Clearly, child marriage is a curse which threatens the economic and social security of the country. Thus, the issue needs to be addressed with the utmost seriousness

Child marriage

A leading English language daily in the county reported on Tuesday that a schoolgirl, 14 years of age, sued her mother at Jalkathi for forcing her to get married. We welcome the exceptional bravery of the girl in asserting her rights. But we grieve at the thought of the large number of such marriages which are being consummated regularly almost every day all over the country. In these cases, the victims fail to pluck up enough courage to defy the pressures from family elders and others and give in. Needless to say their lives are ruined in the process.
It should be obvious that fertility is very high among children who have attained puberty or come near to it. They tend to procreate the fastest in contrast to the population in the other age groups. Thus, population control activities can achieve the greatest success by preventing children or teenagers from marrying.
But the trend of early marriage, specially of females, is still found to be strong among the rural people in Bangladesh in a situation where the population of the country remains preponderantly rural. The greater number in the population consider it safe to have their teenage girls married off at the fastest depriving the latter permanently of their rights to pursue education, career development and leading of a productive life in accordance with their inner urges.
But the outcome of these practices are early motherhood with crushing burden of the same on the health of these girls who have barely come out of childhood themselves. The young and uneducated brides become the typical housekeepers and undernourished mothers of equally undernourished children and little else.
Women constitute half the population of Bangladesh. The country’s economy can gain a great deal if this half of the population can lead productive lives and are enabled to take conscious decisions of their own such as growing up to adulthood as single persons, marrying late and engaging in occupations outside the bounds of their homes. But this will require a social movement and the quicker it is launched by conscious groups in society, the better for the country in all respects.
Clearly, child marriage is a curse which threatens the economic and social security of the country. Thus, the issue needs to be addressed with the utmost seriousness. An absurd move that was noted recently to further lower the minimum age of marriage of girls to 16 years must be given up for good. It should be only considered to increase the existing minimum marriage age of girls from 18 years to, say, 20 years.

Clearly, child marriage is a curse which threatens the economic and social security of the country. Thus, the issue needs to be addressed with the utmost seriousness

Child marriage

A leading English language daily in the county reported on Tuesday that a schoolgirl, 14 years of age, sued her mother at Jalkathi for forcing her to get married. We welcome the exceptional bravery of the girl in asserting her rights. But we grieve at the thought of the large number of such marriages which are being consummated regularly almost every day all over the country. In these cases, the victims fail to pluck up enough courage to defy the pressures from family elders and others and give in. Needless to say their lives are ruined in the process. It should be obvious that fertility is very high among children who have attained puberty or come near to it. They tend to procreate the fastest in contrast to the population in the other age groups. Thus, population control activities can achieve the greatest success by preventing children or teenagers from marrying. But the trend of early marriage, specially of females, is still found to be strong among the rural people in Bangladesh in a situation where the population of the country remains preponderantly rural. The greater number in the population consider it safe to have their teenage girls married off at the fastest depriving the latter permanently of their rights to pursue education, career development and leading of a productive life in accordance with their inner urges. But the outcome of these practices are early motherhood with crushing burden of the same on the health of these girls who have barely come out of childhood themselves. The young and uneducated brides become the typical housekeepers and undernourished mothers of equally undernourished children and little else. Women constitute half the population of Bangladesh. The countrys economy can gain a great deal if this half of the population can lead productive lives and are enabled to take conscious decisions of their own such as growing up to adulthood as single persons, marrying late and engaging in occupations outside the bounds of their homes. But this will require a social movement and the quicker it is launched by conscious groups in society, the better for the country in all respects. Clearly, child marriage is a curse which threatens the economic and social security of the country. Thus, the issue needs to be addressed with the utmost seriousness. An absurd move that was noted recently to further lower the minimum age of marriage of girls to 16 years must be given up for good. It should be only considered to increase the existing minimum marriage age of girls from 18 years to, say, 20 years.