As it is the last day of the exhibition I feel it is relevant to discuss how we can move forward from child marriage – towards strategies and solutions. The exhibition guide provides four ways “to break the silence on child marriage.” The first is simply to draw attention to its consequences and advocate for the rights of children who are at risk, as well as for those who are already married. The second, and the one I feel I should highlight, for its importance is paramount, is to “work closely with civil society, including community based organizations, religious and traditional leaders, and cultural gatekeepers, as well as families and the girls themselves…to find collective alternatives to discourage and eventually end the practice.” The third is to invest in opportunities that educate and increase the capabilities and skills of the girls at risk, while the fourth is dedicated to those girls who are already married. It asks for these girls to have access to programs – life skills, literacy, livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health information – that will help them overcome their marital isolation.
While all are equally important, I highlight the third solution as I feel it may be the most easily forgotten. When we see the photographs included in the exhibition, I think our immediate reaction is to want to place an outright ban on child marriage. It seems as though there are no circumstances in which it should occur. And while I believe this is true, I also think we have to be aware of the perspective within which we are looking at the issue: the West. The perspectives and lifestyles we have grown up with in this country make this practice seems woefully outdated and inherently wrong. A lot of visitors have commented that these images seem to be coming from the stone age, as though they were transported back to a different time while viewing them. This belief and feeling arises out of our privileged circumstances (as an aside, during the roundtable event there was discussion about child marriage in Canada which does still occur although it is not widely publicized or discussed). We have to realize that the belief systems of the people in these countries may be different than our own and, as we work towards a solution, it is imperative we keep this in mind. Simply going into Nepal, Ethiopia or India and laying down a Western law, one we have decided is important, isn’t going to make lasting change. Outlawing something doesn’t provide a solution. Unfortunately, the actual process will take a lot longer and be more complex.
We must embed programs within the culture in question so that they become an accepted addition. These programs must also be run by locals, who can espouse their merits in ways that seems relevant to the community; community development projects are the way to move forward. Ending child marriage is not a single, stand-alone issue. It is a piece in a much larger puzzle. Many of the girls included in the exhibition were married off because their families couldn’t afford to provide for them. Rather than having to watch their children starve, many parents feel as though they are doing a positive thing by marrying their daughters or sons into families that can afford to both feed and protect them. As one of the discussants said at the roundtable, “Poverty drives the issues.” Therefore, finding ways to have villages and towns economically stable and self-supporting would go a long way towards reducing the rate of child marriage.
Along with economics is education. As it says in the booklet, “Girls with secondary education can find fulfilling work, be married to someone of their choice, have the number of children they want, and make sure their children are healthy and educated in their turn.” There is a quote by a young boy, Chakraman, who himself was married at 15, that drives the importance of education home for me, “We realized that [pressuring] parents did not work…we later [came] to realize that [if] we could provide education to children, they could convince their parents…we started educating children…These days parents have realized that these marriages are wrong.” This last sentence is especially powerful for it answers one of the most important questions we have to ask: “Are these values and programs being legitimized in the communities in which they are being enacted?”
For me, educating young girls (and boys) goes hand-in-hand with another problem, also raised at the roundtable: empowering women. We must shift from undervaluing them to recognizing their potential and fostering it. Most women in these countries aren’t treated as though they are equal to men, with opinions and ideas of their own. They are often without agency in their own lives. However, while recognizing the way it is now, it is also important to recognize history. In my opinion, one of the most interesting guests at the roundtable was a man from the Carleton University African Studies Department (and I apologize for I do not know his name or his position). He brought up two interesting points about African society, only one of which I will mention here. He said that African women were highly, highly valued in their culture, even above men, up until colonization. The patriarchy of the colonial countries erased women’s roles while elevating men’s. I think this is an excellent point and should be kept in mind when we apply judgement to other cultures, especially when Western influence could have played a large role in societal re-structuring.
Although it seems as though we are a long way from making inroads towards ending child marriage, we have begun the discussion. This exhibition has begun the discussion. The 150 visitors who came to visit have begun the discussion. And one it’s been started, it will continue to grow and flourish and make an impact.