenced by social pressures from neighbors in
communities where the onset of puberty in a girl is seen as a signal that it is
time for her to marry. The widespread practice of girls‘ families paying
dowry to her groom creates additional pressure, as dowry tends to be lower
and even avoidable for the youngest of brides. (Human Rights Watch, 2015)
Natural Disasters
Bangladesh‘s status as one of the most densely populated countries in the
world (1,100 people per square kilometer) with a large poor population (47
million people living poverty and 26 million in extreme poverty, out of a
population of 166 million) makes its people especially vulnerable when
natural disasters occur. (Human Rights Watch, 2015)
Natural disasters feed a family‘s poverty and fuel the urgency parents feel to
protect their daughters and sons. Losing their crops to floods or their homes
to land erosion, families can rush to marry off their daughters early before
they are displaced or before their economic situation deteriorates further.
Loss of life and property damage and the lack of an adequate government
safety net for families affected by them, compound the poverty that drives
child marriage.
Consequences of Child Marriage
The impact of early marriage on girls is wide-ranging. Within a rights
perspective, three key concerns are the denial of childhood and adolescence,
the curtailment of personal freedom and the lack of opportunity to develop a
full sense of selfhood as well as the denial of psychosocial and emotional
well-being, reproductive health and educational opportunity. Early marriage
also has implications for the well-being of families and for society as a
whole (Mittal Sujata, 2004). Where girls are uneducated and ill-prepared for
their roles as mothers and contributors to society, there are costs to be borne
at every level, from the individual household to the nation as a whole.
48
 Society & Change

Psychosocial disadvantage
The loss of adolescence, the forced sexual relations, and the denial of
freedom and personal development attendant on early marriage have
profound psychosocial and emotional consequences. The impact can be
subtle and insidious and the damage hard to assess. It includes such
intangible factors as the effect of a girl‘s loss of mobility and her
confinement to the home and to household roles. Most girls who are
unhappy in an imposed marriage are very isolated. They have nobody to talk
to as they are surrounded by people who endorse their situation. Because of
this several psychological and physiological problems occur and usually
lead to divorce or suicide (Gage, 2013).The unwanted responsibilities,
household chores make most of them so traumatized that even they run from
home to get rid off from all these stuffs. More often child bride get
abandoned by her husband with or without reason. The situation becomes
vulnerable for an abandoned bride to survive due to want of economic,
educational support and circumstantial drawbacks. Having baby by an
abandoned child bride make the situation more worsen (Berhane-Selassie,
Tsehai 1993). In the age where they could have joyous lives they pledge a
traumatized life to live to endure the life rest.
Denial of education
Although attitudes towards the education of girls have begun to change even
in traditional societies, many parents still believe that investment in a girl‘s
education is wasted when she is simply going to be married and work in
another household. The costs of the investment in education reinforce the
impetus towards the girl‘s withdrawal from school. Early marriage
inevitably denies children of school age their right to the education they
need for their personal development, their preparation for adulthood, and
their effective contribution to the future wellbeing of their family and
society. Indeed, married girls who would like to continue schooling may be
both practically and legally excluded from doing so. In Bangladesh,
however, is clear – a girl will be with-drawn from school if a good marriage
prospect arises (Muhammad Ibrahim,2000). The interaction between the
number of years of a girl‘s schooling and the postponement of marriage is
firmly established by demographic and fertility studies. On average, women
with seven or more years of education marry four years later and have 2.2
fewer children than those with no education (UNFPA, 1990).
The removal from school of a young girl to marry, or to work in her
parents‘ or another household in preparation for married life, limits her
opportunities to develop her intellect (Mittal Sujata, 2004) and many other
useful skills. This reduces her chances of developing her own independent
49
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

