A good news story about child marriage

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

thisisafrica.me/malawian-chief-annuls-300-child-marriage-send-kids-to-school/

It's a shame there isn't more detail in the article, but good for her. It seems like such a simple step to take - just, "No, this isn't legal, now off you go back to school."

Hopefully most of the girls are not already pregnant.

[HelpfulChap]

I always found it hard to comprehend how some countries can have different laws for different religions on the issue of child marriage.

In Trinidad & Tobago (as I am led to believe- ready to be corrected) Muslims can marry at 12 (I imagine that is the girls in general, the man is probably older) while the legal age for Hindus is 16 and has recently been raised from 16 to 18 for everyone else.

I imagine that this means a native of the island is deemed a rapist/paedophile if they have sex with aunderage person but the same laws do not apply to everyone.

The shape of things to come?

[TeiTetua]

The final sentence of the article is "[Child marriage] is closely linked to poverty where, in the rural areas, girls are married off to improve their families’ financial situations."

I wonder if that means the families have one fewer mouth to feed, or if the husband is expected to pay a bride price. Maybe both. There's a picture of a wedding with a 16-year old bride, and everyone looks exceedingly grim.

[Limer]

Child marriage is an evil abuse. Laws to protect the girls would be great, and religion shouldn't come into it.

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

TeiTetua Yes, almost certainly a bride price. Lobola, as it's called, is v common in southern Africa. So families have to weigh up the benefits of marrying their daughters off versus keeping them around to take care of aging parents. I imagine the decision is largely based on the number of sons and daughters a family has. Sometimes one son is designated the "mother's son" and expected to support and care for her rather than marrying and having a family of his own.