KARACHI:
Child marriage is a growing menace in our country. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund report, 21% of children in the country — both boys and girls — get married before 18 and 3% before 15. Unfortunately, most of the time they are girls who get married under 18. And most of the child marriage cases in the country occur in Sindh. According to another report, Pakistan is the home of nearly 19 million child brides where one in six young women was married in childhood, which is alarming.
Although there would be several reasons behind child marriage in Pakistan including deeply entrenched traditions and customs, low income of families, lack of awareness, limited access to an education, and lack of security, but one the biggest causes is massive poverty.
In poor families in general, girl is considered to be a burden. The role of the girl is very narrow in our culture. The families don’t pay as much attention to a girl’s upbringing as they pay to a boy’s because they think the girl will have to go to someone else home after the marriage. The boys on the other hand enjoy full patronage of their parents. It has been observed that if a girl gets all those opportunities that boys get, they achieve much more than boys, because they are hardworking and passionate about their work.
Unfortunately, the role of the government is much wanting in stopping childhood marriage and the families also don’t want to stop this ugly tradition because of unemployment and poverty. It is time for the government to stop this unlawful practice by taking holistic measures: by taking steps to empower women and girls and also ensuring implementation on the relevant laws.
Waseem Saleem
Gwadar
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2022.
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