to confront
Child Marriage
in Bangladesh
Penn-UNICEF Course on Advances in Social Norms and Social change
2-13 July 2012
Nance Webber, Chief Communication for Development, UNICEF Bangladesh
Description of the challenge using the theoretical tools learned in session.
Background
Bangladesh is reported to have made ‘solid progress’ towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets by the 2015 deadline. These include reductions in poverty, and child mortality, disease control and parity in school enrolment and access to safe water. However, these conditions mask growing inequalities in MDG outcomes and an equally serious problem of wide regional and rural/urban disparities, especially regarding the vulnerabilities of children. At the same time, the country is globally recognized as one of the countries where customary rules motivate and induce adherence to the practice of child marriage. This pattern of change show generally progressive developments alongside significant divergencies (UNDAF Framework).[i]
For example marrying girls at puberty (around 15 years) is accepted, practiced and expected by large sections of the community which makes it a social norm. Child marriage exhibits agreed rules of the game for families across all ethnic groups in Bangladesh. Normative expectation is reinforced through high dowry for delayed marriage and rewards like social acceptance and family honour for younger purer brides. Higher dowry for older girls exerts strong economic pressure to conform to early marriage. Payment of dowry to the family of the groom, who will be taking care of your daughter after marriage, is part of the script of how to interact with potential in-laws.
Data on child marriage in Bangladesh is very confusing sending mixed signals about the extent of the problem across the country and very often giving the impression that it is no longer an issue. Recent data (BDHS 2007) indicates that child marriage has decreased, albeit slightly, in the past 8 years. According to BDHS 2004 the median age at first marriage of women 20-49 was 14 years and figures for the same cohort in 2007 was 15.3 years. According to MICS 2007, at least 33% of adolescent girls in Bangladesh are married before the age of 15 years, some even as early as 12 years. Still three-fourths of girls are married by age 18 and 1 in 2 women are mothers by age 19. The estimated rate of child marriage (i.e. under 18 years) is 65% (Child Protection Information Sheet, Child Marriage, UNICEF 2006). The MICS 2007 data largely corroborates the findings of a national household survey conducted a year earlier (in 2006) that reported that 33.1% of women aged 15-49 years were married before their 15th birthday and that 74% of women 20-49 years were married before age 18 years.
% of Girls Age 20-24 years (Nat Popn Council)Married by age 15 / 32.3%
Married by age 18 / 66%
Gave birth by age 15 / 5%
With secondary education / 45.9%
Legal age of marriage / 18 years
The 2006 data also suggests that socio-economic background is a key factor for delayed marriage. Among women with higher profiles for education, wealth, and urban exposure, (including access to media), child marriage rates were far lower.
What is readily visible is the difference in age between males and female averaging five years or more. Child marriage represents one of the most prevalent forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls. This has long been recognized as a crucial problem as indicated by the introduction of the Child marriage Restraint Act as far back as 1929. The Act has been supplemented with articles that spell out the legal norms of fines and imprisonment for those who ‘perform, conduct or direct’ marriages for girls under 18 years or boys under 21 years.
This given norm of child marriage is meant to achieve the goal of family honour embedded in chastity and purity of girls. Child marriage is supported by a cluster of self-fulfilling expectations like economic benefits of dowry for marriage of a son, social respect/honour when a girl is married young and has not been ‘soiled’ through contact with another person prior to marriage. The conditional preference for conformity is believed to be driven by the fact that everyone expects the bride price to increase as the girl gets older or that everyone believes/ thinks that the likelihood of sexual abuse increases exponentially from puberty onwards, especially for poorer households where several family members live in one-roomed huts.
Internationally, child marriage is seen as a violation of the rights of children to education, the opportunity to develop to their fullest potential whilst at the same creating opportunities for exploitation, violence and abuse. Furthermore child marriage is recognized as depriving children of their childhood seen as a time for learning and play.
It is well documented that Bangladesh has the capacity to implement a national social norm change programme and achieve significant results. The national commitment to family planning (i.e. smaller healthier families) introduced 4 decades ago with Government leadership and heavy human and financial resource investment has demonstrated significant gains. The 2011 National Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) cites reduction in national fertility rate from 6.3 in 1975 to 2.3 in 2011.
The recent national launch and renewed effort by the Government to address the 3C’s (child marriage, child labour and corporal punishment) is expected to draw from the family planning and long term commitment by both government and civil society partners to end child marriage in Bangladesh.
Factual beliefs that Contribute to Child marriage
A myriad of factors contribute to the issue of child marriage in Bangladesh. These include the general status of women and men’s control over women’s sexuality, poverty, social norms around family honour and importance of chastity of women.
