CAUSES OF EARLY MARRIAGE

The reviewed studies on the practice of early marriage have attempted to identify various reasons for the persistence of the practice at the international, regional and national levels. International and regional research reports on the issue at hand focus on the economic factor because of the commonly shared view that poverty is its driving force. At the national level, the reviewed studies on the forces

121 Alemante Amera (2004) also found that the age at first marriage for girls is going down from 12 to 9 years among the peasant community of East Gojjam Administrative Zone of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia.

promoting and sustaining early marriage in the Ethiopian context revolve around economic and socio-cultural factors.

In the present study, the ethnographic data gathered through in-depth personal interviews with parents, key informants, councils of elders, community and religious leaders among the peasant communities of Bachema and Rim reveal various interactive and complex economic and socio-cultural explanations for the persistence, and even the increasing trend of the practice, which are further elaborated by the exploratory workshop participants. The most commonly mentioned reasons for early marriage among the peasant communites of the study area are listed under the following table:

Table 8.2: Parents and Local Peoples’ Reasons for the Practice of Early Marriage (Ethnographic Data and Workshop Participants’ Group-Discussion Results, May 2003 - September 2004, Mecha Woreda)

Socio-Economic Reasons and Life Insecurities Socio-Cultural Reasons, Gender Ideologies and Awareness-Legal Issues

• to get land from the local Peasant Association (PA)

• to forge marriage alliances with those in power (haylna səltan kalačäw gar lämäwädağät)

• to maintain the family’s land holding (yä-betäsäb yämäret yəzota lämaskäbär)

• to forge an economic alliance with the “rich” family and to consolidate-improve the family’s economic status-wealth (kä-habtam betäsäb gar lämäwädağät, habt lämčämär)

• to strengthen ties between the marrying families for social as well as economic protection and security (yagäbuň zəmdənna

lämatänakär)

• availability of assets (cattle and land) and other properties (habt, nəbrät bämänoru)

• well-to-do parents’ desire to gain fame by sponsoring an elaborative wedding feast as a demonstration of wealth and respect (habt lämasayät, dəggəs lämablat, kəbər əna muggäsa lämagňät)

• impoverished parents’ desire to avoid the expense of preparing wedding feasts for each of their children (yä-särg wäcc lämäqänäs)

• to get betrothal gifts from the groom’s family (mac a lämagňät)

• to reduce the number of daughters in the family (set ləğoččən bämädar betäsäb lämäqänäs)

• to get additional labor support in the family: daughters-in-law’s labor (in most cases) and sons-in-law’s labor (in some cases) (täcämari gulbät lämagňät-- yäləğ məšt, yäləğ bal gulbät fəläga)

• to prepare wedding feasts in order to invite those who invited them (wänfäl lämämäläs)

• to get back one’s material or financial contributions in another’s wedding feast (yäšomutən tälla, yägagärutən ənğära, yäsätutən aräqi, bərr lämasəmäläs)

• the local “economic belief system” that “early marriage would make the early-wedded children prosperous” when they reach the age of adulthood if the endowed cattle multiplies itself (bä-ləğnnät sigabu habtam yəhonalu bämalät)

• parents’ desire to inherit their property, mainly land, to their children before passing away (sanmot habtačäwən lämasawäq,habt lämäkäfafäl, märet lämawuräs)

• parents’ desire to see their children married and settled before passing away or becoming old (salmot-guləbäte saydäkəm yäləğ abäba- wog lämayät)

• to continue and extend the family lineage (yäzär haräg lämtäkat əna lämabzat)

• to have “many children” for social as well as economic supports and to maximize girls’ reproductive capacity (ləğočč twuari qäbari səlähonu bəzu ləğ əndiwoldu bämalät)

• parents’ desire to secure their

daughter’s future and protect her from the dangers of pre-marital sex and its social consequences (təgg təyaz bämalät əna fəračča əna səgat lämaswogäd, argəza-wolda bətmäta tawardännaläč bämalät)

• parents’ fear of their daughters’ being unmarriageable after the age of 14 (ədmiyačäw saygäffä lämädar, yäkäle ləğ qoma qäräč əndayəbal, kämtalat əndaymältat, kadägäč tasamanaläč bämalät)

• to ensure girls’ obedience and subservience in their marital family (läbaloččačäw əna lä-amatoččačäw tazaž əndihonu)

• to establish one’s own house and lead a married life (goğğo lämawutat, tədar lämäyaz)

• respect for the words of the elderly people negotiating the marriage alliance between the marrying families (yä-aggabi šəmagəlloččən qal lämakbär)

