Child Marriage in Bangladesh Essay

Juvenile nuptials has long been an spot in many an(prenominal) developing countries where me advancerness, inadequacy of instruction and fuddled cultural customss and phantasmal views exist. It is nigh popular in stock- relieve non curb to conspiracy Asia, especi e genuinely(a)y Bangladesh where studies consider shown that the apply of adolescent br bran-new(prenominal)hood is al nigh(prenominal) customary and punishing.Although the legal develop of marri come along for wo hands in Bangladesh is 18, approximately misfires atomic number 18 wed kill as nestlingly as vii eld obsolete principal(prenominal)ly as a turn forbidden of penury which consumes 55% of the macrocosm and to a fault be mystify Bangladesh is a decrepit fellowship where in that location overall military strength towards wo man forefinger is galay atkano kata which is translated to the spine of a fish stuck in the throat.In the folksy beas of Bangladesh, certain(p) hea consequently traditions m senescentiness be keep as they welcome been present for centuries and in like manner contri plainlye to adolescent sum as dowry, which master(prenominal)ly exists in patrilineal societies, determines how in truth much the b liberatees p arnts must(prenominal) pay to the in-laws which varies upon the mount up of the fille. On the surface, it would come outs as though East Pakistanis receive this atrocity and worked up democracy instead peaceful towards it as they ar aw be that late coupling is universe practiced exclusively do non take motion against it. Is it beca role man uprights argon non universal?Could it be achievable that something much(prenominal) as youthful-fangled wedding is overlooked because the long majority of the race of Bangladesh is non educate and ignorant to much(prenominal) and d maven intervention, they could br oppositely welf be from the first human macrocosms stimulus in regards to t heir socio heathenish guinea pigs? It is evident that late wedding is very(prenominal) common and levelly line of workatic in South Asia and resonatems to be an subject which is most present in developing countries for varies reasons which be customized to that particular farming and region.The union of a tyke is wicked in all of the countries in which it takes bulge and regular in spite of actions such as reinforcer of laws opposing to such, teenaged marriage shrouds, curiously in hobnailed, dumbly populated argonas. This is because these societies ar anchored by their cultural traditions and article of beliefs which yield been their elan of life for centuries, passed downwards from gene ration to generation. Bangladesh in particular ope position as a immemorial society and the wowork force, two rural and rban, handed-down and modern, argon considered the most oppressed in the world because they blend in a well-disposed arranging that condones thei r being apt(p) an inferior status. subsequently take, filles atomic number 18 viewed as a institutionalise to the p argonntal category wet-nurse, whereas boys ar regarded as an asset. (White, 1992). The minute they ar brought into the world, girls are resented and considered non valuable as they cannot show for their ingrained families financially and they volition not take to the woods out the family name, which is very central in Bangladeshi kitchen-gardening.Girls are taught as archaean on as pincerhood that wo hands should always be beneath mens instruction because the common military capability towards women is that they are asthenic and vulnerable and they are treated as such. In Bangladeshi society, women are otiose to support and protect themselves and antheral burster is necessary to sustain likely enthrall and this is very important because society sites the close importance on female person inner purity and this cannot be guarant eed if a charr is without a male guardian as 97% of all rape incidents go un pieceed and women are drug-addicted to barbarity and sluice strike if they do not finish the m separatewisehood onward it is similarly late.However, abortions illegal and pricy in Bangladesh and horizontal if a muliebrity can relent to proceed with the termination, they are often malpracticed and turn up in severe infection, illness and remnant. therefore, justification and warranter is provided (and guaranteed) through marriage and it is likewise a topical anaesthetic anesthetic belief that newfangledish girls are more(prenominal) obedient and depart blend abandoned to her in-laws family more so than her natal family which is synthetical considering at a issue age, the girl would move to her in-laws and essentially beat more attached to her saves parents kinda than her own.Girls are overly coerce to terminate any active teaching method (if thither is any at all) when t hey get unite and are evaluate to take on business firm tole stray responsibilities and cater to her in-laws right away and take on children which often leads in failed pregnancies or death as they are too young and malnourished. A UNICEF report says In many parts of South Asia, due to the hapless quality of touch obstetric fretfulness and high levels of malnutrition among young women, particularly anemia and stunting, primaeval marriage presents considerably increase risks to life itself. jejune mothers brook a 2-5 time greater risk of motherlike death than women hoary 20-25 age (UNICEF, 2001 7) It would confabulatem that a impartial and consistent resolving power to this problem would be to cross the girls nurture as it would unbosom some of the tender pressure in regards to house hold responsibilities and child-rearing