identity. The most important implication of this loss is that the girl grows up
with no sense of the right to assert her own point of view– and little
experience in articulating one. Lack of schooling also means that those girls
and women who must work to earn a living have no qualifications or skills.
Illiterate women who are abandoned, widowed or divorced, or who are
victims of growing urban poverty, are forced into commercialized versions
of their work as wives: cleaning, cooking, child-minding. Human Rights
Watch interviews with married girls in Bangladesh found they almost
always left education permanently Mittal Sujata, 2004). They became
pregnant early, either because they were pressured to or felt that they
should, or because they had no access to contraception and information
about family planning. Even if they left their husbands or got divorced
early, economic and social pressures often kept them from resuming their
studies. (Human Rights Watch, 2015)
Early pregnancy, Non accessibility to Family Planning Health Problems
In Bangladesh and elsewhere, child marriage often leads to early pregnancy,
which can have severe health consequences for both mothers and babies,
including dramatically elevated rates of mortality. (UNFPA,2012) Women
in Bangladesh have a 1 in 110 chance of dying in childbirth, making such
deaths ―unacceptably common,‖ according to UNICEF. (UNICEF,2015)Part
of the reason for this is a high birth rate among adolescent girls.
(UNFPA,2012, State Of the world population 2014) Complications resulting
from pregnancy and childbirth are the main cause of death among
adolescent girls aged 15-19 years old in developing countries.(UNFPA,
2015) Globally, research shows that girls aged 10-14 are five times more
likely to die during delivery than mothers aged 20-24; girls aged 15-19 are
still twice as likely to die during delivery than women aged 20-24
(WHO,2011) The children of young mothers also face higher mortality
rates. (Nawal M. Nour, 2006)Young mothers are less likely to get prenatal
care and often do not have enough information about or access to proper
nutrition while pregnant. Babies born to mothers under 20 years of age in
low and middle-income countries face a 50 percent higher risk of still birth
or dying in the first few weeks versus babies born to mothers aged 20-29
(WHO,2014). Babies born to adolescent mothers are also more likely to
have low birth weight, which can have long-term health
consequences.(ibid). Due to physical immaturity, young girls are more
susceptible to obstructed labor, which is a leading cause of maternal
mortality globally. (Nawal Nour,2008). In many rural areas, girls are
married off just after they experience their first menstrual flow, between 10
and 15 years of age. These girls become pregnant which leads to many
unwanted conditions including mortality and long term morbidity like
obstetric fistula‖ (Kamal Nashid, September,2003).The majority of girls
50
 Society & Change

became pregnant soon after they married, because they had no information
about or access to family planning, because their husbands or in-laws
demanded that they become pregnant, or because they themselves felt that
they needed to have children as soon as possible. (Fatima A. and Ayesha L,
Rumi C. October,28,2014). Early pregnancy and consecutive pregnancies
cause them a serious health problem which increase maternal mortality to
other gynecological problems too.
Greater exposure to domestic and sexual violence
Girls who are married early are more likely to be abused sexually,
physically and emotionally. Girls who married before age 18 reported
experiencing physical violence twice as often, and sexual violence three
times as often as girls who married at a later age. (ICRW,.2005) In addition,
child brides are least likely to take action against this abuse.( IPPF and the
Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and Girls, 2006) Domestic
violence seriously endangers the physical and mental health of women and
girls and can even put their lives at risk.
Violation of Human and Child Rights
The UN predicts that over 140 million girls will become child brides in the
decade leading up to 2020 if this phenomenon continues, which equates to
14 million every year or nearly 39,000 girls married every day.The report
says early child marriage affects young girls in many ways, robbing them of
their right to a childhood. It leads to violence, abuse and forced sexual
relations, meaning girls are at risk of sexually transmitted diseases and early
pregnancy. Every year, nearly 13.7 million 15-19 year olds in the
developing world give birth while married, with harrowing consequences.
Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the key cause of death for
these girls, while babies born to young mothers are more likely to be
stillborn, premature or are at a heightened risk of dying.
Rather than receiving support from family and friends, these young girls
are left to face the terrifying prospect of early marriage and pregnancy on
their own. They are left vulnerable and socially isolated, with little or no
support to help them deal with marriage at such a young age or what is
expected of them. The United Nations and other international agencies have
declared that child marriage violates human rights and children‘s rights. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that individuals must enter
marriage freely with full consent and must be at full age. (Nour NM. 2009)
In 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women stated that child marriage is illegal. In 1989, the
Convention on the Rights of the Child defined ―children‖ as persons under
the age of 18 years. Many countries passed laws changing the legal age of
marriage to 18 years, but enforcement of these laws, and of laws requiring
marriages to be registered, is weak (Nour NM.2006).
51
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

