Child marriage: social milieu

CHILD marriage is a social curse which must be uprooted to make the country a better place to live. Child marriage, in other words, early marriage has become one of our major social problems and a main contributing factor for overpopulation, infant death and an obstacle for women empowerment. A strong, healthy and mature mother can bring up her children in a way that an underage mother can not. Child marriage is not peculiar to our country, it is a global problem and the United Nations is working towards improving the situation and, I am sure, in near future we shall see child marriage abolished from our society. In our country, many poor parents marry off their girls at an early age as they feel unsafe and cannot feed them properly.  Eve teasing and insecurity are often the main reasons for early marriage. Despite having women as the Prime Minster, Speaker of the Parliament and leader of the main opposition party of the country, we rank among the top countries of the world where child marriage is rampant. We must come out of this social disorder and create a safe world for our women so that they can work alongside their male counterparts and contribute to national development. A strong and sustained media campaign will help raise awareness in society and help contain child marriage.
Rumana Sharmeen
Dhaka University