Case Study: Child Marriage - Cultural and Societal Impacts

This case study report analyzes the issue of child marriage, exploring its historical roots, current context, and societal impacts. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, providing a clear structure for the report. The introduction defines child marriage and highlights its violation of children's rights. The discussion section includes a brief overview of a case involving a 13-year-old girl, followed by a detailed historical overview of the practice, tracing its prevalence in various cultures and time periods. The report examines the current context of child marriage, noting its decline but persistence in certain regions, and discusses the cultural factors contributing to its continuation. It identifies various issues associated with child marriage, such as the violation of children's rights, health risks, and exploitation. The report further explores societal changes, the current position of society on child marriage, and initiatives taken to abolish the practice. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the need for continued efforts to combat child marriage and protect children's rights.

Running head: CULTURAL STUDIES
CULTURAL STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
This paper is a case study report about child marriages in the world. This paper sheds a light
on the reasons of child marriage and the present context of the practice and how it has
changed over the years It gives an insight about the consequences that has resulted from these
practices and the current initiatives that are being taken for the overall development of the
children for a better society.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Brief overview of the case......................................................................................................3
Historical overview of the practice of child marriage............................................................3
Current context of Child marriages........................................................................................4
Issues of child marriage.........................................................................................................5
Change in the current society.................................................................................................6
Current position of the society on child marriage..................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The forcefully marriage of two children with each other or with someone elder with
the consent of both the families is known as child marriage (Male & Wodon, 2016). Child
marriage has been one of the important social problems that have been faced by the word and
it has been decreasing however still this practice has been going on many countries despite of
government making strict laws against it. It highly violates children’s laws and their right to
freedom. This paper is a case study report on child marriage that is illegal in this age and how
it is affecting the young children who are forced into doing this.
Discussion
Brief overview of the case
A 13 years old girl named Lena belonging from the Dalit community who lives in a
small village in Peru is being advised and pressurized by her parents into marrying a man
who is 26 years of age of the same village. Lena is not shocked by the news as it is a common
practice in her village as many friends of her age have been getting married a tender age
because of various reasons. However Lena is worried because she is scared of being
mistreated by the man and just wants a normal and a happy life.
Historical overview of the practice of child marriage
In many countries in the world that includes Eastern Europe, India and many more
women were married immediately after they reached puberty or during their teens. Both
small boys and girls were the victims however it has been seen that girls were targeted more
when compared to boys. This practice was common mainly because it was followed and done

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as a tradition that was going on for generations. This was mainly practice before the industrial
revolution happened and continued till the 19th century.
Earlier in the medieval and ancient societies child marriage was a common
phenomenon and was practiced widely. Mostly girls before they became 15 were married off
to men who were much older to them (DellaPergola, 2017). This had been common in the
Jewish world. In many countries girls when they became 12 years old were already
considered to be an adult and thus were married off to young adults and sometimes to older
men.
In Greece, child marriage and early motherhood was highly encouraged and even
boys were expected to get married at a tender age when they were teens. In Greek it was
considered to be an act that was for the public interest (Turner & Arslan, 2015).
In India, it was more like a favor to the parents of the girl’s child. In villages t was a
tradition of getting the girl child married as soon as they hit puberty and sometimes before
that. Many fathers got their daughter married off at a young age in order to follow the
tradition however there were many fathers who saw their girls as a burden and wanted to get
rid of their girl child as soon as possible and got them married to older main and sometimes
did that in exchange of money (Lal, 2015). Not getting girl child married would be a matter
of self respect in the villages terming small girls to be not beautiful and not worthy
sometimes
In Syria, locals tried and made efforts in order to contract marriages for their own
children who were relatively very young. Many girls here were married off because of
poverty and thought that getting girls married off would be a solution to lessen the burden of
poverty (Callahan, 2016).

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Current context of Child marriages
Child marriages have been almost abolished and have relatively become low and there
have been strict rules by the government against child marriage. However child marriage is
still being practiced in many countries especially in the rural areas of the country. According
to the data presented by UNICEF child is highly practiced in West Africa in today’s age
followed by Southern and Eastern Africa, South Asia and Middle Eastern countries (UNICEF
DATA, 2019). Child marriage different in many countries
In West Africa, people feel that honor is very important and feel that girls getting their
menstruation outside the house and staining their clothes makes people feel that they have
lost their virginity which makes the parents feel they have lost self respect thus they get their
girl child married at a tender age in order to save and protect their honor (Male & Wodon,
2018). There are many girls in West Africa who are removed from schools in order to get
married.
In Middle Eastern countries small girls are often married off because of poverty and
often used as a business transaction (Hudson & Matfess, 2018). Many parents give away their
children in exchange of money or sometimes in order to clear financial dispute.
In India, there have been evidence of parents getting their children married off
because of poverty and many a times are married off as a means of clearing their debts and
often as obligation to the rich and powerful (Tilche & Simpson, 2018).
However strict government laws and the education have helped in lowering the rates
and making it illegal in the world. There are very few evidences of child marriage in the
world today as compared to the previous century. This is mainly practiced in the rural areas
where people are uneducated and who have not got an opportunity to broaden their horizon.