Loopholes
Despite the fact that 158 countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18
years, laws are rarely enforced since the practice of marrying young
children is upheld by (Eshetu Getnet, 2014) tradition and social norms.
Laws and different policies by the government are in place to prevent early
marriage. But the initiatives are yet to meet with significant success in
Bangladesh. There is a specific state law relating to the age of marriage, the
Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929. As per the Act the legal marriage age in
Bangladesh is 21 for boys, 18 for girls. So, marriage below 18 for girls and
21 for boys is considered an offence. Muslim law, on the other hand, lays
down certain rules and prescriptions relating to the age of marriage, which
sometimes come directly into conflict with statutory laws (Huda 1997). In
practice, most of the time, the legal minimum age at marriage is ignored; the
inadequacy of birth registration systems reinforces early marriage in
Bangladesh. Apart from these, thousands of marriages go unregistered in
this country. The Act provides punishment to men who marry children,
those who solemnize child marriage and parents or guardians who permit
child marriage. Unfortunately, enforcement efforts of the legal provisions
are weakened prosecutions are rare for breach of the law. There is also
contradiction of domestic laws. Early marriage committees in the district
and upazila levels are mostly inactive. In modern world, many developing
countries adopt the child friendly mechanism to uphold the norms of
national legislation as well as to prevent of the child marriage. Being a
signatory country of CRC, Bangladesh should incorporate the various rules
of CRC in national plans and policies to prevent child marriage. In some
other ways, Bangladesh has been cited as a development success story,
including in the area of women‘s rights, primary and secondary school
enrollment, maternal mortality etc. but these successes in achieving some
development goals begs the question of why the country‘s rate of child
marriage remains so high, among the worst in the world. In 2014,
Bangladesh Government committed to ending child marriage. At the Girl
Summit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, pledged to end marriage under the
52
 Society & Change

age of 15 by 2021 and of 18 by 2041.Yet it is hard to see how these girls

will be allowed to reach their potential unless the way in which young
women are viewed changes. (Haider Farhana, 2016)Bangladesh government
is yet to take sufficient step to end child marriage and long way to go.

International Human Rights Instruments and Early Marriage

A number of human rights instruments lay down norms to be applied to
marriage, covering issues of age, consent, equality within marriage, and the
personal and property rights of women. The key instruments and articles are
as follows (paraphrased for clarity in some cases):
Article 16of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
states
(1) Menand women of full age... have the right to marry and found a family.
They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its
dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full
consent of the intending parties.
Similar provisions are included in the 1966 International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the 1966 International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Article 1of the 1956 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age
for
Marriage and Registration of Marriages state
(1) No marriage shall be legally entered into without the full and free
consent of both parties, such consent to be expressed by them in
person as prescribed by law. (2) States Parties to the present
53
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

Convention shall... specify a minimum age for marriage (―not less

than 15 years‖ according to the non-binding recommendation
accompanying this Convention). No marriage shall be legally
entered into by any person under this age, except where a competent
authority has granted a dispensation as to age, for serious reasons, in
the interests of the intending spouses. (3) All marriages shall be
registered by the competent authority.

Early Marriage and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Virtually every provision of the CRC is of some relevance to the issue of
early marriage. Among the most pertinent, however, are the following
(paraphrased for clarity in some cases):
Article 1
A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless,
under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
Article 2
Freedom from discrimination on any grounds, including sex, religion, ethnic
or social origin, birth or other status.
Article 3
In all actions concerning children ... the best interests of the child shall be a
primary consideration.
Article 6
Maximum support for survival and development.
Article 12
The right to express his or her views freely in all matters affecting the
childin accordance with age and maturity.
Article 19
The right to protection from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury
orabuse, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the
care ofparents, guardian, or any other person.
Article 24
The right to health, and to access to health services; and to be protectedfrom
harmful traditional practices.
Articles 28 and 29
The right to education on the basis of equal opportunity.
Article 34
The right to protection from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual
abuse.
54
 Society & Change

