CONSEQUENCES OF EARLY MARRIAGE - PREVALENCE, CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF EARLY MARRIAGE AMONG T

PREVALENCE, CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF EARLY MARRIAGE AMONG THE PEASANT COMMUNITIES OF MECHA WOREDA

8.3 CONSEQUENCES OF EARLY MARRIAGE

In terms of the consequences of early marriage, reproductive health problems and psychosocial impacts, in most studies, and lack of educational opportunities for girls, in some studies, are some of the multi-dimensional impacts of early marriage discussed in the reviewed studies on early marriage.

This study, in line with most of the reviewed studies on the issue at hand, underlines reproductive health and psychosocial problems, illiteracy and poverty as the major harmful consequences of early marriage, particularly for young girls, with special focus on case studies.

8.3.1 Health and Psychosocial Consequences of Early Marriage

In the reviewed studies on the consequences of early marriage in the Ethiopian context, the health risks of early marriage have attracted relatively more attention. The health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth are numerous and contribute to the high rates of maternal and child mortality. The health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth are exacerbated by poverty and lack of information and services. In the studied rural communities, early marriage poses many dangers to young girls’

reproductive health and psychosocial well-being resulting from early and multiple births, lack of health care services and educational opportunities.

The most widely documented health consequences of early marriage are early pregnancy complications leading to obstetric ‘fistula’.¹²² Fistula victim young girls are usually abandoned by their husband, become social outcasts from their community, and vulnerable to social sufferings and abject poverty. The following case study illustrates the health and psychosocial consequences of early-arranged marriage among the peasant communities of Mecha Woreda in West Gojjam, Northwestern Ethiopia.

Case Study (8.1): A life story of Alem Tesfaye, 14 years old, a fistula victim, from Rim Peasant Community of Mecha Woreda

Alem Tesfaye,¹²³ now 14 years old, got married at the age of 11 to a 21 years old husband. Her husband, a priest at the local church, was chosen by her grand-father.¹²⁴ She got pregnant when she was 12, just before her first menstrual period. Her pregnancy was difficult since her body was not yet developed for it.

After nine months of troublesome pregnancy, Alem started her labor at home, like other pregnant women in her village. When she started her labor, her mother-in-law and the traditional birth

122 ‘Fistula’ is a health risk commonly associated with child marriage because of the mother’s physical immaturity at the time of childbirth. A girl whose pelvis and birth canal are not fully developed at the time of delivery often endures labor that lasts for many hours or days. Unless emergency obstetric care is available, the pressure from the baby’s head in the birth canal may cause tearing of the young mother’s vagina, bladder and rectum, causing uncontrollable leakage of urine or feces. This condition can only be repaired with reproductive surgery, which is usually inaccessible to the girls who need it (Murray and Lopez 1998; UNFPA 2002a; World Vision 2002; Fistula Foundation 2004).

123 I gave her a fictive name. I studied her life story through a series of four visits. The first two visits were held at Feleghiwot Hospital in Bahir Dar, the capital town of Amhara Region. The last two visits were at her mother’s house in Rim Peasant Association, one of the ethnographic research sites. These follow-up studies were conducted between July 2003 and September 2004.

124 Her mother and father got divorced when she was 5 years old. She was brought up with her mother’s father since her

attendant (yäləmd-awwalağ) were there with her. She was in very painful labor for four days. On the fourth day, a traditional birth attendant told her mother-in-law to take her to the local health post.

When it became clear that Alem would not deliver at home, her father and her husband, accompanied by her grand-father and her mother-in-law, carried her on a home-made stretcher and took her to the local health post. At the health post, the emergency worker told her father to take her to the woreda’s health center at Merawi, about 40 km away from her parents’ village.

When she arrived at Merawi Health Center, carried on a local stretcher, the nurses told her father to take her to Bahir Dar Feleghiwot Hospital, 34 km away from the woreda’s health center. They passed the night in Merawi Health Center, and in the next morning, her father and her mother-in-law took her to Bahir Dar Feleghiwot Hospital, where a surgeon operated her to take out the baby. As a result of the prolonged, painful labor, her baby died and she sustained internal tissues’ injuries. The damage in the tissues created a hole between her bladder, vagina and rectum, an injury medically known as “obstetric fistula.” Because of this damage, Alem was unable to control her urine and feces.

