“I was married at 14, and I lost my first child at 16 during pregnancy,” Ranu Chakma said. Child marriage is common in her village of Teknaf Upazila, on the southern coast of Bangladesh, even though it is illegal and a human rights violation.
Youth empowerment programmes are reaching all adolescents with information about their human rights in Nicaragua, which has one of the highest rates of child marriage among boys.
No matter the gender of the child affected nor the country in which the union takes place, child marriage is a harmful practice that requires addressing a common set of root causes. They include economic inequality, limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and information, and factors such as conflict. One of the biggest root causes – gender inequality – requires urgent and renewed focus.
“While we have abolished child marriage, we have not abolished predatory masculinity,” said Dr. Gabrielle Hosein, director of the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, in Trinidad and Tobago, shortly after that country had outlawed child marriage.
Kevin Liverpool, an activist with the advocacy group CariMAN, said men and boys have a critical role to play.
“It’s important to raise awareness among these groups, among these individuals, about what feminism is, why gender equality is important for women, but also for men and for all of society,” he said.