CHILD MARRIAGE: CHANGING TRENDS IN PAKISTAN
Keywords:
Child marriage, urbanization
Abstract
Child marriage is a problem which exists and continues in many parts of the world although commitments have been made to discourage it. Earlier research work shows that the incidence of child marriages varies globally. Many factors affect the choice of marriage and age pattern such as globalization, modernization, urbanization; in country migration, social transformation, gender relations; changes in the family joint to nuclear patterns; amendments in laws regarding the institution of marriage and divorce process; and increased involvement and contribution of women in paid labor. This research aims to explore experiences of women who were married at a nearly age. The universe of this research was Karachi city. The researchers used convenience sampling method and purposive and snowball sampling technique to interview100 female respondents married at the early age of 12-17years. The study shows that majority of child marriages/early marriages are due to traditional practices. Most of them belong to low-income families and were illiterate. Although these women got married in early age, they intend to marry their daughters after 18 years of age. Findings conclude that however there are significant steps taken to demotivate child marriage worldwide, the Government of Pakistan and other organizations working toward women wellbeing, need to create an enabling environment and de-motivate not only the parents, but the community members against child marriages.References
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year, Daily Dawn, MAY 23, 2015
Dahl, G.B. (2010). Early teen marriage and future poverty.
Demography, 47(3), 689-718.
Gemignani, R., & Wodon, Q. (2015). Child Marriage and Faith Affiliation
in sub-Saharan Africa: Stylized Facts and Heterogeneity. The
Review of Faith & International Affairs, 13(3), 41-47.
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). (2006). “Child
Marriage and Poverty,” from Too Young to Wed: Advocacy
Toolkit: Education & Change Toward Ending Child Marriage. ICRW: Washington, D.C.
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). (2005).
Development Initiative on Supporting Health Adolescents
(DISHA) Project. Analysis of quantitative baseline survey data
conducted in 2004. ICRW: Washington, D.C.
Karam, A. (2015). Faith-Inspired Initiatives to Tackle the Social
Determinants of Child Marriage. The Review of Faith &
International Affairs, 13(3), 59-68.
Mughal, A. W., & Aldridge, J. (2017). Head Teachers’ Perspectives on
School Drop-Out in Secondary Schools in Rural Punjab,
Pakistan. Educational Studies, 53(4), 359-376.
Mustafa, M., Zakar, R., Zakar, M. Z., Chaudhry, A., & Nasrullah, M. (2017).
Under-Five Child Mortality and Morbidity Associated with
Consanguineous Child Marriage in Pakistan: Retrospective Analysis
using Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys, 1990–91, 2006–
07, 2012–13. Maternal and child health journal, 21(5), 1095-1104.
Naseef, F. U. (1999). Women in Islam: A discourse in rights and bligations. International Islamic Committee for Woman & Child.
Santhya, K. G., Jejeebhoy, S. J., & Ghosh, S. (2008). Early marriage and
sexual and reproductive health risks: Experiences of young
women and men in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, India.
Population Council. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/ForcedMarriage/NGO/PopulationCouncil22.pdf
Shahabuddin, A. S. M., Delvaux, T., Abouchadi, S., Sarker, M., & De
Brouwere, V. (2015). Utilization of maternal health services
among adolescent women in Bangladesh: A scoping review of
the literature. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 20(7),
822-829. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12503
Siddiqi, M.M. (1952). Women in Islam, Lahore: The Institute of Islamic Culture. pp.51
Tremayne, S. (2006). Modernity and early marriage in Iran: a view from
within. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 2(1), 65-94.
UNFPA, (2012) Marrying Too Young, Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/
sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf
UNFPA, Child Marriage. Retrieved from http://www.unfpa.org/end-childmarriage
UNICEF. (2012). Situation Analysis of Women and Children in Pakistan,
Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/pakistan/National_Report.pdf
UNICEF. (2014). Child protection from violence, exploitation, and abuse,
Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html
Walker, J. A. (2012). Early marriage in Africa-trends, harmful effects and
interventions. African journal of reproductive health, 16(2), 231-240.
Whiting, A. (2011). Child Marriage: Causes & Impacts. Women News
Network. Retrieved from http://womennewsnetwork.net/
2011/11/05/child-marriage-causes-impacts.
WHO. (2014). Every woman, every child: a post-2015 vision: the third
report of the independent Expert Review Group on Information
and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s health. Geneva:
World Health Organization.
Yadav, K. P. (2006). Child marriage in India. New Delhi: Adhyayan Publishers & Distributors.
Published
2018-01-15
Section
Articles