After the operation, she stayed in bed for two weeks, cared for by her grand-father. After two weeks, a nurse at the hospital informed Alem’s grand-father that, “after six months she has to go to Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital for further specialized treatment since her injury was very serious.”

After six months of sufferings at her mother’s house, Alem’s grand-father took her back to Bahir Dar Feleghiwot Hospital. The Hospital referred her case to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the only Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, for specialized treatment. She and her grand-father took a bus and after two days travel, they arrived at Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital¹²⁵, where she was operated for the treatment of the birth-injuries she sustained. Unfortunately, her treatment was not a success, so she still could not control her urine. Finally, she went back to her mother’s village with her grand-father.

In her absence, her husband was married to another woman. Now, she lives with her divorced mother who survives by selling aräqi (local liquor). At present, Alem cannot control her urine and she suffers from her childbirth injuries a lot. She now feels ‘ashamed’ of herself and she feels as if she is an ‘outcast’. She always expresses her desire to go to school if she manages to control her urine.

Alem and her divorced mother were participants of the exploratory workshop on “Early Marriage and Girls’ Education in Mecha Woreda” (18^th - 19^th September 2004), held at Merawi, the woreda’s capital. After the workshop, I had personal discussions with Alem and her divorced mother in order to have latest information about her health conditions as well as her mother’s livelihood mechanisms.

The following is a summary of Alem’s life story in her own words,

“I was married to a priest at the age of 11. My husband was 10 years older than me. I got pregnant when I was 12 years. My pregnancy was difficult. My labor was painful and prolonged. It stayed on for four days. After a prolonged stressful labor, I lost my baby and I suffered from terrible childbirth injuries. I could not control my urine and feces. As a result, my grand-father received my equal share of cattle, half the price of an ox (estimated at 200 Ethiopian bərr) from my father-in-law. With that money, I and my grand-father went to Bahir Dar Feleghiwot Hospital to get the referral letter to Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Then, we traveled to Addis Ababa for two days by bus. At the hospital, they tried to repair my damaged tissues but still I cannot control my urine. Then, I came back to my mother’s village with my grand-father. When I was in Addis Ababa, my husband married another woman. Now, I live with my divorced mother. My mother makes a living by distilling and selling aräqi. I do not like any man (wänd) to come near to me due to the ordeal that I have experienced as the result of early-pregnancy and childbirth. Sill I cannot control my urine. When I manage to get dry, I want to go to school and I want to teach the local people about the health risks of early marriage and early pregnancy. Most people in our community are not aware about the fact that my problem, and

125 “All women who reach the gates of the hospital feel that their lives have been ruined…They have no self-worth and have become social outcasts from their community at a very young age through no fault of their own. They have suffered all this injury unnecessarily because they have not got enough obstetric care in the province” (Dr. Catherine Hamlin; in Inbaraj 2004b).

problems of others like me, is related to early pregnancy. Traditionally, the community regarded a woman as a failure if she does not have a normal childbirth at home. They, therefore, believe that my problem is a misfortune” (14 years old fistula victim from Rim Peasant Association, 23^rd January and 20^th September 2004, Merawi).

Alem’s life story is not the only case among the rural communities of Mecha Woreda in particular and Amhara Region¹²⁶ in general, where early marriage is widespread. Though the exact number of fistula victims is not known due to the inaccessibility of victims in remote rural villages, there are many empirical evidences of very young married girls suffering from reproductive health problems as well as psychosocial problems arising from early sexual intercourse and early pregnancy complications in the remote rural villages of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia in general and the study area in particular, where the maternal health care, facilities and well-trained nurses and doctors are non-existent.

As the case study reveals, for a woman in obstructed labor the closest skilled doctor able to provide a specialized treatment (a caesarean section) is more than 74 km away. Traditional beliefs may mean that a woman is regarded as a failure if she does not achieve a normal delivery at home.

