DEAR DIARY: They are girls not brides

I was following the First Ladies Summit on child marriage which recently took place in Lusaka closely since I had received an invitation to attend the same but could not make it due to unavoidable circumstances.  One thing that I have never understood is how a grown up man can decide to marry a child then routinely rape them!

This is something that needs to be urgently addressed. Marrying a child not only exposes them to serious harm but also limits their education. It is so disturbing that some people marry girls as young as seven year-olds!

And in some parts of the country, the community is quiet about this not knowing that these girls are exposed to marital rape and even reproductive health risks. Some girls have been infected with HIV/Aids as a result of forced early marriages. It is even sad that some parents marry off their children to older men just to get bride price.

This means that the lives of these girls are equated in terms of material wealth thus they are treated as commodities and not human beings. This kind of abuse not only denies these girls a chance to grow up and develop like their peers but also subjects them to gender-based violence and child labour. It is even absurd that there are some women who also practice child marriage through nyumba ntobu.

In this case a rich older woman pays a bride price for a young girl then gets a random man to impregnate her. Any child born out of this arrangement belongs to the older woman and the young girl has no say at all. A starting point would be for the government to set up minimum marriage age at 18 irrespective of religious beliefs and customs to save more girls from this kind of bondage. 

And it should not stop at that, offenders should be arrested and prosecuted to act as deterrent for others. This would go a long way in improving the lives of girls and women in a country which still has the highest child marriage prevalence in the world. There should also be  public awareness about negative effects of child marriage to curb the practice. Schools should also teach girls from primary school going age about gender desks and they also need to be encouraged to report cases of such abuse without fear or intimidation.

And finally, survivors should be given psychological, social and economic support to enable them to lead productive lives again.  Let’s end child marriage once and for all.