Give the girl child a future; say no to child marriage.
Child marriage refers to any marriage involving a child younger than 18 years old. While child marriage can happen to both sexes, it disproportionately affects girls.
‘A 2013 UNESCO fact sheet on primary schooling reported that in Nigeria about five and a half million girls of primary school age are not in school.’ Niger, has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world. In Malawi, half of all girls in the country are married before they turn 18.’ This is linked to poor education and unemployment, since these girls are forced to drop out of school after they wed. In Africa, child marriage is a source of income for poor families, as many parents offer their teenage daughters in exchange for money or livestock. We should not continue to condone such practices. Every girl child, no matter the country of residence, deserves to be empowered through quality education in order to make meaningful development to the nation as much as her male counterpart.
Desmond Tutu stated as a matter of fact “If we are going to see real development in the world then our best investment is women”. This was further confirmed by Angela Thody’s remark, “The surest way to keep a people down is to educate the men and neglect the women.”
When we say no to child marriage and give our girls the chance to be educated, they become more valuable to the family and the entire nation, earn better wages, stand up to discrimination and abuse and give birth to healthier children who are more likely to be educated and useful citizens. If we continue to encourage child marriage, we are indirectly sending the girl child to an early grave because of the increased risk of complications associated with teenage pregnancy and childbirth. These complications are the leading causes of death for girls aged 15 to 19 years in developing countries.
Arese Carrington on her lecture on ‘The Female imperative in the new Africa’ emphasized that “Nigeria must thus lead the change in stopping the education disparity, dehumanization and control of women. Nigeria and Africa’s future is dependent on not discarding the role of females in the society, nor their potential to contribute economically and politically. Nigerian women, if given the opportunity are weapons for massive development.”
Africa as a continent should rise up and say no to child marriage, yes to girl child education, if she wants to see meaningful development and be a force to reckon with among the other continents of the world. Our leaders should wake up to their responsibility of nation building by giving women their right share of qualitative education, power and opportunities.
The United Nation marks 11 October as the ‘International day of the Girl Child’, to promote girls’ human rights and address gender inequalities. Let us stand with the UN and the global community to support girls’ progress everywhere. Let girls be girls.’
Stop the practice of child marriage, educate the girl child and give her a future.
