For instance, early sexual debut goes hand in hand with child marriage, which increases a girls health risks, because an adolescents vaginal mucosa is not yet fully matured, exposing them to increased risk of sexually infected diseases including HIV [24]. The discussions covered norms and practices surrounding child marriage as well as how the phenomenon can be addressed. Data were collected from seven elders from selected communities in the Northern region of Ghana. Accessed 10 Jun 2016.
Aside reproductive health challenges, child marriage has also been found to be associated with increased likelihood of difficulties with activities of daily living (including carrying a 10kg load for 500m; bend, squat or kneel; and walking a distance of 2km) [21]. The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Demographic and Health Survey Program for allowing them to use their data. They will say look at this person, maybe she is your cousin or family member, she has married and maybe you are older than her and she is married, and you are still there. The Ghana Demographic and Health Survey protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee and the Institutional Review Board of ICF International.
The KIIs and FGDs were conducted from June to August 2016. Some child brides are also able to amass some wealth from their husbands to take care of their own family [12]. Afr Popul Stud. In comparison with Akan women, the odds of Ga/Dangme women marrying as children were 0.50 times less likely (significant at p<0.1) and Ewe women were 0.46 times less likely. Santhya KG, Ram U, Acharya R, et al. Hence tailored advocacy programs for adolescent girls should be developed. The need to reinforce social ties or build alliances is another traditional factor that influences child marriage [13, 14]. Child brides do not only get financial support from their husbands, but also from their in-laws to ensure they lack little or nothing.
It also violates Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that women should have the same right as men to freely choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent. Cite this article.
The results further showed that some young girls enter child marriage simply because their peers were married, not knowing the negative effects of child marriage as some of the young girls lamented in the FGDs. I have never witnessed a parent being sanctioned for giving out his or her child for early marriage. FGD 18-24 Married, Kukpaligu.
Across the two study areas, when adolescent girls and young women were asked about their plans and reasons for delaying marriage, they often mentioned their educational goals as the reason for not marrying early. * LEARN WHY DEFINING THESE VARIABLES IS IMPORTANT: But that hope starts with realizing that marriage can be more amazing than you have experienced or even thought. Young girls who had never been to school were more likely to marry as children compared to their counterparts who have ever been to school. The socio-cultural context of child marriage in a Bangladeshi village. Karei EM, Erulkar AS. The results show that the odds of a woman marrying as a child was 3 times more likely for those who had never attended school compared to their counterparts who had ever attended school. Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
*/
Article Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Health Service, ICF International.
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, United Nations Childrens Fund. Some parents/family encourage or pressure their daughters to get married early by always comparing them to their peers who are already married: From parents. 1999;30:95111. Google Scholar.
On the other hand, particularly in the Central region, some parents acknowledged that their children engaged in transactional relationships because of family hardships, which leads to marriage: Some are experiencing hardship, so when the girl goes to meet someone who is wealthy, the mother forces her to marry that person. dev.
Or, maybe marriage was hard for some of you and youre no longer married. CAS Establishing causal relationship as to whether pregnancies occurred before marriage or that pregnancy led to early marriage was beyond the scope of this study. they dont listen to their parents oh! The findings show that various socio-economic and cultural factors such as education, teenage pregnancy and poverty influence child marriage. We face temptation nearly every minute and from all directions.
When you give them and she is a small girl, they will take her but if you dont have, they will take your wife. You know, you live with your parents, you live with your family members and most of the elders in the family will put pressure on you to marry. It is bordered by Ashanti and Eastern regions to the north, Western region to the west, Greater Accra region to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to the south.
In this paper, the analysis of child marriage is restricted to women aged 2024years to ensure that no respondent was still at risk for marriage during adolescence [22, 23]. FGD 18-24 Married, Kukpaligu, When I was in school, a guy proposed to me and I accepted. From the quantitative data, one in five (20.68%) young girls aged 2024years married as children, a reduction from 24.58% in the 2008 GDHS data. They indicated that in some cases, parents could not be blamed for early marriage, as it is the girls who fall pregnant. 2000;41:32843. Accessed 26 May 2018, University of Ghana Centre for Social Policy Studies, World Vision Ghana. They suggested that chiefs should establish laws on child marriage and ensure offenders are punished: For the chiefs, they can even establish some laws within the community that whenever you do this these are the punishments that you are going to face, and I think no one is ready for a punishment. When they get pregnant too, they will have a baby . All authors read and approved the final manuscript for submission. Four FGD guides and one KII guide were utilized to elicit qualitative data as described in the Methods section (see page 10). Second, to examine the net effects of each of the independent variables on the dependent variable controlling for other variables.
