The Sunday Mail
The message from the 23rd Session of the Children’s Parliament was clear — marriage to girls under the age of 18 cannot be condoned.
with Dr Jane Muita
CHILD PROSTITUTION FILE PICTURE
Two points need to be emphasised about child marriages. First, child marriage is a violation of the Constitution.
Article 78 clearly reserves the right to found a family to persons who are aged 18 and above. In addition, the Constitution protects a person from being compelled to enter into marriage against their will. We know that girls below the age of 18 are being married and often against their will.
Second, child marriage is a barrier to national development. Child marriage isn’t only about a wedding — it holds a girl back for the rest of her life. Marriage should never be a girl’s ultimate goal in life.
And if it is, we as duty bearers have a responsibility to awaken her to the wide range of possibilities her future holds.
And this includes keeping her in school.
But we know that child brides usually drop out of school. Housework, not homework, becomes their preoccupation. These girls are likely to be poor — and to remain poor. The 2012 Census show that girls who married before ages 15 and 18 are three times more likely to be found in poor households than those who married later.
Child marriage is not only holding girls back, it is depriving nations of the benefits of an educated and skilled workforce. Educated women contribute to the nation’s GDP and they are likely to raise progeny that is educated and skilled.
Marriage laws as they currently exist need to be amended. On this issue, the President and Vice-President were both unequivocal during the opening of the Junior Parliament.
By not stipulating a minimum age for marriage, the Customary Marriage Act is implicit in condoning child marriages.
The Marriage Act allows a girl below the age of 16 to be married as long as the Minister of Justice has given consent. In reality, this rarely happens.
It also allows girls between the ages of 16 and 18 to be married as long as their parents or guardians have given consent, which in itself is problematic when parents are the drivers of child marriages.
Both of these laws clearly are at variance with the Constitution.
A stronger and more harmonised legal framework is an important step towards ending child marriages.
But is child marriage such a problem in Zimbabwe? A recent analysis of the 2012 Census by ZIMSTAT reveals that 1 in 4 teenage girls aged between 15-19 is married.
The majority of these marriages happen in rural areas across Zimbabwe but districts like Sanyati, Makonde, Kariba rural, and Chiredzi stand out in having a proportion above 35 percent.
But child marriages are not restricted to rural areas only. The analysis also shows that almost half of all teenagers in Epworth, an urban area, are married.
Every time a teenage girl gets married, we as society have failed her, and the systems we have set up to promote and protect her best interests have failed her. While child marriage is indeed a complex issue caused by many factors, we will be letting children down if we begin to rationalise it.
We should focus our efforts on ensuring that girls stay in school for as long as possible.
We should work with national and community leaders, promote dialogue around norms, and strengthen the law and its enforcement. We should also remember that 3 in 4 teenagers are not married.
Therefore, we have a responsibility to allocate adequate resources to initiatives that prevent and counter child marriages.
Africa is undergoing an unprecedented demographic shift that is seeing the future of humanity increasingly become African.
Last year, Unicef published the Generation 2030 report which showed that although Africans make up only 16 percent of the global population, based on current projections, that figure will rise to 25 percent by 2050 and reach almost 40 percent by the end of this century.
This means by the end of the 21st century, almost half of the global population will be African.
Mind-boggling! But it drives home the point that Africa’s potential lies in its young people. By 2050, around 40 percent of all children in the world will be African.
Compared to 1950 when African children made up only about 10 percent of the global child population, it is clear that Africa’s dividend lies in its children.
The question arises, what sort of global citizens will Africa’s children be when they become adults?
The answer begins with the choices we make today. If child marriage is not stopped, it will be too late for Africa to take full advantage of its demographic transition in the coming decades.
The author is a proud mother and Unicef’s deputy representative in Zimbabwe.
