CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
- Background to the Study
Birth, marriage and death are the standard trio of key events in most people’s lives. But only one ‘marriage’ is a matter of choice. The right to exercise that choice was recognized as a principle of law even in Roman times and has long been established in international human rights instruments. Yet many girls, and a smaller number of boys, enter into marriage without any chance of exercising their right to choose. Some are forced into marriage at a very early age. Others are simply too young to make an informed decision about their marriage partner or about the implications of marriage itself. They may have given what passes for ‘consent’ in the eyes of custom or the law, but in reality, consent to their binding union has been made by others on their behalf.
The assumption is that once a girl is married, she has become a woman – even if she is only 12. Equally, where a boy is made to marry, he is now a man and must put away childish things. While the age of marriage is generally on the rise, early marriage – marriage of children and adolescents below the age of 18 is still widely practiced. While early marriage takes many different forms and has various causes, one issue is paramount. Whether it happens to a girl or a boy, early marriage is a violation of human rights. The right to free and full consent to a marriage is recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in many subsequent human rights instruments – consent that cannot be ‘free and full’ when at least one partner is very immature. For both girls and boys, early marriage has profound physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional impacts, cutting off educational opportunity and chances of personal growth.
For girls, in addition, it will almost certainly lead to premature pregnancy and childbearing, and is likely to lead to a lifetime of domestic and sexual subservience over which they have no control (Eboh, 1996).
Early marriage before the age of 18 is a violation of a number of international human rights charters and conventions such as 1989 Convention on The Rights of the Child (CRC), 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEFADW), the 1989 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Women. However, for many young girls in developing countries, marriage is perceived as a means of securing their future and protecting them. Girls are forced into marriage by their families while they are still children in the hope that marriage will benefit them both financially and socially. On the contrary, early marriage violates the rights of children with often more negative consequences on the girls than the boys. This compromises their overall development, leaving them socially isolated with little or no education, skills and opportunities for employment and self -realization. These conditions ultimately make married girls more vulnerable to poverty. Young married girls are indeed a unique group, coming under great pressure on a number of fronts. They are required to do a disproportionate amount of domestic chores, which includes new roles and responsibilities as wives and mothers. The young bride’s status in the family is frequently dependent on her demonstrating her fertility-often within the first year of her marriage at a time when she is not yet physiologically, psychologically and emotionally prepared. Additionally, girls are made to be responsible for the care and welfare of future generations while still children themselves. Young mothers with no decision making powers, restricted mobility and no economic resources are likely to transmit this vulnerability to their off-springs. Therefore, early marriage directly compounds the ‘feminization of poverty’ and intergenerational poverty (Saxena, Shobha, 1999). Several studies confirm wide age gaps between younger married girls and their spouses. This age gap clearly creates unequal power relationship between the younger brides and her older and more experienced husband, resulting in husband having total control over sexual relations and decision-making. Since younger brides are socially conditioned not to question the authority of their husbands, they are often unable to use contraception or to plan their families. The combined effect of these factors may also make younger brides more likely to tolerate partner violence.
While there is widespread agreement that early marriage, early pregnancy and motherhood adversely affects general development and education of girls and they are the links with poverty and wide consequences on families and communities have not been adequately explored. This is partly due to the ‘invisibility’ of younger married girl in most communities, and the fact that marriage confers adult status to girls and boys (Bruce, 2002).
Yet, many societies, primarily in Africa and South Asia, continue to support the idea that girls should marry at or soon after puberty. Their spouses are likely to be a few years older than they are, but may be more than twice their age. Parents and heads of families make marital choices for daughters and sons with little regard for the personal implications. Rather, they look upon marriage as a family-building strategy, an economic arrangement or a way to protect girls from unwelcome sexual advances.
Meanwhile, tradition and culture endorse the concept of early marriage, the 1999 Nigerian constitution is silent on the issue, although it could be implied from the provisions of section 29 that parties to a marriage must be of full age. Under subsection 29(4)(a), ‘any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age’. On the other hand, subsection (4)(a) stated that ‘full age’ means the age of eighteen years and above.
Thus, in spite of that section of Nigerian constitution, early marriage still poses a problem in most part of Nigeria, as in many other countries in Africa and beyond. It is practiced and justified in the name of tradition, culture and religion. That was why some people like the former governor of Zamfara state, Alh. Ahmed Sani Yerima Bakura and Mmerole Ogha the husband of Mgbeoye got married to a 13 and 9 year old girl respectively. Especially vulnerable are young girls in rural areas, poor, and deprived communities. This situation reflects the relatively strong adherence to tradition, and the relative lack of opportunities affecting women in rural areas. In Nigeria in general, and among Northerners (Hausas) in particular, early marriage dates back to the formation of the society itself. In that part of the country, it is not uncommon for girls below the age of 12 to get married, and it is going beyond the expectation unlike in other parts of the country. The National Baseline Survey of Positive and Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting Women and Girls in Nigeria 1999 revealed that the aggregate mean age at marriage for female children is 16.7 years. In the north-east the age is 15.2 years and in the north-west, 14.2 years. This is an indicator of the prevalence of early marriage in Nigeria (Shehu, 2002).
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