• need for social and cultural

entertainment through wedding feasts (dəggəs lämablat əna lämädäsät)

• high social respect given to parents who have married children (mädar əndkəbər səlämiqotär)

• lack of awareness about the dangers of early marriage (yalä ədme gabəčča yämiaskätəläwən gudat alämawäq)

• lack of giving enough attention to the girl-child and mothers at the woreda and PA levels (läset ləğočč əna läənnatočč təkurät alämästät)

• lack of awareness and effective enforcement of the current law legislating against early marriage at the woreda and PA levels (yalä ədme gabəčča yämikälkläwun həgg bämigäbba alämawäq ənatägəbarawi

The table reveals that the reasons for the practice of early marriage among the peasant communities of Mecha Woreda are diverse and complex. The most common explanations for the persistence, even for the increasing trend of early marriage revolve around socio-economic reasons and life insecurities. Among the socio-economic reasons, the need to forge economic, social and even political alliances with families or individuals who are economically, socially and politically powerful is the major contributing factor to the prevalence of the practice in the study area. With specific reference to the need for forging an economic alliance through early marriage, the marriage arrangement practice is primarily based on “equal-matching” (mainly in terms of cattle) or “strict reciprocity” (parental endowments and bridal gifts) between the marrying families (see Chapter 7).

As a result, in order not to miss the opportunity of creating an alliance with economically powerful families, parents promise to give their daughter in marriage even before her birth (see Case Study in Chapter 7). In short, among the peasant communities of Bachema and Rim, parents arrange early marriages for their children mainly for socio-economic reasons and the increasing trend of the practice can be attributed to aggravating rural poverty and life insecurities due to the prevalence of epidemic diseases, such as malaria. Besides economic reasons and life insecurities, socio-cultural reasons and gender ideologies contribute to the relatively higher prevalence rate of early marriage for girls. From the parents’ point of view, the need to secure their daughters’ future and to protect them from the dangers of pre-marital sex and its social consequences are the main socio-cultural reasons why they marry off their daughters at an early age. As a result, the custom of giving very young girls (as young as two years or below) away in marriages prevails (see table 8.1 and Appendix 8A and B).

Based on the ethnographic data and the results of the exploratory workshop, the underlying motives behind early marriage, particularly for girls, are presented below.

8.2.1 Economic Motives and Life Insecurities

The economic motives behind early marriage and life insecurities contributing to its increasing trend among the peasant communities of Bachema and Rim are highlighted as follows:

• Early marriage as a strategy to get a farm plot from the local Peasants’ Association (PA): An adult son (18 years or above) can only become the head of the household and claim for land from the local PA if, and only if, he gets married and establishes his own goğğo. Currently, this is one of the major economic motives behind early-arranged marriages for girls in the studied peasant communities. In this context, there is a need for assessing the effect of the current rural land redistribution policy on the prevalence rate of early marriage among the peasant communities of Mecha Woreda and then to devise locally appropriate strategy to address the issue.

• Early marriage as a strategy to maintain the existing family landholding: The local tradition stipulates that inheritance of important family holdings, such as land, follow the male line.

Accordingly, the family landholding passes on through married adult sons (18 years or above).

Land-rich peasant families with adult sons arrange a marriage for them in order to maintain their landholdings. In most cases, their wives are below the age of 11 (see Appendix 8A and B).

• Early marriage as a strategy for forging an economic alliance between families:

Economically well-to-do peasant families forge economic alliances with families of the same economic background through their children’s marriage.

• Early marriage as a strategy to forge marriage alliances with those in power: The local PA leaders are responsible for administering the local land and redistributing the extra farm-land to

the peasant households. In order to secure access to farm-land, peasant families use early marriage as a strategy for forging and strengthening social, even political ties with locally respected and powerful families or individuals.

• The need to have many children for family labor and parental social and economic security:

Among the traditional agricultural communities of Bachema and Rim, children are still the major sources of family labor and parental social and economic security. This motivates parents to arrange early marriages for their daughters so that they can start childbearing as early as possible (see Chapter 5).

• Large family size and rural family poverty: Due to the aggravating rural poverty, peasant families with many children use to arrange an early marriage for all of their children at the same time in order to avoid the problem of preparing wedding feasts for each of them. For example, a two-year-old was married in the same batch as a 9-year-old (see Chapter 9, Case Study 9.4).

• Early marriage as a strategy for reducing poor parents’ economic vulnerability: Poor parents use the early marriage of their daughter as a strategy for reducing their own economic vulnerability, shifting the economic burden related to a daughter’s care to the husband’s family. In this context, a daughter is seen as an economic burden and married off as a means of economic survival, i.e., if the daughter is married early her parents has one mouth less to feed. Poor parents also hope that their daughter could lead a better life. The underlying reason behind this strategy is closely linked with the patrilocal residence pattern (see Chapter 5).