Child marriage in Ghana: evidence from a multi-method study, $$ \ln\ \left(\frac{\mathrm{pi}}{\left[1-\mathrm{pi}\right]}\right)=\mathrm{bo}+\mathrm{biXi} $$, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0823-1, https://dhsprogram.com/data/new-user-registration.cfm, https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_26024.html, https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf, https://social.un.org/youthyear/docs/fact-sheet-girl-youngwomen.pdf, https://www.icrw.org/files/images/Causes-Consequences-and%20Solutions-to-Forced-Child-Marriage-Anju-Malhotra-7-15-2010.pdf, http://csps.ug.edu.gh/content/study-child-marriage-selected-world-vision-ghana-operational-areas, https://www.issuelab.org/resources/11421/11421.pdf, https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf, https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/png_ghana.pdf, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/QRS5/copingwithpregnancy.pdf, http://allinschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/OOSC-2014-QW-Child-Marriage-final.pdf, https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2010PGY_BerhaneHewanReport.pdf, http://www.unesco.org/education/edurights/media/docs/f7a7a002205e07fbf119bc00c8bd3208a438b37f.pdf, https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-2026-National-Strategic-Framework-on-ECM-in-Ghana.pdf, https://www.surveydesign.com.au/docs/manuals/stata13/r.pdf, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. For instance, betrothal (in some cases, exchange of girls) is often early, sometimes before birth to ensure sex and child bearing occur within marriage [12].
Privacy [38]). However, this discussion is beyond the scope the present study. Your father may be in need and may ask for help from a rich man.
The FGDs were conducted among the following subgroups: 1217-year olds who were married, 1824-year olds (who got married before the age of 18), unmarried 1217-year olds (at risk of child marriage) and unmarried 1824-year olds.
Marriage is designed for purity.
Parents who have married daughters also enjoy some prestige and respect from community members [12]. Maybe when the girl is 17, he will wait till the girl is 20 before, he will have money then, to buy the things. They will say they do not have money to take care of the child so by the time they think you are of age they should just give you out for marriage; they will get something in return from that man. But when children are raised in a healthy marriage, they get a front row seat to see and experience the lasting benefits of a strong family. 2015;47:12039. The dependent variable for this study is child marriage. The qualitative interview guides used in this study were developed for this study. In each region, 10 focus group discussions were conducted (20 FGDs in total). When you enter school, they wont give you like that.
To help curb the practice of child marriage in Ghana, participants in the FGDs highlighted the role of the police. I got pregnant, I stopped school, and I am now living with him. And the children by force engage in relationships and it will result in pregnancy and she will end up entering marriage. Accra: Ghana Statistical Service; 2011. DeMaris A. These programs should focus on educating communities and raising awareness on the consequences of child marriage. KII, Ghana Health Service-Zabzugu, [Pauses briefly to think about response to the factors that influence child marriage] Teenage pregnancy too can be one of them. However, evidence also show that child marriage is a catalyst for poverty which undermines status and honour in societies. 2010;36:1329. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, Examining the intersection between marriage, perceived maturity and child marriage: perspectives of community elders in the Northern region of Ghana, a Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, b Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, /doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2020.1749934?needAccess=true. If the level of educating the girl child is intensified, early marriage will stop. Accessed 10 May 2018. // Replace PAGE_IDENTIFIER with your page's unique identifier variable Once feasibility was established, the key contacts identified community volunteers to mobilize eligible participants. var d = document, s = d.createElement('script'); New York: UNICEF; 2014. https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf. In Ghana, there is commitment towards curbing child marriage. But before you realize the girls will bring pregnancy to you. California Privacy Statement, Some girls from both regions felt that since they did not have money to go to school the best alternative was to marry early: As I am schooling, I dont have anybody taking care of me, my parents are poor, but they did not force me to the man. Through that I think we can reduce the child marriage. Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine. The major religious traditions (Christianity and Islam) in Ghana encourage early marriage because premarital sex and child bearing are considered immoral. Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women International Center for Research on Women; 2010. https://www.icrw.org/files/images/Causes-Consequences-and%20Solutions-to-Forced-Child-Marriage-Anju-Malhotra-7-15-2010.pdf. In addition, women in the middle, fourth and highest wealth quintiles were significantly less likely to marry early compared to those in the lowest quintile.