Article 35
The right to protection from abduction, sale or trafficking.
Article 36
The right to protection from all forms of exploitation prejudicial to any
aspect of the child‘s welfare.
The Statutory Regulation and Its Enforcement
There are exist number of legal provisions for protection of Children in
Bangladesh. It needs to assess to what extent the statutory laws cooperating
the International laws for children wellbeing. In Bangladeshi context, it has
been found that since independence of Bangladesh 1971, the Constitution of
Bangladesh has focused children's rights in its directive principles of state
policy in Articles 15, 17 and 25(1) and the fundamental rights in Articles 27,
28(1)(2)(3)(4), 31, 32, and 39(1)(2). Articles 27, 28 and 31 of the
constitution lay down the general principles regarding the protection of
children from all forms of discrimination. The constitution in these articles
provide that all citizens being equal before the law and being entitled to
equal protection, must be treated in accordance with law without any
discrimination. However, Bangladesh adopted the Child Marriage Restraint
Act of 1929 which was amended in 1984, prevails over religious law. This
Act prohibits the marriage of girls under 18 and boys under 21. According
to this act early marriage is punishable by law. Due to pre-dating with the
CRC, these laws not conform to international standards. Though it is
mentioned that the religious law will prevail over ordinary legislation in
case of conflict between these two laws but in particular cases the Child
Marriage Restrain Act prevails over religious law. Under Muslim personal
law, majority begins with puberty, which is presumed to begin at the age of
12 for girls and 15 for boys and in most of the developing countries children
under 18 can and do marry in both the Civil and the Personal law and
remain unregistered where there is provision of marriage registration in
ordinary laws.
Child Marriage Restrain Act 1929(Amendment 1984)
Prohibits the marriage between a male under twenty-one and female under
eighteen years of age. So as per the Act the minimum legal age at marriage
is eighteen years for females. This Act also imposes punishment on parents
and guardians involved in child marriages. Section 3 stated about
punishment for male adult below twenty one years of age marrying a child.3
Moreover, section 5 of the said Act stipulated about punishment for
solemnizing a child marriage. According to this section, whoever performs
conducts or directs any child marriage shall be punishable with simple
imprisonment which may extend to three months and shall also be liable to
fine, unless he proves that he had reason to believe that the marriage was not
a child marriage. Furthermore, section 6 mentioned the following
55
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

punishment for parent or guardian concerned in a child marriage: (1) Where

a minor contracts a child marriage, any person having charge of the minor,
whether as parent or guardian or in any other capacity, lawful or unlawful,
who does any act to promote the marriage or permits it to be solemnised, or
negligently fails to prevent it from being solemnised, shall be punishable
with simple imprisonment which may extend to three months and shall also
be liable to fine. It provided that no woman shall be punishable with
imprisonment. (2) For the purposes of this section, it shall be presumed,
unless and until the contrary is proved, that where a minor has contracted a
child marriage, the person having charge of such minor has negligently
failed to prevent the marriage from being solemnized. In this context,
Article 34 of the Children Act, 1974 specifically stipulates the penalty to be
imposed for cruelty to children. According to section 34, if any person over
the age of sixteen years, who has the custody, charge or care of any child
assaults, ill treats, neglects, abandons or exposes such child or causes such
child to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed in a
manner likely to cause such child unnecessary suffering or injury to his
health, including loss of sight or hearing or injury to limb or organ of the
body and any mental derangement, such person shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which
may extend to Taka one thousand or with both.
Birth and Death Registration Act, 2006 also requires birth registration
that will evident the age of a child and could be effective enough for ending
child marriage.
Initiatives
Bangladesh government is one of the member state agreed on Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) set by United Nations in September 2015. With
17 goals it has prioritized ending child marriage with the vows of world
leaders of developing countries to end child marriage gravely affected by
this epidemic. Government Organizations (GOs) and non government
organizations( NGOs) of Bangladesh are working together to make changes
by different awareness programs and action plans. Bangladesh government
has authorized the mobile court to take prompt action for occurrence of
child marriage within its jurisdiction. The Child marriage Restrain Act 2014
draft has been approved in cabinet of Bangladesh in 2014 to choke off the
high rate of child marriage in Bangladesh, keeping the provision of
maximum two years in prison and Tk50,000 According to the proposed law,
anyone under 18 years of age will be considered child, while a male under
21 years of age and a female under 18 years will be considered as minors.
According to the draft act, the offence also carries a minimum sentence of
six months, or Tk10,000 fine, or both for the violation of the law. The male
offenders will be punished with both the sentence and the fine, while the
female offenders will be charged with the fine only. The family court will
have the authority to cancel the marriage, in case of necessity. In this draft
56
 Society & Change

