While studying the Gender and Environment course (UNITAR and UNCC learn), I learned that drought can lead to child marriage. This made me curious. How does drought cause child marriage? Are there studies on this? How did they find the link? Maybe it happens rarely, or it is just a case study. But when I looked it up, I found research articles on it. I decided to explore these. I didn’t want to focus only on drought because some articles also mentioned floods. So, I titled this an environmental crisis.
Droughts and floods have significantly impacted societies, especially in developing countries. One is that it is less talked about. The consequent rise in child marriage rates. Let’s try to explore how these crises force young girls into early marriages.
Child Marriage
Child marriage is defined as a formal marriage or informal union in which at least one of the parties is under 18 years. In most of the cases, girls are married at an early age. 21% of girls in the world population are married before their 18th birthday. The percentages are highest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, at 35% and 30%, respectively. Almost 12 million girls are married under 18 every year. The child marriage can be due to many factors. Social pressure, norms, culture, household economics, harassments, pregnancy or other reasons. Some articles too suggest that the environmental crisis too have a impact on them.
Connection Between Drought/Flood and Child Marriage
In many farming communities, droughts or any environmental crisis can ruin crops. The well or the water sources might dry up. Even the livestock are being harmed. This causes the families to lose their income and ability to feed themselves. This pushes them into poverty. Hence, they marry off their daughter to repay the debt or to reduce family expenses.
Data & Methodology
The Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia were mostly covered for the studies. Majority of the articles focus more on the Qualitative data than the Quantitative data. For Quantitative, the data are collected from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Drought occurrence, Happening of child marriages and the correlation were found. Some findings did find a association to extreme heats. But most of the study focused on droughts and floods. For Qualitative, the data were collected from the interviews, surveys and focus group discussions.
| STUDY TYPE | Academic | 11 (46%)a |
| Grey | 13 (54%) | |
| METHODOLOGY | Quantitative | 8 (33%) |
| Qualitative | 16 (67%) | |
| LOCATION(S) STUDIED | South Asia | 11 (46%) |
| South East Asia | 2 (8%) | |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 13 (54%) | |
| Rest of World | 0 (0%) | |
| ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS TYPE | Cyclone | 2 (8%) |
| Flood | 8 (33%) | |
| Drought | 12 (50%) | |
| River Erosion | 1 (4%) | |
| Earthquake/Tsunami | 1 (4%) | |
| Extreme Heat | 1 (4%) |
The Impact & The Findings
Environmental crises such as droughts and floods have a devastating impact on developing countries. When these occur, it affects the basic needs of the families. In those situations, child marriages serve as a coping mechanism. This helps them reduce their economic burden and also protects them from sexual exploitation and violence. Study findings say that daughters were married earlier in Bangladesh after cyclones. In Bangladesh, for example, girls aged 11-14 were 50% more likely to marry during a heatwave that lasted over 30 days. Girls aged 15-17 were 30% more likely to marry in those conditions. They just see this as a way to reduce their dependents, and it gives them temporary relief.
Another study found that droughts lead to more child marriages as families. As they cope with income loss from failed crops.
In Somalia, climate disasters have displaced millions of people, leading to an increase in child marriage in refugee camps. Young girls are often married off to older men in exchange for food and other basic necessities.
Environmental disasters create a ripple effect that goes beyond immediate needs. Schools often close due to damage or displacement, disrupting girls education. Some think that marrying off protects them from violence. But there are possibilities for the girls to face the risk while traveling to fetch water and woods for the family. Education is denied to the them, making them more unaware of the environmental disasters. They are exposed to exploitation and trafficking and more.
Additionally, based on sample from 180 countries, a study concluded that climate change makes communities more vulnerable, especially financially. This lower income strengthens the main reasons why child marriage happens. One is the unequal treatment of girls and boys (gender discrimination) and second one is extreme poverty.
Conversely, the marriage instead of protecting them, perpetuates the cycle of poverty for those girls, their offspring, and their communities. Losing educational opportunities makes the problem worse since education helps delay marriage and empower girls.
Wicked Problem
Climate change, environmental disasters are often considered wicked problem. Wicked problems are something difficult to define and solve because of its interconnected nature. It can’t be a one step solution or end card to that problem. Solving these kind of problems requires coordinated efforts across multiple sectors. It is associated with various factors like social norms, gender discrimination, lack of educational opportunities, poverty, weak law enforcement, and long-held cultural practices. It requires long-term coordination across policy, grassroots level, legal reforms, social protections and building climate resilience together.
Comprehensive approach
Awareness Campaigns: Educating the girls on importance of studies and the benefits of delayed marriages. Ensuring them girls can continue their education, even during crises.
Legal Frameworks: Strengthening laws to prevent child marriage. Most of the countries have a limit of 18. Effective communication to the people about the legal age for marriage.
Community Engagement: Raising awareness among the people about the negative impacts of child marriage. Also promoting gender equality can change social norms.
Economic Support: Providing financial help and livelihood support to families and farmers affected by drought can reduce the economic pressure to marry off daughters early.
The relationship between environmental crises and child marriage highlights the complexity of this issue. Child marriage, especially in the context of environmental crises, is a wicked problem. No single solution will work. It needs awareness, strict policy enforcement, and particularly in developing countries that often lack the necessary measures to protect vulnerable children. The futures of untold girls around the world depend on the world community.
Cheers!
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REference
- Amin, S., Asadullah, M. N., Hossain, S., & Wahhaj, Z. (2017). Eradicating child marriage in the commonwealth: is investment in girls’ education sufficient?. The Round Table, 106(2), 221-223.
- Doherty, F. C., Rao, S., & Radney, A. R. (2023). Association between child, early, and forced marriage and extreme weather events: A mixed-methods systematic review. International Social Work, 00208728231186006.
- Ohio State University. (2023, August 29). Extreme weather events linked to increased child marriage. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 10, 2024 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230829124821.htm
- Girls Not Brides. (2022). Drought, Drop Out and Early Marriage: Feeling the Effects of Climate Change in East Africa.
- Pope, D. H., McMullen, H., Baschieri, A., Philipose, A., Udeh, C., Diallo, J., & McCoy, D. (2023). What is the current evidence for the relationship between the climate and environmental crises and child marriage? A scoping review. Global public health, 18(1), 2095655.
- Pasten, R., Figueroa, E., Muñoz, D., & Colther, C. (2020). Not a dream wedding: The hidden nexus between climate change and child marriage (No. wp508).
- UNICEF. (2022). Child marriage on the rise in Horn of Africa as drought crisis intensifies
Random Whys 