The most cited reasons of early child marriages in the literature are: poverty and economic vulnerability, illiteracy, and gender inequality.

Pakistan’s mainstream culture is heavily dictated by patriarchal norms and great emphasis is laid on the institution of marriage. It is very common for girls, particularly in their twenties to have unwarranted questions hurled at them. Comments of the sort: “When are you getting married?” “Your biological clock is ticking so you need to have kids soon!” are very common. Here, for a vast majority of women, their significance as a contributing member of society is oftentimes limited to their reproductive role. This cultural preference for marriage and children goes hand in hand with women, often underage girls, getting married at a younger age.

According to UNICEF, 3.3% of girls in Pakistan are married off under the age of 15 while 21% of girls married off are under the age of 18. The most cited reasons of early child marriages in the literature are: poverty and economic vulnerability, illiteracy, and gender inequality. Yet, a major factor is the prevalence of patriarchal norms and customs like bride price, dowry, vani or swara (marrying minor girls to end tribal disputes or murder charges), watta-satta (a simultaneous, exchange marriage of brother-sister pair to another brother-sister pair). Here, the girl-child is considered a burden: lower emphasis is given to education and economic independence, and the parental responsibility focuses on marrying her off instead. The same mindset considers the purpose of marriage to bear more children with little regard to investment in the children’s human capital and their emotional well-being. Hence, we keep seeing high prevalence of child marriages in countries like India, Brazil, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

It is worth noting how a phenomenon that stems out of poverty unfolds; and for the most part engenders even more poverty while going hand-in-hand with low women empowerment. Despite laws being passed, implementation remains poor. The relevant legislation in Pakistan is Child Marriage Restraint Act (1929) which states the age of 18 for boys and 16 for girls to be eligible for marriage. However, variation exists across provinces. Furthermore, different legislation pieces in Pakistan define ‘child’ differently so there is no uniformity to begin with.

Girls who are married young often do not complete their education, leading to fewer job prospects in the future4. Poorer economic outcomes and lower financial independence in turn affects their role in decisionmaking at home. Early marriages also in general result in early pregnancies. Pregnancies among younger women generally tend to be complicated, and babies born to young mothers are often underweight further endangering the lives of mother and child5. Young mothers, still navigating their youth are pushed into a huge responsibility of raising a tiny, completely vulnerable human being – robbing both the mother and the child of their respective childhoods.

There is also evidence linking early marriages to poor mental health and abuse. Research shows that intimate partner violence is a common consequence of early child marriages: young girls aged 15-19 have had the highest reported cases of domestic violence i.e., 24.3% in the last 12 months.

In a counterfactual world; we’d like to explore how the development trajectory of these countries would have differed had it not been for girl-child marriages that likely severely destruct the productive potential of young girls, and hence a significant proportion of the population, by focusing largely on their reproductive roles. It’s high time we let the ‘juvenile’ bloom instead of nipping it in the bud.

Rabia is an Economics graduate student who is keen about inclusive development and growth. She also cares about the climate crisis and is passionate about creating awareness for the same.

Minahil Fatima is an Econ- Math senior who takes an avid interest in analyzing economic discourses from a gendered perspective. In her free time, she enjoys painting and loves to cycle.