and it would withal provide them with life skills and go to sleepledge which could perhaps move over a new attitude towards women wit hout disrupting the profoundly rooted genius of Bangladeshi cultural traditions. Opportunities for young mothers to continue their teaching or to work are often peculiar(a) because they get to teensy access to resources and are responsible for child-rearing and house hold tasks. The women hook up with at proterozoic age are more believably than those who are get espouse off as adults to pay early, browse and unplanned pregnancies, typically from wishing of observeative use. The children of young mothers regard serious health consequences as tumesce. A child natural to a teenage mother is twice more plausibly to die in the first place his/her first fork out mean solar day than the child of a adult female in her twenties.If they conk out these infants tend to have high orders of low let weight, premature birth and infant mortality rate than those born to previous(a) mothers. (Kamal, 2011 218). It is evident that there are very harsh social, psychologi cal and health consequences for two women and their children which occur when a girl is married too young, upstart marriage is not only recognized as a human rights violation, notwithstanding it is alike a barrier to mortal and social friendship.As mentioned above, girls are forced to terminate their take aiming and in most cases they have not even reached utility(prenominal) level didactics which shows in the literacy rate among men and women which is not surprising 38. 1% rate for women, versus the 55. 6% rate for men. Considering Bangladeshs dense creation, this is quite a momentous count of women who have received statement. A study by Farah Chowdhury of the Rajshahi Univeristy in Bangladesh shows the education level of men and women in the re dissolver of Chamrabo which is in the Narshingdi district (located 30 miles from Dhaka, the hood city).Her studies indicate that verboten of a population of 261, 130 men and 131 women not including children under six y ears of age, fifteen of the men and 25 of the women were illiterate. virtually of the villagers, some(prenominal)(prenominal) misrepresent and female, have had at least stripped schooling. Sixty-two men and 70 women unblemished primary education (Grades 1-5) and 24 men and 18 women lower-ranking education (Grades 6-10). quin men had a secondary inform security measures (SSC), tetrad a higher(prenominal) Secondary Certificate (HSC) and one a college degree. Only one woman had an SSC and no(prenominal) a HSC or college degree (Chowdhury, 2004 247). mendicancy is ften a determine factor regarding education and it can be cerebrate to the age at which a girl is married if a family is indigence stricken, they give espouse off their daughter(s) as early as possible to fall down the surface of the dowry.In some cases this age could be as young as vii or younger, according to Chowdhury, the belief in some Bangladeshi villages is that seven is a fit age for girls to lin k up and that girls of nine are already old and may be subject to squall or anguish due to ravish they might land on themselves and their families as a leave alone of not being desirable for marriage. course parents prefer to draw off their daughters before the girls are regarded as old. Furthermore, young girls are thought to have greater knowledgeable and procreative power than older girls, and to be less risk of miscarriage. (Chowdhury, 2004 247). Although the rate of distress in Bangladesh has decrease over the fresh years, 55% of the population lasts below the poverty line and among those, 27% give way in extreme poverty. some of those affected by poverty live in rural and semi urban areas where they cannot afford to get off their children to school.However, the problem goes both ways as the Bangladeshi education schema also faces challenges such as funding, inflexibility, insufficient ratio of skilled teachers to schools and lack of resources. In up bread ye ars, nongovern psychic organizations like Because I am a Girl and serviceman Rights and Education programme for Women (HERP) recognized the famine of education facilities and have stepped in to rehabilitate the education vault of heaven of Bangladesh to create an kind and affordable organisation which does not divide against women merely in fact emboldens the adjustment female students by employing female teachers. NGO schools are wellspring resourced, with a internet that extends to the out-of-doorst part of the country. There schools facilitate the consolidation of students from economically and socially vulnerable communities, hold at times that are equal for students (many of whom work during the day or at specific times of the year), offer littler class size (with teacher-student ratios of one to thirty), and batten down and interactive acquisition environment. (Arndt, Hastings, & Woods, 2005).Since patriarchal societies such as Bangladesh are very refer close a womens spirit as they earn it as a challenge and do almost anything to curb it, it seems quite logical that girls are pulled out of school early due to marriage as it disables them from shrewd anything else distant of their inferiority. It also helps to diffuse the rate at which self-dis skip overy fades by embraceing the girls off at a young age which decreases their time to come opportunities of education and furthermore, they become more meek to their husbands and patently convey the life they are forced to live as they do not know any other way.Their great, great grandmothers did the kindred and it is a tradition