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Understanding and Addressing Child Marriage a Scoping Study of Available Academic and Programmatic Literature for the HER CHOICE Alliance

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Understanding and Addressing Child Marriage a Scoping Study of Available Academic and Programmatic Literature for the HER CHOICE Alliance Understanding and addressing child marriage A scoping study of available academic and programmatic literature for the HER CHOICE Alliance Katie Hodgkinson July 2016 Commissioned by the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam 1 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... 5 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 Definition of child marriage .......................................................................................................... 7 1.2.1 Defining the “child” in child marriage .................................................................................... 7 1.2.2 Defining marriage................................................................................................................... 8 1.2.3 Child marriage, early marriage and forced marriage ............................................................. 8 1.3 Child marriage on the international Agenda ................................................................................ 8 2. Prevalence of Child Marriage ............................................................................................................ 11 2.1 Measuring rates of child marriage .............................................................................................. 11 2.2 Global and general information .................................................................................................. 11 2.2.1 Global Rates of Child Marriage ............................................................................................ 11 2.2.2 Global trends in the prevalence of child marriage .............................................................. 11 2.3 National data ............................................................................................................................... 13 3. Forms of Marriage............................................................................................................................. 15 3.1 Bangladesh .................................................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Benin ........................................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Burkina Faso ................................................................................................................................ 16 3.4 Ethiopia ....................................................................................................................................... 16 3.5 Ghana .......................................................................................................................................... 16 3.6 Nepal ........................................................................................................................................... 17 3.7 Pakistan ....................................................................................................................................... 17 4. Reasons for Child Marriage ............................................................................................................... 18 4.1 Unequal gender norms and gender hierarchies ......................................................................... 18 4.2 Economic contexts ...................................................................................................................... 20 4.2.1 Income poverty .................................................................................................................... 20 4.2.2 Economic dependency of girls ............................................................................................. 21 4.2.3 The dowry/bride price ......................................................................................................... 21 4.2.4 Land and property rights ...................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Influence of religion .................................................................................................................... 22 4.4 Securing honour .......................................................................................................................... 23 4.5 Conflict and humanitarian crises ................................................................................................ 25 2 4.6 Effects of family structures ......................................................................................................... 25 4.7 Lack of alternatives ..................................................................................................................... 26 5. Effects of Child Marriage ................................................................................................................... 27 5.1 Denying a girl’s childhood. .......................................................................................................... 27 5.2 Effects of child marriage on/issues relating to sexual and reproductive health ........................ 28 5.2.1 Child birth ............................................................................................................................. 28 5.2.2 Family planning and contraceptive use ............................................................................... 29 5.2.3 Access to health care services.............................................................................................. 30 5.2.4 HIV and STIs.......................................................................................................................... 30 5.2.5 Violence ................................................................................................................................ 31 5.2.6 Female genital mutilation .................................................................................................... 32 6. Child Marriage and Education ........................................................................................................... 32 6.1 Educational enrolment rates ...................................................................................................... 32 6.2 Attendance and participation of girls ......................................................................................... 33 6.3 Reasons for lower enrolment of girls in education ..................................................................... 33 6.3.1 Gendered roles in society .................................................................................................... 33 6.3.2. Costs of education .............................................................................................................. 34 6.3.3 Security of girls ..................................................................................................................... 35 6.3.4 Menstruation ....................................................................................................................... 35 6.3.5 Lack of employment opportunities ...................................................................................... 35 6.4 Relationship between education and child marriage ................................................................. 35 6.5 Country specific information ...................................................................................................... 37 7. Laws Relating to Child Marriage ....................................................................................................... 42 7.1 International laws ....................................................................................................................... 42 7.3 National laws relating to child marriage ..................................................................................... 45 7.3 Trends in laws relating to child marriage .................................................................................... 52 8. Organisations and Actors working on child marriage ....................................................................... 53 8.1 International actors..................................................................................................................... 53 8.2 National actors ............................................................................................................................ 55 8.2.1 Bangladesh ........................................................................................................................... 55 8.2.2 Benin .................................................................................................................................... 56 8.2.3 Burkina Faso ......................................................................................................................... 56 8.2.4 Ethiopia ................................................................................................................................ 57 8.2.5 Ghana ..................................................................................................................................
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