Aside reproductive health challenges, child marriage has also been found to be associated with increased likelihood of difficulties with activities of daily living (including carrying a 10kg load for 500m; bend, squat or kneel; and walking a distance of 2km) [21]. The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Demographic and Health Survey Program for allowing them to use their data. They will say look at this person, maybe she is your cousin or family member, she has married and maybe you are older than her and she is married, and you are still there. The Ghana Demographic and Health Survey protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee and the Institutional Review Board of ICF International.
The KIIs and FGDs were conducted from June to August 2016. Some child brides are also able to amass some wealth from their husbands to take care of their own family [12]. Afr Popul Stud. In comparison with Akan women, the odds of Ga/Dangme women marrying as children were 0.50 times less likely (significant at p<0.1) and Ewe women were 0.46 times less likely. Santhya KG, Ram U, Acharya R, et al. Hence tailored advocacy programs for adolescent girls should be developed. The need to reinforce social ties or build alliances is another traditional factor that influences child marriage [13, 14]. Child brides do not only get financial support from their husbands, but also from their in-laws to ensure they lack little or nothing.
It also violates Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that women should have the same right as men to freely choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent. Cite this article.
The results further showed that some young girls enter child marriage simply because their peers were married, not knowing the negative effects of child marriage as some of the young girls lamented in the FGDs. I have never witnessed a parent being sanctioned for giving out his or her child for early marriage. FGD 18-24 Married, Kukpaligu.
Across the two study areas, when adolescent girls and young women were asked about their plans and reasons for delaying marriage, they often mentioned their educational goals as the reason for not marrying early. * LEARN WHY DEFINING THESE VARIABLES IS IMPORTANT: But that hope starts with realizing that marriage can be more amazing than you have experienced or even thought. Young girls who had never been to school were more likely to marry as children compared to their counterparts who have ever been to school. The socio-cultural context of child marriage in a Bangladeshi village. Karei EM, Erulkar AS. The results show that the odds of a woman marrying as a child was 3 times more likely for those who had never attended school compared to their counterparts who had ever attended school. Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
*/
Article Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Health Service, ICF International.
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, United Nations Childrens Fund. Some parents/family encourage or pressure their daughters to get married early by always comparing them to their peers who are already married: From parents. 1999;30:95111. Google Scholar.
On the other hand, particularly in the Central region, some parents acknowledged that their children engaged in transactional relationships because of family hardships, which leads to marriage: Some are experiencing hardship, so when the girl goes to meet someone who is wealthy, the mother forces her to marry that person. dev.
Or, maybe marriage was hard for some of you and youre no longer married. CAS Establishing causal relationship as to whether pregnancies occurred before marriage or that pregnancy led to early marriage was beyond the scope of this study. they dont listen to their parents oh! The findings show that various socio-economic and cultural factors such as education, teenage pregnancy and poverty influence child marriage. We face temptation nearly every minute and from all directions.
When you give them and she is a small girl, they will take her but if you dont have, they will take your wife. You know, you live with your parents, you live with your family members and most of the elders in the family will put pressure on you to marry. It is bordered by Ashanti and Eastern regions to the north, Western region to the west, Greater Accra region to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to the south.
In this paper, the analysis of child marriage is restricted to women aged 2024years to ensure that no respondent was still at risk for marriage during adolescence [22, 23]. FGD 18-24 Married, Kukpaligu, When I was in school, a guy proposed to me and I accepted. From the quantitative data, one in five (20.68%) young girls aged 2024years married as children, a reduction from 24.58% in the 2008 GDHS data. They indicated that in some cases, parents could not be blamed for early marriage, as it is the girls who fall pregnant. 2000;41:32843. Accessed 26 May 2018, University of Ghana Centre for Social Policy Studies, World Vision Ghana. They suggested that chiefs should establish laws on child marriage and ensure offenders are punished: For the chiefs, they can even establish some laws within the community that whenever you do this these are the punishments that you are going to face, and I think no one is ready for a punishment. When they get pregnant too, they will have a baby . All authors read and approved the final manuscript for submission. Four FGD guides and one KII guide were utilized to elicit qualitative data as described in the Methods section (see page 10). Second, to examine the net effects of each of the independent variables on the dependent variable controlling for other variables.
