Girls as young as 10 still forced to marry in Yemen
Celebrating the New Year can almost be a rebirth for many people. It’s the chance to learn from your success or mistakes of the previous year and make better, more consistent choices in the coming year. We watch the ball drop, toast champagne and maybe even sneak in a little kiss before welcoming a fresh start. Sounds lucky and romantic doesn’t it? What if you didn’t have the choice to change your circumstances? What if the New Year brought sadness of the thought that your life, forced upon you, was unchangeable? This is happening. Right now, in this moment, little girls in the country of Yemen are hoping a fresh start will come to them. These girls, forced into marriage to men much older than they, are waiting for their ball to drop.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that 52.1 percent of Yemeni girls are married before the age of 18. Of those, 14 percent are girls under the age of 15 and live in very poor, rural areas. In many cases, these girls do not go willingly. They are sold or given to men 15, 20 and 30 years older than they are by their families.
Girls like Nujood Ali are forced into arranged marriages at the tender age of eight. Ali’s story became national news when she was granted a divorce at age 10 and later had the memoirs of her ordeal published in a book. These girls are beaten, raped and forced to live a life they didn’t choose. When these little girls should be making friends and playing, they are dealing with the emotional and physical atrocities that many grown women can’t even come to terms with.
When Yemeni girls are forced into marriage they lose the opportunity for education and many of them face health problems. A HRW report called “How come you allow little girls to get married” states that Yemen has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the Middle East and North Africa. In Yemen, 60 percent of girls aged 15 and over are illiterate. The report includes direct quotes from girls who were excited about school and their future until they were forced to quit and work in the house or get married. Additionally, young girls who become pregnant are at a high risk for maternal mortality. According to the report, maternal mortality in Yemen is the cause for 39 percent of the deaths of young girls of reproductive age. Without proper care and nutrition, many girls have miscarriages.
Around the globe, agencies like Human Rights Watch are urging Yemen to set 18 as the minimum age for marriage. Unfortunately, this has proved to be an uphill battle as Yemen lawmakers state that establishing a minimum age would be in violation of Sharia (Islamic Law) and have stalled any legislation to the contrary.
