Shared Roots, Different Branches: Expanding Understanding of Child Marriage in Diverse Settings

"...shift the field's attention to girls' lack of agency, the social conditions of marriage, and the experiences of married girls with regard to...structural factors. Importantly, this fresh thinking has been led by activists and researchers based in the Global South..." - Dena Kimball and Archana Dwivedi

Globally, around 650 million girls and women marry before their 18th birthday. Among the factors that place girls at risk are poverty, traditional understandings of femininities and girlhood, gender-based violence, and gender inequalities, including harmful gender norms. The aim of this special edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health is to present recent research on the diverse manifestations of child, early, and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) around the world. It examines the role child marriage plays in controlling female bodies, specifically young girls, and regulating their sexuality. This means going beyond geographies on which rich evidence already exists in order to amplify diverse voices and highlight the intersections between this practice and other manifestations of gender inequality and oppression.

Contents (open access) include:

• [Editorial]: Singularity and Diversity in Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions, by Madhumita Das, Alessandra Guedes, Relebohile Moletsane, and Joar Svanemyr
• [Commentary]: Building a Global Movement to Respond to Child Marriage, by Shipra Jha, Yvette Kathurima, Eugenia Lopez Uribe, and Nerida Nthamburi
• [Commentary]: Recollections of How the Child Marriage Field Has Evolved, by Dena Kimball and Archana Dwivedi
• Mapping the Field of Child Marriage: Evidence, Gaps, and Future Directions From a Large-Scale Systematic Scoping Review, 2000-2019, by Manahil Siddiqi and Margaret E. Greene - The authors conducted a systematic search of publications focused on child marriage covering 4 languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French), encompassing a 20-year period (January 1 2000 - December 31 2019) and including peer-reviewed and gray literature across all major geographic regions of the world. The review calls for a greater focus of research on interventions preventing child marriage and responding to the needs of individuals married as children, a multilinguistic approach to knowledge exchange, and for research to be conducted in neglected high-prevalence settings.
• An Exploration of Social Norms That Restrict Girls' Sexuality and Facilitate Child Marriage in Bangladesh to Inform Policies and Programs, by Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Sadhvi Kalra, Aloka Talukder, Anne Laterra, Tanha Tabassum Nunna, Kausar Parvin, and Mahfuz Al Mamun - This qualitative study used 20 in-depth interviews with adolescent girls and another 10 with boys, 16 focus group discussions with girls, boys, and parents of adolescent girls, and 8 key informant interviews with community leaders in northern Bangladesh. Expectations that girls will restrict their mobility, limit their engagement with male peers, and take extremely limited decision-making roles in their marriage reinforce the practice of child marriage. Girls, and their families, that are considered at risk of or are perceived to have violated these norms face immense pressure for early marriage to mitigate damage to both their own and their families' reputations. Addressing norms around girls' sexuality alongside efforts to increase access to education and other empowering activities is needed if reductions in child marriage are to be both achieved and sustained.
• Gender Norms, Control Over Girls' Sexuality, and Child Marriage: A Honduran Case Study, by Diana Pacheco-Montoya, Erin Murphy-Graham, Enrique Eduardo Valencia López, and Alison K. Cohen - Quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2008-2016 for a longitudinal cohort study of rural Honduran adolescent girls indicate that girls who scored higher on a scale of traditional gender norms were more likely to marry early. Rigid gender norms that promote excessive regulation of girls' behaviour and sexuality influence girls' decision-making processes to enter child marriage. Educational initiatives that challenge sexist gender norms and explain and normalise attraction and intimacy during adolescence should be a central component of child marriage prevention programming.
• Education, Sexuality, and Marriageability: Overlapping Tropes in the Lives of Adolescent Girls in Haryana, India, by Priya Nanda, Priya Das, and Nitin Datta - This paper draws on qualitative analysis from an impact evaluation of a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme, Apni Beti Apna Dhan (implemented between 1994-1998), designed to enhance girls' value and delay early marriage, in Haryana, India. The study found that the potential for girls to explore new freedoms and opportunities through education is curtailed by unyielding gendered restrictions and rigid social hierarchies. A nuanced understanding of education and its role in girls' marriage is key to reshaping educational programmes for girls' empowerment.
