Child marriage takes away the right to education, a safe healthy childhood, and the quality of life that leads to ease the economic opportunities. A girl married at the age of 14 or 15, is compelled to leave school, remains unaware of the quality of life, and education can bring devastating consequences for future generations.

The girl married in her teenage also has a lack of political and social empowerment.  According to the UN, Pakistan has the 6th highest number of marriages before the age of 18.

Child marriage takes away the right to education, a safe healthy childhood, and the quality of life that leads to ease the economic opportunities

In Pakistan, mostly in rural areas, child marriage is prevalent due to a lack of awareness, education, custom norms, cultural supremacy, poverty, and patriarchal dominance.  According to a study, girls are married when they are considered mature, not to reach a certain age. Some indications of maturity include starting menstruation, being able to take care of a child and family, and cooking and running their households.  According to the report, in 2017 40% of girls were married before age 18.

The root cause of early child marriage is customary practice that is a violation of human rights. According to a survey conducted by UNICEF, in Pakistan one in three girls is married before reaching the age of 18. According to the Pakistan Child Marriage Act 1929, the legal age for boys and girls is 18 and 16, respectively. However, in 2013 the Sindh assembly passed a resolution to raise the age for marriage to 18 years for both boys and girls.

The girls married before 18, always perceiving fear and becoming vulnerable to domestic violence due to a lack of awareness and education. According to UNICEF, young girls in Pakistan between the ages of 15-19 around 24.3% faced the domestic violence most in last year. Moreover, these teen girls also confront problems during pregnancy and many teen girls die during childbirth. The reason behind this is early child marriage as the teen cannot endure giving birth to a Child.

Once married, the teen girls have little power to say in childbearing, and the mother-in-law has the decision-making power. Girls across Pakistan are being deprived of their social, political, and economic rights. This lack of empowerment is further exacerbated by gender and social inequality across the country. The society is considered a man-dominant also called patriarchal.

The root cause of early child marriage is a customary practice that is a violation of human rights

In Sindh, the change in climate change and rising temperatures are also one of the reasons behind child marriages. A case has been reported in Dadu District Sindh, a 14-year-old teen Shamila and her 13-year-old sister Amina were married off by her father in exchange for money to survive in floods, as monsoon broke out.

Further, to survive in the flood and to help out the family, child marriage is the first option for a family to receive some payment. The trend had previously dropped in Pakistan but again reached to peak, as an 18% increase was observed after the 2022 floods. Another case was reported where Najma Ali, a 14-year-old teen was married to a 9-year-old man than her, by receiving 250,000 from her husband’s side for wedding expenses.

“When you have an adolescent unmarried daughter sitting in the house, it is like a burden. Not because you don’t feed her, but because you have to take care of your honor. It is shameless when someone talks about your daughter outside,” said a 64-year-old man somewhere in Punjab.

“At the age of 15, I wished to play with other children in the streets, but I couldn’t because I was forced to marry a man who was double my age. Everybody except me, including my parents was happy,” a young girl explained how she had felt when she was married.

Another case was reported where a 10-year-old teen was forced to marry a 32-year-old cousin by their parents to save the land. By arranging marriage for their daughter, they saved their land.

However, poverty isn’t the only reason for early child marriage but because of lack of awareness and the tradition to consider the daughter a property mean it the parents will  decide what is good and bad for her. This concept is widely accepted across Pakistan.  Moreover, another factor behind early marriage is the cultural belief system. Most of the elders consider that a daughter should be married when she reaches puberty.

Girls across Pakistan are being deprived of their social, political, and economic rights

Another practice called ‘Swara’ is performed mostly in tribal or rural areas populated by Pashtun tribes. This concept means in case of allegations that a father or brother has sinned, their family must be constrained to give their young daughter in exchange for claims to get compensation.  In a nutshell, the traditional perception about girls is integrated with cultural and religious practices as well as economic considerations across South Asia.

Several steps were taken in Pakistan by different organizations to end Child marriage. Girls Not Bride member Shirkat Gah runs a program called Humsathi. This program works to empower the girls by teaching them different skills and engaging them with their peers.

Hence, a girl named Hadiqa Bashir belonging to Swat witnessed her seven-year-old friend married. She then took a stand by not only refusing early marriage but also founded an organization (GUHRswat) to stop the inhuman practice. Another organization called Peace Foundation is also working on ending early child marriages, especially in Sindh by providing education to girls while also focusing on their skill development.

Child marriage had dropped in Pakistan but again reached a peak, with an 18% increase observed after the 2022 floods

Therefore, the government needs to take some innovative and imperative steps to end early marriages and demolish the worst human rights violation in the country. It needs to empower girls by introducing different skills programs to become economically independent, besides raising the minimum age for marriage to 18 years across Pakistan.

Also, the government should strictly implement the laws and punish those who violating the same. Meanwhile, ensuring that everyone has access to economic opportunities is also mandatory to curb the practice of child marriages. These steps will ensure awareness among young girls about their basic rights and enable them fight for the same rights.