the penalty has been increased as mentioned in Child Marriage Restrain Act
1929 (Amendment 1984). Effective implementation of this act will be a
positive step towards the vow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to end child
marriage by 2041.MGD Fund in partnership with the development
organization BRAC, local government and NGOs, trained more than 25,000
men, women and adolescents to prevent child marriage. Training
emphasizing the negative physical and mental effects due to child marriage.
Once trained, advocates disseminate success stories and work to end
violence against women through yard meetings and other community
gatherings. So far, the initiative has prevented more than 33 child marriages.
So action to reduce child marriage is continuing since decades in
Bangladesh. Changing a social norm like child marriage might seem
daunting. But the experience in Bangladesh and elsewhere shows that it can
be done, if everyone plays their part - the government at all levels, civil
society organizations, community and religious leaders, families and the
girls themselves - and if they are properly supported by development
partners and UN agencies.(Mabel van Orange, 2015)
Recommendations
Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries and working to end the
practice of child marriage. In this context, governments should adopt
following steps to mitigate some of the worst abuses linked to child
marriage in Bangladesh:
Need to regulate marriage age
At first there should be fixed the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18
years. Similarly, it should be required verification of the full and meaningful
consent of both spouses. Moreover, it is need to structure of safeguard by
law a victim‘s right to seek financial compensation after voiding, annulling,
divorcing, or otherwise dissolving the marriage and protect the rights of
children born out of such a marriage.
Compulsory of Marriage Registration
As per the law marriage registration is mandatory in Bangladesh and every
marriage should be registered. Besides this, based on the law, the marriage
certificate is an official document which permits the formation of a family
by a man and a woman and sets forth certain responsibilities for both
parties. Children can get remedy for any kind of family problem (like
divorce, maintenance, guardianship) through register marriage.
Strengthen birth registration system
Birth certificate should be issued for all children. It is regarded as original
age certificate of a child. So, in future when there is a matter of marriage
then no confusion will arise. A much more systematic approach to enforcing
birth registration would greatly help in enforcing child marriage laws and
reducing prevalence. Birth registration is a critical measure to check the
57
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

practice of child marriage as it provides proof of age, based on which an

underage marriage can be identified and halted and those abetting it can be
punished.
Improve law enforcement mechanisms
Despite Bangladesh‘s progressive child marriage law, the practice continues
to flourish in the country. Improved enforcement would help make the law
more effective and prevent the practice easily. Law enforcement training
and child marriage education for police and other law enforcement officials,
judiciary personnel and community leaders would be an effective first step.
(Australian AID,ICRW, UNFPA Report) A monitoring system would help
identify and impose strict fines on parents who fail to register their
children‘s births. Birth registration is a critical step to counter the practice of
child marriage as it provides the proof of age of the bride. Such needs
capacity building and such helps in enforcing related laws.(Dr. H.E. Momen
Abdul)
Expand girl’s education
It is a very useful strategic tool to stop child marriage. There is clear inverse
relationship between education and child marriage. (Dr. H.E. Momen
Abdul)
Persuading parents to keep their daughters in school is critical for the
overall development of girls and in the postponement of marriage. It is need
to expand girl‘s education facilities, particularly at secondary level. In
Bangladesh, only government school program provides free cost of school
fees and books for girls in school. It is need to provide this facilities in
private school also. Moreover, for elimination the child marriage from the
society with a bid to slash the maternal mortality rate in the country the
government should establish secondary school registration program with
parent‘s commitment about not to marry their daughters until they reach age
18. In this context more school would be established in every village with
lower cost and skill teachers. It would be important to increase the number
of teachers and sensitize them to the issue of dropouts as well as engage
them in efforts to encourage parents to send their daughters to school.
Provide supportive economic opportunities
Education and economic options should also be offered to young married
girl. Special stipend for girls should be increased their enrollment in
schools. Stipend has certain criteria, and one of them is that she cannot
marry before the age of 18. When girls are educated they are more likely to
educate their children. Consequently, mother is able to earn a small income
for her family, the whole family begins to change their attitude towards
child marriage and keep their daughters in the family. It is strongly
recommended that policymakers support strategic interventions at the
national and local levels that economically empower girls and women,
specifically in locations of high prevalence of child marriage in
58
 Society & Change