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Issues of child marriage
Child marriage is a social problem and there have been strict governmental laws
because of many detrimental issues that have affected the children negatively. Child marriage
violates the children rights as they are deprived of the freedom and do not get a chance to
avail the facilities of education. There have been certain beliefs about girls that they are
meant to look after the household and look after their husbands and satisfy them. The small
girls at a very young age have been maintaining the household by cooking and cleaning the
house that has many a times led to fatal accidents. There have been evidences of small girls
being exploited by treating them as slaves and treating them as an object to meet sexual
desires of their husbands. The biggest and the foremost problems were pregnancy at a young
age. There have been instances where small girls have been molested by their husbands and
have also got pregnant at a very tender age. This has led to many deaths of small girls
because of their age as at a tender age the body is not ready for pregnancy (Ozdogon, 2015).
Small girls have also been subjected to physical and mental violence that has resulted in
many deaths, many have died because of the physical violence and many have died sue to
suicide (Kidman, 2016).
Change in the current society
In this 21st century people are aiming in achieving a world without social and
economical problems. UNICEF has come up with different programs in different countries
that are trying to abolish child marriage completely and are trying to put emphasis on
education and in the overall development of the children (Unicef.org, 2019). In the broader
society people have understood the grave consequences of child marriage and have stopped
this practice and contributing to making a positive change in the world. People have been
giving the children freedom and providing them with their rights that they deserve however
the big cities and urban areas have taken up this measure but the people in rural areas are still

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practicing this because of their traditional values and norms that restricts from abolishing the
illegal and unethical practices completely.
Current position of the society on child marriage
Most people in the society have been reacting positively and supporting the initiatives
and the laws that have been introduced in order to abolish child marriage in the society. There
are people who have been supporting this initiative through different non-profit organizations
and also by practicing it personally and achieve to gain a society free of child marriage and
development of small children in the society (Petroni, Das & Sawyer, 2019). There are
different programs that have rescued children from abusive child marriages and have been
catering to their needs in the society however there are still many people specially in the rural
areas who have been adamant and have been stuck to the old tradition s and feel that this is a
norm that needs to be followed and think their small children are a liability (Lewis, 2017).
Many feel that the laws and the initiatives are violating the traditional customs of the society
and should continue to let them practice child marriage.
Conclusion
Child marriage has been an old tradition since time immemorial however the practices
have decreased a lot but still are prevalent among rural areas and societies where superstition
and old traditional values and norms dominate their way of thinking and their mindset. There
are many unethical reasons apart from traditional values that pave way for child marriage and
there are negative consequences of the practices that have even resulted to death. However
there have been many non-profit organizations and people who are coming up with initiatives
and programs to abolish child marriage and to educate people about the consequences of
child marriage for the development of the children and for their freedom.

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Reference
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(2017). Syrian Women and Children: Identifying Gaps and Goals for Reconstruction.
DellaPergola, S. (2017). Jewish out-marriage: A global perspective. In Jewish intermarriage
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Hudson, V. M., & Matfess, H. (2018). The Neglected Role of Brideprice in Catalyzing
Instability and Violent Conflict. Military Review.
Kidman, R. (2016). Child marriage and intimate partner violence: a comparative study of 34
countries. International journal of epidemiology, 46(2), 662-675.
Lal, B. S. (2015). Child marriage in India: Factors and problems. International Journal of
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Lewis, O. (2017). The culture of poverty. In Poor Jews (pp. 9-25). Routledge.
Male, C., & Wodon, Q. (2016). Basic Profile of Child Marriage in the Republic of Congo.
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Tilche, A., & Simpson, E. (2018). Marriage and the crisis of peasant society in Gujarat, India.
The Journal of Peasant Studies, 45(7), 1518-1538.

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Turner, B. S., & Arslan, B. Z. (2015). Legal pluralism and the Shari’a: a comparison of
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(pp. 219-235). Springer, Cham.
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Marriage. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/protection/unfpa-unicef-global-
programme-accelerate-action-end-child-marriage