Why is child marriage still happening? 

Most countries have a legal minimum age of marriage to protect against the practice of early unions, but they’re often difficult to enforce. The causes are many, from poverty to conservative cultural beliefs, gender inequality, and sexual violence and abuse. Because of this, it is not surprising that this number is mostly made up of children who live in contexts of poverty and sexism, where the practice is part of society’s social norms.  

Poverty  
There’s a substantial gap in the prevalence of child marriage between the poorest and richest communities. UNICEF reports that ‘females in the poorest quintile are 2.5 times more likely to marry in childhood than those living in the wealthiest quintile. For example, in the Dominican Republic, at least half of the poorest women entered into their first marriage or union at about age 17 compared to age 21 among the richest women.’  

When a family is struggling with the basic necessities of life like food, any child is an extra mouth, and if a girl can get married, that is one less mouth they have to worry about.   

More importantly, there’s an exchange of dowry or bride price in many of those marriages, so sometimes a family is financially pressed to get those extra resources to feed the other children.  

What’s a dowry? 
Dowries are most common in South Asia. The bride’s family pays the groom’s family in money, goods or property. The younger a girl is, the lower the dowry payment. This encourages younger marriages.  

What’s bride price?  
Bride price is most common in sub-Saharan Africa and is the reverse of a dowry. The groom’s family pays the bride’s family in money, goods or property.  

Gender inequality  
Where there is gender inequality, the objectification of women, and the lack of development opportunities (including education and employment), a women’s place is often seen solely as a sexual object and the caretakers of the home. Girls are especially vulnerable in some communities to false promises made by older men.  

FGM and child marriage often go hand in hand. FGM is especially prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, but the practice exists worldwide. UNICEF reports that in Kenya almost 1 in 4 girls are married before age 18, almost 1 in 20 by age 15. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a brutal ritual. It involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is usually performed on girls before the age of 15—sometimes as young as babies and traditionally signals a girl’s readiness for marriage. FGM is a violation of children’s human rights. The consequences of child marriage are immediate and life-long. Infections, chronic pain, difficulty urinating, infertility, psychological trauma—and even death. Despite child marriage laws making the practice illegal in most of these countries, FGM continues in Western, Eastern, and North-Eastern Africa, as well as among migrants in places like Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States.  

Stigma persists for girls and families when they don’t follow traditional gender roles and expectations.