marginalized communities. At the same time, efforts to enforce property and

inheritance laws and to mobilize community efforts may also be required
(UNEPA &ICRW 2010).
Improve Healthcare facilities
Healthcare facilities should be made available among the poor and in remote
areas for better health of both mother and child in Bangladesh. Cooperate
with the relevant authorities, mainly the ministries of health, education,
youth, culture and promote programs based on partnerships with NGOs in
order to improve the status of this issue in their activities and resources. It
should be prepared a survey of the size and characteristicsof the early
marriage and publish live testimonies and case studies.
Awareness raising campaign
To prevent child marriage, there should be taken awareness raising
campaign and advocacy programs and people need to work together to stop
this practice. At first it is needed to inform parents and young people about
the negative implications of child marriage. Further, local government
administrators should be active to dissemination of information regarding
the impact of early marriage as well as violence among organizations and
media. Similarly, there is need to improve the awareness related
consequences of child marriage among religious and community leaders,
village elders and members of local and local government if they were
approached with awareness campaigns and training workshops. It is needed
to create awareness among people, particularly them arginal groups. The
Ministry of Education could also help by ensuring that all schools include
lessons about the negative life repercussions of child marriage in classroom
curricula. It is high time to raise consciousness about the comprehensiveness
of child marriage and its negative impacts. Government should make new
laws to control child marriage and establish nonviolent places for girls to
gather and socialize to upsurge access to economic skills and resources.
Conclusion
Child marriage is a very common but international problem. So, country
approach need to addressing the problem properly with local circumstances
for successfully remove this problem. Early marriage is a big challenge in
Bangladesh. Children are the most neglected segment of the society and
hardly have any voice, even within the home. It is because of social norms,
patriarchal values, social practice and tradition, poverty, insecurity, parents‘
concept of safety, etc. As a result, they are consistently becoming easy
victims of all sorts of violence. Child Marriage has serious social, economic,
cultural negative connotation as well as high-health cost. But no girl should
be robbed of her childhood, her education and health, and her aspirations.
This issue needs urgent attention to government and public. With a greater
concern we need to think what we pledge that will be generated in
forthcoming future.
59
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

References
Australian AID, ICRW, UNFPA Report On Child Marriage In Southern Asia:
Context, Evidence and Policy Options For Action.
http://manualzz.com/doc/9915320/child-marriage-is-illegal--but-still-
widely-practiced--according to researchers.
Berhane-Selassie, Tsehai (1993), ‗Early Marriage in Ethiopia‘, Report to the
Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of
Women and Children, Addis Abeba.
Bangladesh had a birth rate of 128 per 1000 girls aged 15 to 19 years old during
the period from 1999 through 2012. UNFPA, ―State of the World
Population 2014‖,
2014,http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/EN-SWOP14Report_
FINAL-web.pdf, p. 104.
Barbara Stark, November 28, 2005, ― International Family Law: An
Introduction.ISBN-13: 978-0754623472
Dr. H.E. Abdul Momen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of
Bangladesh at the Side Event titled Empowering Girls: A Pathway to
Elimination of Violence Against Women and Child Marriage.
http://studylib.net/doc/5820745/bangladesh-pathway-to-eliminate-child-
marriage#
Dr. Ferdousi Nahid, Children Silent Victims in Child Marriage in Bangladesh:
Significance of Legal Protection for their Wellbeing, Developing Country
Studies ISSN 2224-607X (Paper) ISSN 2225-0565 (Online) Vol.3, No.14,
2013.
Engender Health, ―Situation Analysis of Obstetric Fistula in Bangladesh,‖
September 2003, http://www.engenderhealth.org/files/pubs/maternal-
health/bangladesh-fistula-report.pdf, p. 20.
Farhana Haider― Married at 14, abandoned by 15: The Forgotten Girls of Dhaka.
Published in ―The Guardian‖ 22 April, 2016
Getnet Eshetu : Stories Of Changes From Open Diaries: The Joint Effects of
Radio Messaging and Group Discussions To Fight Child Marriage. Buch
ISBN: 978. 3.95489.320.1, PDF e-book 978.3.95489.820.6. Druck
/Herstellung: Anchor Academic Publishing, Humburg,2014
Gage, A. J. (2013). Association of child marriage with suicidal thoughts and
attempts among adolescent girls in Ethiopia. Journal of Adolescent Health.
Girls Not Brides ―Why Does Child Marriage Happen‖
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/why-does-it-happen/
Human Rights Watch, ― Marry Before Your House Swept Away‖ : Child
Marriage In Bangladesh‖ June 9,2015
Human Rights Watch interview with NGO worker, Laxmipur, October 28, 2014;
Human Rights Watch interview with NGO worker, Khulna, October 29,
2014.
60
 Society & Change