Higher Dowry with Age Enforces Conditional preference for early Marriage
One factor is that of the normative expectation of giving of dowry (a gift) by the family of the bride to the family of the groom. It is stated that the practice in its original form is meant to provide some independent wealth to a woman unlikely to work outside the home. However, current practices of marriages being annulled and brides returned to their families where payment is incomplete against agreed set dates is evidence of the transition to more economic values as opposed to values pertaining to female wellbeing and protection of women. In line with the ‘new’ value of groom-price is the factual belief that the dowry price increases with an older girl. In many ways, this is linked to normative expectations that girls must be married to men older than they; so in order to ‘access’ older and/or more educated men, the value of dowry is higher. In effect, this social acceptance of such a penalty for delayed marriage ensures conformity and creates the conditional preference for early marriage of daughters
Chastity and sexuality of women are paramount for family honour
Of paramount importance across all ethnic communities are the issues of female sexuality and the links with family honour. Social norms related to sexually, especially pre and extra-marital sex is very rigidly defined. This norms reinforces desire for control over women and also helps to define the status of women in the society.
Customary norms linked to Status of women
With regards to customs several factors are at play. For example:-
- what is considered the most significant event in the life of a woman and her family – marriage – is a decision taken by the father, uncles and other male members of the family. The belief is that parents will always do what is best for their children and the normative expectation is the belief that children, especially girls should obey their parents, especially on issues of when and who to marry. Hence marrying girls very young (by age 15 years) will induce compliance/conformity to the dictates of the parents, her husband and in-laws.
- marrying girls off at an early age determines their ‘gender’ roles in society, as wives and mothers.
- marrying girls off to men older than they also reinforces their position in the household and in society.
2 Comparing Child Marriage to Female Genital Mutilation
In many ways child marriage is similar to female genital mutilation. The social norms of chastity, virginity and family honour are common and in each case there is a strong desire to be honoured by one’s own community and to be accepted as a full fledged member of that community. On the flip side, there is the fear of rejection, and loss of respect associated with an uncircumcised daughter or one not married at the ‘appropriate age. In each case, the moral norms are also very similar – the warm glo that is associated with being a good parent; the sense of observance of one’s own inner values and ethical beliefs. On the other side of the coin, there is the sense of guilt of being a bad parent or that instead of expanding opportunities for a daughter the parent is reducing the potential for a good suitor.. Other similarities include common issues linked to the status of women and men’s control over female sexuality. There are however some differences.
In the case of market norms, families who circumcise their daughters hope to be able to secure for their daughters suitors that are economically better off than they. However, in this case the economic pressure is not so immediate. In the case of dowry for marriage of adolescent girls, the pressure to secure dowry for a son to pay off debts or secure a better life for one’s family are more immediate. On the other hand, the fear of being unable to meet the basic need of securing a husband for a daughter if marriage is delayed results in conditional preference to marry the daughter at the socially accepted age. With FGC, the practice of infibulation is controlled in large part by women, who are often the circumcisers, or who take the lead in making the arrangements. In the case of child marriage in Bangladesh, decisions of when to marry off a daughter and to whom, are taken by fathers, uncles and male elders of the family.
In terms of age at which the act of circumcision takes place, this varies depending on the local context, often varying between several ethnic groups of the same country. The age range is from infancy or 3 years to even 30 years depending on whether it is required before a marriage transaction is finalized. With child marriage in Bangladesh, the practice is concentrated between the ages of 15-17 years, although children as young as 10 are known to be married off.
3. Application of the theoretical framework
1. A key factor of the theoretical framework to be applied is to start with the notion that legislation is simply not enough when attempting to address a social norm that is as entrenched as child marriage and strongly anchored around core values of chastity and family honour.
2. Programming on the basis that preferences and decisions are very interdependent and not individual or even limited to families.
3. Ensuring that KAP studies, formative or other research probe for existence of social norms – what others think, do or expect. According to Bicchieri, the following are key questions to ask:
- What do you think other people have done/will do?
- What do you think other people would think or do if someone was to do X?
- What are the people whose actions or attitudes you take into account when deciding whether to do X (the reference group)?
The research will also ask counterfactual questions such as: what would happen if someone didn't do X?
4. Activities of values deliberations are recognized as key to the framework. In the case of child marriage, the proposal is to start with small peer group dialogues to isolate the key values for each group/social network of fathers, religious leaders, traditional leaders, adolescent girls, adolescent boys, mothers etc.). Community dialogues will be gradually phased in based on guidance from the core group of change agents. Community dialogues will be the key to achieve results of increased social learning, of social influence and more importantly to de-construct empirical and normative expectations by sharing actual data that delayed marriage is already a common practice in the country.
5. An important learning point is the strategic importance of public declarations. In communities where the public oath is almost sacred, this event often signals a point of no return for all who participated and subscribed to the public commitment. During actual programming it would be very important to pay attention to who leads/champions the public declaration to ensure he/the group has the trust of the community. This is where the new norm of marriage after 18 years is ‘declared’ and where everyone now subscribes to the new rewards and sanctions for compliance or deviance respectively.
6. The theoretical framework accepts the role and place of the media and all social inter-personal networks, including the core group of change agents in actively promoting any re-categorized values. In the case of child marriage, it may be worthwhile to try to promote a return to the original value of a ‘gift’’ for the family that will now be caring for your daughter as opposed to the costly transaction that dowry now represents.
Critical Evaluation of the Work So Far1. Strategies Employed thus far in addressing the Challenge