Child marriage in Ghana: evidence from a multi-method study, $$ \ln\ \left(\frac{\mathrm{pi}}{\left[1-\mathrm{pi}\right]}\right)=\mathrm{bo}+\mathrm{biXi} $$, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-019-0823-1, https://dhsprogram.com/data/new-user-registration.cfm, https://www.unicef.org/publications/index_26024.html, https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf, https://social.un.org/youthyear/docs/fact-sheet-girl-youngwomen.pdf, https://www.icrw.org/files/images/Causes-Consequences-and%20Solutions-to-Forced-Child-Marriage-Anju-Malhotra-7-15-2010.pdf, http://csps.ug.edu.gh/content/study-child-marriage-selected-world-vision-ghana-operational-areas, https://www.issuelab.org/resources/11421/11421.pdf, https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf, https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/png_ghana.pdf, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/QRS5/copingwithpregnancy.pdf, http://allinschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/OOSC-2014-QW-Child-Marriage-final.pdf, https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2010PGY_BerhaneHewanReport.pdf, http://www.unesco.org/education/edurights/media/docs/f7a7a002205e07fbf119bc00c8bd3208a438b37f.pdf, https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2017-2026-National-Strategic-Framework-on-ECM-in-Ghana.pdf, https://www.surveydesign.com.au/docs/manuals/stata13/r.pdf, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. For instance, betrothal (in some cases, exchange of girls) is often early, sometimes before birth to ensure sex and child bearing occur within marriage [12].
Privacy [38]). However, this discussion is beyond the scope the present study. Your father may be in need and may ask for help from a rich man.
The FGDs were conducted among the following subgroups: 1217-year olds who were married, 1824-year olds (who got married before the age of 18), unmarried 1217-year olds (at risk of child marriage) and unmarried 1824-year olds.
Marriage is designed for purity.
Parents who have married daughters also enjoy some prestige and respect from community members [12]. Maybe when the girl is 17, he will wait till the girl is 20 before, he will have money then, to buy the things. They will say they do not have money to take care of the child so by the time they think you are of age they should just give you out for marriage; they will get something in return from that man. But when children are raised in a healthy marriage, they get a front row seat to see and experience the lasting benefits of a strong family. 2015;47:12039. The dependent variable for this study is child marriage. The qualitative interview guides used in this study were developed for this study. In each region, 10 focus group discussions were conducted (20 FGDs in total). When you enter school, they wont give you like that.
To help curb the practice of child marriage in Ghana, participants in the FGDs highlighted the role of the police. I got pregnant, I stopped school, and I am now living with him. And the children by force engage in relationships and it will result in pregnancy and she will end up entering marriage. Accra: Ghana Statistical Service; 2011. DeMaris A. These programs should focus on educating communities and raising awareness on the consequences of child marriage. KII, Ghana Health Service-Zabzugu, [Pauses briefly to think about response to the factors that influence child marriage] Teenage pregnancy too can be one of them. However, evidence also show that child marriage is a catalyst for poverty which undermines status and honour in societies. 2010;36:1329. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, Examining the intersection between marriage, perceived maturity and child marriage: perspectives of community elders in the Northern region of Ghana, a Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, b Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, /doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2020.1749934?needAccess=true. If the level of educating the girl child is intensified, early marriage will stop. Accessed 10 May 2018. // Replace PAGE_IDENTIFIER with your page's unique identifier variable Once feasibility was established, the key contacts identified community volunteers to mobilize eligible participants. var d = document, s = d.createElement('script'); New York: UNICEF; 2014. https://www.unicef.org/media/files/Child_Marriage_Report_7_17_LR..pdf. In Ghana, there is commitment towards curbing child marriage. But before you realize the girls will bring pregnancy to you. California Privacy Statement, Some girls from both regions felt that since they did not have money to go to school the best alternative was to marry early: As I am schooling, I dont have anybody taking care of me, my parents are poor, but they did not force me to the man. Through that I think we can reduce the child marriage. Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine. The major religious traditions (Christianity and Islam) in Ghana encourage early marriage because premarital sex and child bearing are considered immoral. Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women International Center for Research on Women; 2010. https://www.icrw.org/files/images/Causes-Consequences-and%20Solutions-to-Forced-Child-Marriage-Anju-Malhotra-7-15-2010.pdf. In addition, women in the middle, fourth and highest wealth quintiles were significantly less likely to marry early compared to those in the lowest quintile.