What is a Child Bride?
Child Brides are young females who have been committed to an arranged marriage; they have no other option but to marry. Brides can be wed as early as the age of 6, but they can be engaged at the age of 1. They are wedded based on their spouses social and economic situation; it has nothing to do with decisions and promises made through love.
Child Brides don't decide who they will wed, rather their relatives choose their future spouse depending on social and economic situation. There is no trusting their character but only judging. There are many reasons why a relative might marry off their niece, daughter or grand daughter:
This story appeared in The New York Times, about 12 year old Aisha, a living Child Bride:
At age 12, Aisha and her younger sister were given to the family of a Taliban fighter in Oruzgan Province under a tribal custom for settling disputes, known as “baad.” Aisha’s uncle had killed a relative of the groom to be, and according to the custom, to settle the blood debt her father gave the two girls to the victim’s family.
Once Aisha reached puberty, she was married to the Taliban fighter, but since he was in hiding most of the time, she and her sister were housed with the in-laws’ livestock and used as slaves, frequently beaten as punishment for their uncle’s crime.
Aisha fled the abuse, but her husband tracked her down in Kandahar a year ago, took her back to Oruzgan, and on a lonely mountainside cut off her nose and both ears and left her bleeding. She said she still did not remember how she managed to walk away to find help.
This is just one story of many, this is the short documentary Too Young to Wed: The Secret World Of Child Brides
Child Brides don't decide who they will wed, rather their relatives choose their future spouse depending on social and economic situation. There is no trusting their character but only judging. There are many reasons why a relative might marry off their niece, daughter or grand daughter:
- Not enough money to support whole family
- New husband will give protection
- Economical reliability from new husband
- To form family alliances
- To please the relatives
This story appeared in The New York Times, about 12 year old Aisha, a living Child Bride:
At age 12, Aisha and her younger sister were given to the family of a Taliban fighter in Oruzgan Province under a tribal custom for settling disputes, known as “baad.” Aisha’s uncle had killed a relative of the groom to be, and according to the custom, to settle the blood debt her father gave the two girls to the victim’s family.
Once Aisha reached puberty, she was married to the Taliban fighter, but since he was in hiding most of the time, she and her sister were housed with the in-laws’ livestock and used as slaves, frequently beaten as punishment for their uncle’s crime.
Aisha fled the abuse, but her husband tracked her down in Kandahar a year ago, took her back to Oruzgan, and on a lonely mountainside cut off her nose and both ears and left her bleeding. She said she still did not remember how she managed to walk away to find help.
This is just one story of many, this is the short documentary Too Young to Wed: The Secret World Of Child Brides