People in the local community know nothing about the real causes of “obstetric fistula”. In this regard, there is a need for raising the local people’s awareness about how early marriage results in reproductive health problems, especially “obstetric fistula”.

In general, reproductive health problems related to early marriage reveal the socio-cultural dimensions of young girls’ life who are victims of early pregnancy and multiple births. More specifically, health problems related to early pregnancy and multiple births interfere with their opportunities to education, the source of their personal as well as social development and destroy girls and women’s ability to fulfill an active economic and socio-political role and to develop their sense of worth. This has also negative implications for family life and for the society at large. This problem calls the need for broad community involvement, alongside focused and effective interventions.

8.3.2 Illiteracy, Divorce-Widowhood and Poverty

The reviewed studies show that poverty and illiteracy are the main causes for early marriage and its continuance. Both are also the major consequences of early marriage for many girls and women. The social norms and gender-related inequalities reinforce poverty and illiteracy in girls and women who marry early.

Girls and women are the most affected population group in the studied communities. They are receiving little or no formal education. The gender socialization process and local customs, especially early-arranged marriage, have continued to work against gender equality in formal education (see chapter 6). The majority of the illiterates in the peasant communities of the study area are women and girls. In other words, females’ literacy rate is extremely low (2.69%) (see Chapter 4, CSA 1995). The household survey (350 households) among Bachema and Rim peasant communities reveals the fact that 339 wives (96.86%) are illiterate (cannot read and write), whereas 208 husbands (59.43%) are

126 Among the nine regional states of present-day Ethiopia, the prevalence rate of ‘obstetric fistula’ is highest in the Amhara Regional State, where early marriage is most common. In this connection, at the inaugural Ceremony on the opening of the Fistula Center in Bahir Dar town, Dr. Catherine Hamlin, the founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, said that,

“33% of women suffering from fistula came from the Amhara State” (WIC, 26^th February 2005). The Amhara State’s Health Bureau Head, Assefa Demeke, said on the Occasion that ‘the opening of the Center in the town is instrumental in curing the suffrage in which women are facing in the efforts of accessing the treatment in Addis Ababa” (WIC, 26^th February 2005).

illiterate (see Chapter 4, table 4.1 and Appendix 7). In short, almost all married adult women in the studied communities are illiterate. They are also divorced and widowed at their early age, which ultimately make their life more vulnerable to abject poverty and pass it to their children, particularly to their daughters. The fate of children, especially daughters of a young widowed woman is migration to the towns and ending in becoming prostitutes or domestic servants there due to their widowed mother’s economic constraints to send them to school and a shortage of cattle to arrange early marriage for them. The following case study illustrates how early marriage results in a circle of illiteracy and poverty.

Case Study (8.2): A life story of Wuditu Alemu,¹²⁷ widow, from Bachema Peasant Community of Mecha Woreda

Wuditu, 42 years old, is widowed. Her 15 years older husband died 15 years ago at the age of 42. The deceased was her second husband, but she was for him third wife. She and her deceased husband were illiterate.

Wuditu got married to her first husband when she was three years old. She got divorced at the age of 11 before establishing her own goğğo and before giving birth to a child. Her first marriage was dissolved because her father did not want to continue the marriage alliance with her parents-in-law.

After the divorce, she got married to her second husband at the age of 14. She gave birth to her first child at the age of 15, followed by four other children (3 daughters and 2 sons). Her husband already had 3 sons from his former marriages.

Wuditu’s deceased husband had 8 qada (2 hectare) land. When he died, his three elder sons took 6 qada (1.5 hectare) of his land. Finally, only 2 qada (0.5 hectare) were left for Wuditu’s two sons from her late husband, without considering an equal share of the three daughters from the same father. Legally, daughters had and still have equal inheritance rights to their father’s land. But the family and the community regarded sons’ inheritance right to their father’s land as more acceptable.

Furthermore, Wuditu’s right to her deceased husband’s land was not taken into account. Legally, wives had and still have the right to inherit their husbands’ property, including land, though the local custom deprives them of that right.