Huda, Shahnaz (1997), Child Marriage: Social Marginalization of Statutory Laws

Bangladesh, Journal of Law1:2 p. 139.
ICRW and Girls Not Brides, Taking action to address child marriage: the role of
different sectors: Economic Growth and Workforce Development brief,
2015.
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). 2005. Development
Initiative on Supporting Healthy Adolescents (DISHA) project: Analysis of
quantitative baseline survey data conducted in 2004.ICRW: Washington,
DC
IPPF and the Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and Girls. Ending
Child Marriage, A Guide for Global Policy Action, 2006
Mebel Van Orange, ― Ending Child marriage In Bangladesh and Beyond,
17thJune, 2015
Muhammad Ibrahim, CMES, Bangladesh, personal communication, November
2000.
Nawal M. Nour, ―Health Consequences of Child Marriage in Africa,‖ November
2006, http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/11/06-0510_article.htm.
Nashid Kamal Waiz et al., ―Situation Analysis of Obstetric Fistula in
Bangladesh,‖ September 2003,http://www.engenderhealth.org/files/
pubs/maternal-health/bangladesh-fistula-report.pdf (a, p. 20.
Nawal M.Nour, ―An Introduction to Maternal Mortality,‖ Journal of Obstetrics
and Gynecology, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2008): 77-81,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2505173/ Nour NM.
Health consequences of child marriages in Africa. Emerg Infect Dis.
2006;12:1644–1649.
Nawal M. Nour, ― Child Marriage: A Silent Health and Human Rights Issue‖,
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Vol.2 No. 1 (2009)2(1): 51–
56https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2672998/
S. M. Mostafa Kamal, ―Decline in Child Marriage and Changes in Its Effect on
Reproductive Outcomes in Bangladesh,‖ Journal of Health, Population
and Nutrition 30:3 (2012): 317–330,http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
articles/PMC3489948/
Sujata Mittal ―Child Abuse & Human Rights, Vol. 2 (2004) Current TrendsIn
Child Abuse, (Vol.1) ISBN 81-8205-071-5 (set) ISBN 81-8205-072-3
(Vol-1)
There were some exceptions— i.e. girls who were informed about and had
obtained access to contraception, but they were a minority. E.g. Human
Rights Watch interview with Fatima A. and Ayesha L., Laxmipur, October
28, 2014; Human Rights Watch interview with Rumi C., Khulna, October
31, 2014.
Upreti Mellissa, Ending child marriage in South Asia: a regional action plan,
Centre For Reproductive Rights ,14 March, 2016
61
Child Marriage In Bangladesh: A Question To Girlhoods

UNFPA State of the World‘s Population 1990, New York, UNFPA 1990
UNFPA, ―Obstetric Fistula,‖ undated, http://www.unfpa.org/obstetric-fistula
(accessed March 16, 2015.
UNFPA, ―Marrying too Young: End Child Marriage,‖ 2012, http://www.unfpa.
org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf.
UNICEF, ―Maternal Mortality,‖ undated,http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/
children_4856.htm.
UNICEF, ―Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse‖ updated
https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html
UNFPA, ―Marrying too Young: End Child Marriage,‖ 2012, http://www.
unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf, p. 64
UNEPA and ICRW (2010). Child marriage in Southern Asia: Policy Options for
Action, p.11.
World Health Organization (WHO), ―WHO Guidelines on Preventing Early
Pregnancy and Poor
Reproductive Outcomes Among Adolescents in Developing Countries,‖ 2011,
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241502214_eng.pdf
(accessed January 8, 2015), p. 2. Studies on other countries show that
women who marry early have the highest proportion of unfavorable
pregnancy outcomes at all stages throughout their childbearing years. S.
Shawky and W. Milaat, ―Early Teenage Marriage and Subsequent
Pregnancy Outcome,” Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, vol. 6, issue
1 (2000): 46-54, accessed July 22, 2014,
http://www.emro.who.int/publications/emhj/0601/06.htm.

62