Ripple Effects of Poverty: Child Marriage
Photo by Dick Scholten on Pexels by Grace Anaja Child marriage is a plague that affects millions of girls all around the world. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) describes child marriage as ‘any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child.’ In developing countries like Niger, Nigeria, and Central African Republic, 36% of girls are married before age 18, and 10% are married before age 15. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also states that marriage must be entered by individuals who are fully consenting and at full age. Child marriage is an outright violation of their rights, especially with girls: it prevents them from being educated and empowered, growing up with their peers, maturing in their own time, and ultimately choosing their own life partners when they want to. It hinders them from achieving their goals and potential. In most parts of the world, child marriage is mainly driven by poverty. Girls are said to be ‘expensive’ to raise. Parents from low-income and rural communities who do not understand the value of education and empowerment and still hold on to patriarchal beliefs do not regard girl child education. For some, an educated boy child is more valuable and worth their investment. Since they cannot afford school fees or materials in cases where free education is available, they marry the girls off as adolescents. To them, this reduces the number of ‘mouths to feed’. Out–of–school girls have a higher chance of becoming child brides. Marrying these girls to wealthy or comfortable men who, most of the time, are much, much older would mean less financial pressure on the family and an avenue for provision… a way out of lack. These girls have been turned to ‘Poverty Alleviation Projects’ for their families. Sometimes, the girls are indirectly forced to get married when their parents neglect them. They believe having a husband means they would be catered for and their needs would be met. Certain people believe that child marriage ensures a girl’s virginity and prevents promiscuity, unwanted pregnancies, and diseases. However, child marriage has many health risks for the girl child. These include sexually transmitted diseases like Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), cervical cancer, miscarriages, death during childbirth, premature birth of offspring, obstetric fistula – which, according to the World Health Organisation, is an abnormal opening between a woman’s genital tract and her urinary tract or rectum, and could lead to maternal mortality. It can be prevented by delaying the age of the first pregnancy. Child marriage is a form of gender-based violence that exposes young girls to various forms: physical, sexual, psychological, verbal, and socioeconomic violence. These child brides move from home after marriage and usually live in isolation, especially for those who move to a new location. The opportunity to grow, play, have friends, and build social skills is lost. Because the men that marry them are older, they have little to nothing in common and are only concerned about household responsibilities. They are thrust into wifely duties and motherhood so early that they barely know what they are doing. When they give birth, it is practically a child having a child. Due to their low level of education, they are concentrated in the service industries doing menial, nonessential and domestic work, with little possibility for a chance at more. It is said that if you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. When young girls cannot pursue education, it limits women’s potential to contribute to national development. It denies them access to opportunities, resources, and mainstream governance: benefits and responsibilities. It sustains the already established patriarchal system that so desperately needs to end. Child marriage does not end the vicious cycle of poverty. It only strengthens it. If poverty was eradicated or reduced, would families and societies place more value on girls and women?
Ripple Effects of Poverty: Hunger
A young boy leaning on a corrugated Zinc fence.Photo by Ben White on Unsplash Every time I think of poverty in many African communities, I can’t help but mull over how this poverty is experienced on various levels. Thankfully, there is a term that effectively explains this: multidimensional poverty. According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), “Multidimensional poverty encompasses the various deprivations experienced by poor people in their daily lives – such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, disempowerment, poor quality of work, the threat of violence, and living in areas that are environmentally hazardous, among others.” This definition effectively captures the thoughts that race through my head when I think of poverty. It is simple to just equate poverty with low income and end it there. But what are the ripple effects of this low income on the individual? On their families? On the opportunities they get? On the possibility of leaving their social classes and improving their lives? So, the concept of poverty is so much more than how much a person earns or what global benchmarked income they earn less than. For this piece, I want to focus on one direct ripple effect of poverty: hunger. World Vision postulates that, “In the whole of Africa, 257 million people are experiencing hunger, which is 20% of the population.” In essence, 1 in every 5 people on the continent are hungry. To bring this home, this isn’t saying that 1 in 5 Africans in the continent have a desire for food, which is one of the definitions of hunger. This statistic shows that if you see five people today, there is a possibility that 1 of them has chronic hunger, meaning they may have diets that are either inadequate in quality or quantity, or that they have no food at all. This is a problem. Apart from the physical effects of hunger – which (by the way) are many – there are ways that hunger negates a person’s dignity. Because hunger is such a primal need, people who are hungry do not ‘have shame’, which is the Nigerian parlance for self-respect or worth. This is why it isn’t surprising that many people who are in this category of chronic hunger are prone to doing any (and every) thing for a meal. Years ago, when I was a student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, I went to a restaurant which students called, Zinc House. Now, ‘restaurant’ is a bit of stretch. This place was a makeshift building with corrugated zinc for walls and roof, and wooden benches where people could sit across each other for their meals. It was a really popular restaurant among students and members of staff, mostly because they served lots of food at a really cheap cost. You were not assured of hygienic meals, but you could get a plateful for whatever amount of money you had. If you wanted food for 200 Naira, you were sure to get it. If you wanted something for 120 Naira, you would have your food. This place didn’t just have its student/staff traipsing in and the restaurant staff that served them. It also had some almajiris – a collection of young children who earned their meals by begging – hanging around ready to scavenge leftovers for themselves. On the last day I was there, some guy who came in didn’t finish his food after a fly perched on it. He had not gotten to the thick chunks of meat he had ordered when he abandoned his meal. As soon as it was established that he was done eating, the scramble by these almajiris to get his food took the taste out of my mouth. In their squabble, they turned the food unto the dirt floor and proceeded to eat from the ground. (It is important that I mention that the floor was not just ‘dirty’: it was made of compact clay, thus… dirt floor.) Seeing children fighting themselves to eat off the floor…a floor that was dirty by virtue of it being made of literal dirt and having been stepped on by people from all kinds of places…broke me. I got up, called the smallest child in the group and gave him the rest of my meal. I then hurriedly left this place that displayed their lack of dignity and my shame at being unable to do more. Every time I think of poverty, especially as it relates to hunger, that image comes to my head. And while it isn’t the only one that does, it is the one that always gets me depressed. Every human being deserves dignity and respect. That dignity is lost when people degrade themselves for a chance at getting food. Let me emphasize that: no one should ever think that they need to fight for food; or eat meals that are leftovers; or scrape off the floor to get at their meal; or sell themselves; or any number of things that make them feel less worthy. It is one of the reasons I am fully in support of the Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2, which aim to end extreme poverty and hunger in all forms by 2030. We have about 10 years to achieve this. And be assured, the task is daunting. There are many factors that prevent Africans from having access to the food they need to starve off hunger: communal clashes like the herder-farmer clashes in many parts of Nigeria; multi-pronged issues like drought, famine, conflict and instability in places like South Sudan and Central African Republic; and deeply entrenched corruption by many leaders of our African countries…to mention a few. Ending extreme poverty in our continent is going to require a lot of cohesion by governments and the people. What are some low-hanging fruits that can accelerate this goal? The major one I can see now is the basic respect and protection of all people, regardless of their social status. I believe this is one of