Wuditu’s three elder daughters (27, 21 and 18 years old) neither got married nor attended formal school due to a shortage of cattle and financial constraints. Step by step, all the three elder daughters migrated first to Merawi, the woreda’s capital town, then to Bahir Dar, the Region’s capital town, and finally to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, and eventually settle there as domestic servants.

Wuditu’s elder son (24) has been working as cattle tender (käbbt täbaqi) and as an employed farmer (lole) in cattle and land -“rich” peasant families for 10 years. His payment was in kind, in grains (one-fourth of the farm product). By saving the money that her son got from the sale of grains, his mother bought him one ox. Using this ox to earn a living, Wuditu’s elder son got married at the age of 23 to a 14-year-old girl who brought in one ox. Immediately after the marriage, he established his own goğğo next to his deceased father’s homestead, where Wuditu, his widowed mother, lives.

Previously, Wuditu’s 2 qada land, her two sons’ share from her deceased husband, was sharecropped. After her elder son got married and established his goğğo, he started to cultivate this plot on arattäňňa basis (three-fourth of the harvest is for her son and one-fourth for her). The younger son (16) is still working as an employed farmer in a land -“rich” peasant family, like his elder brother. Wuditu’s sons have not attended school due to financial constraints.

127 This is a fictive name given by the researcher.

Seven years after the death of her second husband, Wuditu gave birth to two daughters from a land and cattle-“rich” farmer in her village. Giving birth from such kind of people is not unusual in the area. Locally, she is known as her two young daughters’ father’s qəmmət (lit. “kept person” or concubine). The two young daughters live with Wuditu in the vicinity of her elder married son. Her family’s sources of income are one-fourth of the farm products from her deceased husband’s 2 qada cultivated by her married son, and the sale of aräqi (local liquor). Her two younger daughters’ father also gives her some grain (about 200 kg) during harvest time, once a year.

8.3.3 Educational Consequences of Early Marriage

Early marriage is a powerful deterrent to girls’ access to and success in formal education. It blocks young girls’ educational opportunities and other life choices and seriously hampers their personal and social development. The younger the age at the time of marriage is the lower the probability that girls will have acquired critical skills and developed their personal capacity to manage adverse situations that may affect their overall welfare and economic well-being. In short, early marriage diminishes girls’ opportunity to acquire life skills, which will enable them to escape poverty related conditions.

Early-arranged marriage is the major factor affecting girls’ access to, participation in, and success in completion of primary education in the studied peasant communities, where the prevailing gender norms focus mainly on marriage and motherhood for girls (see Chapter 6). Many young girls drop out from school due to an early-arranged marriage (see Appendix 8A and B). Once married, especially when they reach the age of 13, female pupils have very little chance to continue formal schooling since they are socially expected to establish their own goğğo and raise another generation of daughters with no opportunities to break out the intergenerational circles of early marriage and poverty. The custom of marrying girls early and dropping-out them from school has become a common practice among Bachema and Rim peasant communities. Without intervention, the problem could become worse, as more of the girls reach the second cycle of primary education (grades 5-8).

The gender gap in primary education is more pronounced in grade eight (see Chapter 6, table 6.5). In fact, all early-married female pupils in Bachema and Rim primary schools expressed that they do not want to marry, but in their local communities, nobody consults their opinions. From a human rights’

perspective, this practice violates girls’ rights to education, through which they can develop their human and social capital. In short, early marriage seriously affects young girls’ educational and social development in the studied traditional peasant communities (see Chapter 9, Case Studies).

8.3.4 Personal, Social and Economic Consequences of Early Marriage

Early married girls suffer from reduced self-identity and opportunities for receiving basic life skills, which could be a means for a better life. Early marriage for a very young girl (as early as five and below) means a change of those who exercise control over her life. In other words, young married girls remain in subservient roles both as daughters within their natal family and as early brides in

Im Dokument Early Marriage and Its Effects on Girls' Education in Rural Ethiopia: The Case of Mecha Woreda in West Gojjam, North-Western Ethiopia (Seite 156-162)