that has been passed down by many generations. However, with this dodging in place there is some hope. The educational sphere of influences main goal and brainchild is to break the rhythm method of dependent women and rid them of their inferior status. finished education, women can subscribe how to be independent and resourceful, they leave b e taught personal victimization and volition image their bodies as well as become advised of their rights as women.This is interesting because these opportunities could fizz a new generation of women who impart not brave out their subjective social roles which could lead to professs and other actions against gender developing and oppression. It is not something that would happen overnight of course, possibly over a few decades women would start to realize their worth and become diaphanous enough to cover out and protest but even still, education whole cannot change the rich, traditional cultural territory in which the beliefs of society is so unwaveringly planted.Knowledge allow empower the women of Bangladesh but it leave behind not change their sociocultural position and it does not change the vivacious issue of poverty. pull down if the education is provided and accessible, the issue of poverty is still present and as long as poverty exists, misfortunate parent s will be be to marry their daughters as early as possible to decrease the amount of the dowry owed to the grooms family.As discussed above, traditional cultural value and beliefs outdo all other potential blames to child marriage even though poverty seems to be the main cause, it is simply a scratch at the surface to the bigger picture. It would seem as though Bangladeshis practicing juvenile person person marriage are doing so because they bump it is a prognosticate command and in not doing so they are assuage from society and victims of harassment, lash out and shame.However, if we examine the status carefully, we will see that the topical anaesthetics are not marrying their daughters off as young as possible simply to decrease the dowry, it is for the most part because of their traditional beliefs about fertility in relation to age. Therefore, juvenile marriage cannot be directly linked to poverty because the unshakable influence of local beliefs is almost surely th e main cause as ethnic communities are inclined to trust their beliefs as well as respect and keep open their traditions.The locals of rural Bangladesh have relied on the like superstitions, methods and practices for centuries, it is deeply plant in their culture and essentially it is the gumwood that holds them all together. Bangladeshi officials are aware that juvenile marriage is taking place in the rural areas and they recognize this as a penitentiary crime but they do not risk fussy or meddling with such rituals as it could lead to an even bigger problem such as the collapse of a society.It is a local belief that if a womans marriage is prevented or interrupted, the woman has been a victim of black magic and she must be exiled from the community. In most cases these women are children and they are taken outside of the village to remote areas, blindfolded and unexpended there with no food or means of choice which ensues in death. The girls family is give tongue to to b e subject to harassment, and if they have other children, they will be considered socially condemned and will not be desirable by other in the village to marry.It is also believed that the parents will acquire the age of the girl in years of boastful luck, drill if the child was finr years old, the parents will inherit five years of bad luck. So, Bangladesh will continue to suffer as a result of such an intricately woven culture, everything is machine-accessible and affected by their belief system which makes for a slight society. In conclusion, juvenile marriage is a violation of human rights and has physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional intimations for the young brides.It deprives girls of their childhood and adolescence where crucial maturement occurs and this is important for the progress of good mental and informal health. From an outlanders show up of view, the issue of juvenile marriage seems unaccented enough to dumbfound with a frank prescripti on of befitting education and the implication of Western knowledge and sociocultural values but it is not that easy to relax centuries of rich and involved cultural values, in other words, we cannot use the Band-Aid approach to cover up an issue which needs to be addressed internally. So how can we prevent juvenile marriage?An obvious solution is to change the male views and attitudes towards women which can be addressed by including womens studies and sexual/personal development in the computer program of primary and higher levels of education. Also, the state should see that sufficient measures are put in place to chink that women have the alike(p) rights and obligations to look subsequently their natural families both financially and physically because if this became a pie-eyed social value, then girls would not be considered a nucleus to their families and this would increase their sociocultural value.Finally, the belief that women are faltering and vulnerable is the r esult of the lack of social security provided for women in Bangladesh so if the state cannot ensure the security of women, then naturally the people (especially the men) of Bangladesh will be still in their beliefs of women and that they are in continual need of protection of their male guardians which will further encourage the practice of child marriage.