Early Marriage and Masculinities: Young Grooms in Nepalgunj, Nepal
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UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM Early Marriage and Child Grooms: A case study from in and around Nepalgunj, Nepal Masters Thesis: Rory Bowe International Development Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Social Sciences MSc International Development Studies Masters of Science Thesis Early Marriage and Child Grooms: A case study from in and around Nepalgunj, Nepal1 August 2017 Rory Bowe 11258152 [email protected] Supervisor: Dr Esther Miedema Second Reader: Dr Courtney L. Vegelin 1 The picture on the cover is of the Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) situated in the Kathmandu Valley, west of the city of Kathmandu (photo is author’s own) Dedication I would like to dedicate this work to the wide range of people who were involved in my research in Amsterdam, Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, and Lumbini. The unwavering help of the organisations that I worked with, especially Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) and the Centre for Research on Environment, Health, and Population Activities (CREHPA), resulted in having had access to in-depth and fascinating stories from a demographic that has not had sufficient attention in studies centred understanding child marriage. I also thank the research participants who shared their personal and often sensitive life stories and experiences with me, and it is for this reason that I hope this research can effectively inform further projects and programmes concerned with child rights, engaging men and boys in ending harmful social practices, and building child marriage-free communities. i Acknowledgements I would firstly like to thank Dr. Esther Miedema for her continued support and guidance during the research process – her insights, from the tips when in the field to advice on the write-up, were invaluable. Secondly, I thank my fellow IDS Masters researchers Claire Thomson and Kianna Dewart, for living this experience alongside me during fieldwork in Nepal. Thirdly, I am grateful for my second reader, Dr. Courtney L. Vegelin for her input during the final stages of the process. ii Abstract Efforts to build child marriage-free communities, and creating societies in which individuals have full agency in deciding if, when, and whom they marry are becoming a common presence in the development agendas of international organisations and governments around the world. However, the focus of such projects and programmes has been tilted towards engaging with young brides and the girls vulnerable to becoming one. Although numerically speaking, far greater numbers of girls around the world are, at a young age, entered into marriage by their families, in certain cultures it is common practice for the same to happen with boys and young men. Because of the greater attention given to females within child marriage, attributed in part to an on-going conflation of gender- women-development, there is a dearth of knowledge and understanding surrounding the concept of ‘child grooms’, namely boys who have been married before the age of 18. In response, this study seeks to fill a knowledge gap around the practices of early marriage that include ‘child grooms’, and the subsequent ways in which these individuals navigate their lives with this label. Expanding discussions on masculinity and gender under a gender relational framework, the study elucidates the ways in which expected behaviours and roles that constitute what it means ‘to be a man’ have bearing on the lives of young men and boys. Data was gathered in Nepalgunj, the capital city of Banke District in midwestern Nepal, using complimentary methods of participatory exercises, focus group discussions, and interviews. The research shows that the timing of specific marriage rituals within early marriage have a direct bearing on when the child groom must assume the roles and responsibilities associated with being married, and specifically conjugal life. These variances problematise the definitions and assumptions that are embedded in the development field’s existing ideas of child marriage amongst young men and boys, and warrant more contextually specific understandings. Moreover, the study finds the label of ‘being married’ to be a source of both positive and negative social capital for unmarried and married young males within spaces and places of their lives that are hostile to the practice of child marriage (schools and NGO programmes) and those that support it (family). Overall, the label of ‘child groom’ gains meaning and brings with it challenges at different points and in different iii settings in the life of those boys and young men who are married at an early age. Although the study’s respondents and the cultural practices that they are part of are specific to Nepalgunj, the findings concerning the bearing that child marriage has on the lives of young boys and men can be used to inform future activities aimed at engaging men and boys in ending harmful social issues. Keywords: child marriage; early marriage; child grooms; masculinity; social capital iv Table of Contents Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….……..i Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….……ii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………..v List of Figures…………….……………………………………………………………………………………………….………vii List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................... viii 1). Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Contextualising Early Marriage………………………………………………………………..….……...1 1.2 Young Men and Boys within the Discourse on Early Marriage………..…………………..3 1.3 'Conditions of the Advantage'………………………………………………….………...………………5 1.4 Concluding Remarks……………………………………………………………………………………………7 1.5 Outline of Thesis…………………………………………………………………………………………………8 2). Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................ 9 2.1 Social Constructionist Relational View of Gender…………………..……………………………9 2.2 Hegemonic Masculinity…………………………………………….……………………………...………10 2.3 Body-Reflexive Practices……………………………………………………………………………..…….11 2.4 Counter-Hegemonic Masculinities…………………….………………………………….………..…11 2.4.1 Exposure to Alternative Masculinities………………..……………………..……….12 2.5 Intersectionality………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 2.6 Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………………………………….14 3). Research Framework ......................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Research Questions…………………………………………………………………………………………..15 3.2 Conceptual Scheme…………………………………………………………………………..………………16 3.3 Research Location………………………………………………………………………………..…………..18 3.4 Unit of Analysis and Sampling Method…………………………………………………..…………21 3.5 Research Methods…………………………………………………………………………………..……….22 3.6 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………….26 3.7 Ethical Considerations and Limitations…………………………………………………………..…27 3.8 Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………………………………….28 4). “There is no such thing as a forced marriage, as a child always has the right to refuse”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..29 4.1 Saadhi, Gauna, and Effective Marriage………………………………………………………..……29 4.2 Child Groom agency in deciding, if, when, and whom he marries…………………..…38 4.3 Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………………………………….41 v 5). “If they said why are you having sex, I would say why did you marry me?” - Marriage as Social Capital ................................................................................................................ 43 5.1 Early Marriage as Positive Social Capital……………………………………………………………43 5.1.1 Centrality of Marriage in Society…………………………………………………………43 5.1.2 Legitimising sexual and health seeking behaviours………..……………………46 5.2 An Ethnographic Engagement with Ravi……………………………………………………………47 5.3 Marriage as Negative Social Capital………………………………………………..…………………51 5.4 Concluding Remarks…………………………………………………………………………….……………55 6). Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................................. 57 6.1 Answer to Main Research Question…………………………………………………………………..57 6.2 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………61 6.3 Relevance for Gender Work………………………………………………………………………………64 6.4 Summary of Policy Recommendations and Research Agenda……………………………65 6.5 Concluding Remarks……………………………………………………………………………………….…66 7). Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…67 8). Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………71 vi List of Figures Figure 1 –Conceptual Scheme……………………………………………………………………………………….. Figure 2 – Map of Nepal showing Banke District in red…………………………………………………. Figure 3 – Map of Banke District…………………………………………………………………………………… Figure 4 – Proportion of Girls and Boys married in Banke within certain age brackets (source: Her Choice/CREHPA Baseline Report, 2016)……………………………………………………. Figure 5 - (Left) Unmarried student discussing the social map that he and his group produced during a FGD at Shree Secondary School on 18th February 2017. (Below) The students discussed where early marriage was prevalent in their community by referring to the buildings they had drawn. They also discussed the views on the practice held by the people that resided in that space. (Photo is researcher’s own)……………………………………….. Figure 6 - 2 married and 3 unmarried male students