CLIMATE CHANGE AND MARRIAGE

Child marriage is largely driven by poverty and gender inequality, both of which are exacerbated by climate change..

Families affected by climate change often have limited resources. They have to make decisions about how to best provide for all members of the family. Often, gender inequality plays into this decision. Families might opt to invest in sons, who often have greater employment opportunities, in hopes that they will support the family financially. By contrast, daughters might be married off because they are less able to earn an income and are seen as a burden. However, this practice contributes to a dangerous cycle of poverty. Because girls are seen as less able to earn an income, they are given fewer education opportunities to learn income-generating skills, and then are unable to find employment because they lack the skills. The World Bank finds that when girls are empowered to delay marriage, they become educated and employed. Ultimately, their families and communities are healthier and wealthier.  

Families might also resort to child marriage as a way to preserve the family’s honor. Harassment and sexual violence tend to increase after climate disasters. When unmarried girls experience this violence, especially if the violence leads to pregnancy, their families and communities will sometimes see them as promiscuous or “asking for it.” This is never true. Survivors of violence are never to blame for the abuse they experience. Tragically, some in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world view child marriage as a way to prevent their daughters from experiencing sexual violence and bringing shame to the family. 

Child marriage for protection 

In crisis settings, women are not only forced to seek food and shelter, they also struggle over where they can go and how they can dress to minimize threats.

When worried parents resort to child marriage to protect their daughters’ from violence, they often don’t consider their sons-in-law to be a potential source of abuse. Married girls experience higher rates of violence—physical, emotional, sexual, and financial — than their unmarried peers. Child brides are also less likely to continue their education and are more likely to become young mothers. Teenage pregnancy can lead to a lifetime of poverty. Further, it is dangerous. More teenage girls die from pregnancy and childbirth complications each year than anything else. We all must affirm the rights of girls and protect them from child marriage, no matter what.  

It suggests that climate change is exacerbating existing drivers of child marriage including poverty and patriarchal norms.

Could this be a worldwide trend?

 But with child marriage also increasing as a result of droughts, the lives of thousands of girls worldwide could be under threat from increasing global temperatures.

USBIN RAISED VOICE