• A Vexing Relationship Between Chiefship and Girls' Sexuality: Insights From Rural Malawi, by Emmily Kamwendo Naphambo - Data collected through an ethnographic study in Dedza district, Malawi, reveal that, as chiefly powers are exercised, they define, shape, and sometimes control girls' sexualities while sustaining positions of power and the hierarchy of the traditional authority.
• Premarital Conception as a Driver of Child Marriage and Early Union in Selected Countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, by Chloe M. Harvey, Ingrid FitzGerald, Jo Sauvarin, Gerda Binder, and Karen Humphries-Waa - This study shows that adolescent pregnancy is a significant driver of child marriage/early union in 7 countries in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea.
• Comparing Cohabiting Unions and Formal Marriages Among Adolescent Girls in Zambia: The Role of Premarital Fertility and Parental Support, by Eunice Muthengi, Laura Muthoni, and Karen Austrian - This mixed-methods study draws on four rounds of quantitative data collected annually between 2013 and 2016 as part of a longitudinal study among girls 10-19 years old in Zambia. Findings highlighted that informal unions did not typically have approval of the couples' parents and frequently ended in separation. There are key differences between formal marriages and cohabitation among adolescent girls and young women that should be considered when addressing early marriage in research and programmes.
• Child Grooms: Understanding the Drivers of Child Marriage for Boys, by Jeffrey D. Edmeades, Kerry L.D. MacQuarrie, and Kiran Acharya - Patriarchal norms regulating sexual and reproductive behaviour influence CEFM for boys through pressures to marry as soon as economic independence is achieved. These norms perpetuate cycles of poverty and lock boys into unfavourable life course pathways.
• Child Marriage in Relation to the Syrian Conflict: Jordanian and Syrian Adolescents' Perspectives, by Abeer Shaheen, Areej Othman, Khaldoun Hamdan, Maha Alkaid Albqoor, Maysoon Al Atoom, Ana Langer, and Jewel Gausman - This study, which used data from in-depth interviews with 64 Jordanian and Syrian adolescents, revealed 3 major themes: (i) intermingling between Syrian and Jordanian communities, (ii) vulnerability and control fueling increases in child marriage in displacement, and (iii) finding agency by rejecting child marriage. Hoever, many adolescents reject the practice, thus offering an opportunity for social change.
• Investigating Incidence, Correlates, and Consequences of Child Marriage Among Syrian Refugees Residing in the South of Lebanon: A Cross-Sectional Study, by Shatha Elnakib, Ghada El Khoury, Pascale Salameh, Hala Sacre, Lina Abirafeh, W. Courtland Robinson, and Janna Metzler - This study provides insights into marriage and family formation dynamics among Syrian refugees in South Lebanon. Results show that child marriage is widely practiced and is associated with factors that operate at different levels of the social ecology. Findings underscore the need for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programmes that reach child brides.
• Child Marriage or Statutory Rape? A Comparison of Law and Practice Across the United States, by Kaya Van Roost, Miranda Horn, and Alissa Koski - This analysis found large variation in the proportion of marriages that violated statutory rape laws across states in the United States. These results highlight the blurred boundaries between child marriage and sexual violence.
• Marriage Without Meaningful Consent and Compromised Agency in Married Life: Evidence From Married Girls in Jharkhand, India, by Shireen J. Jejeebhoy and Mukesh Ravi Raushan - From a study out of Jharkhand, India: Compared with girls whose marriages were self-arranged, those in both fully parent- and semi-arranged marriages were less likely, respectively, to make household decisions (odds ratios [OR], .37 and .60), hold egalitarian gender role attitudes (OR, .48 and .66), uphold girls' rights (OR, .41 and .48), communicate with their husbands (OR, .48 and .64), and practice contraception (OR, .51 and .67). Those in fully family-arranged marriages also had less freedom of movement (OR, .64) and were less likely to express self-efficacy (OR, .64). Marital violence was unrelated to marriage arrangements.
• Intersecting Disadvantages for Married Adolescents: Life After Marriage Pre- and Post-COVID-19 in Contexts of Displacement, by Sarah Baird, Maureen Murphy, Jennifer Seager, Nicola Jones, Anju Malhotra, Sarah Alheiwidi, Guday Emirie, Sabina Rashid, and Maheen Sultan - Drawing on cross-national panel data from Bangladesh and Jordan, this article explores diversity in child marriage experiences in contexts affected by forced displacement, highlighting how married girls' well-being differs from that of their unmarried peers, and how COVID-19 has reinforced these differences.