• Early marriage as a strategy for securing children’s future: Securing children’s future through marriage alliance is the major concern of peasant families due to aggravated rural poverty and epidemic diseases such as malaria among the studied peasant communities. As a result, the parents desire to see their children married or settled before becoming sick, old or passing away.

In short, economic motives and life insecurities are the major driving forces of early marriage among the studied peasant communities. However, these factors do not tell us why particularly girls are married off early, rather than boys in the studied peasant communities.

8.2.2 Socio-Cultural Justifications and Gender Ideologies

Though the economic motives and life insecurities are the major driving forces of early marriage for both sexes among the peasant communities of Bachema and Rim, the socio-cultural justifications for early marriage are gender-specific. More specifically, parents’ decisions on arranging an early marriage for their daughters are usually based on gender differential socio-cultural expectations and values. As a result, compared to boys, most girls got married at an early age for the following reasons:

• to avoid the qomo qär-stigma (fear of girls being unmarriageable after the age of 14): If a girl is not married until the age of 14, she is locally considered as undesirable for marriage, which is a shame to her family and herself. In order to avoid this social stigma and ensure that their daughter gets a husband at the socially acceptable age, parents promise to give the female-child in marriage even before her birth, which, in turn, has a negative impact on young girls’ health and education. Of course, some parents are aware about the dangers of early marriage for young girls, but at the same time, they worry about the social consequences of

• for securing girls’ future and protecting them from the dangers of pre-marital sex and its social consequences: Virginity until marriage for girls is highly valued among the studied peasant communities. The preservation of a girl’s virginity until marriage is primarily a concern of the parents responsible for “watching” the girl properly. For this reason, parents believe that early marriage for daughters is essential to protect them from pre-marital sex.

Parents also believe that daughters must be married young to avoid social as well as economic risks and hoping that the carefully arranged marriage would benefit their daughters both socially and economically. In short, socio-cultural customs related to “virginity” encourages parents to arrange an early marriage for their daughters, which, in turn, affects girls’ overall-development. The ways in which young married girls manage to balance social expectations and real life challenges are demonstrated and analyzed in the extended case studies (see case studies in Chapter 8 and 9).

• to ensure girls’ obedience and subservience in their marital family: According to the local tradition, girls and women are expected to be obedient and subservient to their husband and in-laws. In order to ensure this expectation, girls are married off at an early age. This, in turn, negatively affects girls’ educational participation since formal schooling, especially above the first cycle of primary education, is perceived as making girls more assertive and disobedient to their husband (see Chapter 6).

• for maintaining gender roles appropriate to girls and women: In the peasant communities of Bachema and Rim, a girl’s social status depends on her being able to accomplish her socially ascribed roles of being a mother and wife. This also motivates parents to marry off their daughters at an early age so that they can achieve social recognition in their community in these “capacities.” This gender-specific social value attached to the social status of “girl-women” reinforces the need for marrying girls at an early age and reduces their self-identity and opportunities for receiving formal education and other skills, which are economically useful for themselves as well as for their family. Ultimately, this also contributes to the low development of their community. Of course, this consideration stems from the unavailability of social and economic options for girls and women other than being a wife and mother in the local community. Hence, in order to maintain the locally available options for girls, parents’

choose to marry off their daughters at an early age. In this context, formal education, especially beyond the basic level (grades 1-4), is considered as unnecessary for girls to become wives and mothers (see Chapter 6). In this connection, Alem Habtu notes that, “Instead of becoming an avenue of change for women’s social status, schooling ends up being primarily an instrument for the reproduction of gender roles” (2003:112).

• to maintain the status quo: In general, the themes of the qomo qär-stigma, the dangers of pre-marital sex, ensuring obedience and subservience, and maintaining the ascribed roles of being a wife and mother are the gender ideologies used for maintaining the status quo in the studied traditional peasant communities. Above all, the daughters “marry out” early because of patrilocality after marriage, so that their parents consider “investments” in them as a lost. In other words, since daughters, through cultural traditions surrounding marriage, are seen to become members of their husband’s families, sons are valued as carriers of their natal family lineage (see Chapter 5). In short, the gender ideologies hamper girls and women in achieving a

“status” beyond the “domestic” sphere.

In general, current economic pressures and life insecurities coupled with socio-cultural customs and gender ideologies result in the highest prevalence rate of early marriage for girls. This, in turn, negatively affects the overall-development of girls in general and their participation in formal education in particular.