22nd January, 2013
By Biliqis Bakare
Shaped by discrimination and bias, the society, especially in the third world, has dealt the girl-child a rough blow even before birth. In India, for instance, the country accounts for the termination of about 10 million female foetuses over the past 20 years while female infants are still found dumped in dump sites in large numbers. In Nigeria, the story is not different as women continue to endure all sorts of humiliations for giving birth to girls- the so-called weaker sex.
In her journey through life, the girl-child, when lucky enough to be spared, undergoes a lot of harrowing experiences ranging from early marriage, low level of schooling exposure to violence, HIV infection, maternal death and vesico-vaginal fistula.
Although child marriage is against the law in many countries including Nigeria as international treaties forbid the practice, it is estimated that at least 51 million girls are forced into early marriages world-wide. In Nigeria, the marriageable age varies from one region to the other. In the North-West and North- East regions, for instance, 14 years is considered as the average age for marriage while in the North-Central region, marriage could be contracted between 2nd and 3rd menstruation, whereas in the Southern part it varies from between 16 to 18 years.
Quite often, in most African countries, parents of child brides are driven by factors such as pressure to conform to age old cultural customs like preservation of chastity and economic considerations. In poor developing nations, it is not uncommon for poverty stricken parents to settle debts by offering their underage girls as payments.
Invariably, these early marriages deny girls the opportunity for quality education in addition to depriving them of their childhood. Among the more than 100 million children not in school, approximately 40% are girls. In Nigeria, Women and girls constitute 60% of the illiterate population. Also, most young wives are burdened by growing up responsibilities, household chores, rearing of children, and consequently do not get a chance to interact with their peers or carry on friendships outside the household. This puts them in a state of complete dependency on their husbands.
As a result of the age gap existing between the child brides and their spouses, they are often exposed to domestic violence and other forms of abuse. At least one in three girls and women worldwide has been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. It is now a common occurrence to hear of girls and women being frequently raped, irrespective of their ages. Today, of all girls and women’s fears, that of being raped is the darkest. The rape epidemic in our society reflects the extent to which women’s and girls’ (human) rights are being violated. It has gone so bad that minors, as young as 4 years old, are now being raped with resultant effect of preventing the victims from socializing or settling down later in the future.
Equally, child brides often suffer from Vesico-vaginal fistula, a medical condition where there is an opening between the uterus and the bladder because the pelvic bones do not have sufficient time to develop. This often leads to abandonment or divorce by their husbands and ostracized by their communities as urine continuously leaks from their bladders.
Also, it has been estimated that over 2 million girls and women are subjected to genital mutilation every year, a practice still rampant in some parts of Nigeria and all religious groups. Intervention into the practice is considered as a violation of privacy, yet many girls face several health risks through this, including severe bleeding and contraction of HIV infection through the use of unhygienic methods in carrying out the procedure. Statistical data shows that adolescent girls have HIV rate up to five percent higher than their boys’ counterpart. And during child birth, women in sub Saharan Africa face a one in thirteen chances of dying during childbirth, whereas in Europe the risk is one in one thousand two hundred.
As a result of all these challenges women and girls are left to contend with, the United Nations General Assembly on December 19, 2011 adopted resolution 66/ 170 to declare October 11 as the international Day of the Girl Child to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face around the world. The first one was marked in 2012 with the theme ‘Ending Child Marriage’.
Experiences have shown that investments in girls’ education translate directly and quickly into poverty reduction, better health care, better nutrition for the whole family and better overall economic performance. Therefore, one of the best strategies for protecting the girl child is to improve her access to good quality primary and secondary education. By the time she leaves the secondary school she would have been armed with some basic knowledge on how to cope and interact with the opposite sex and the challenges of child rearing. Elimination of gender gaps in school enrolment should also be a top priority.
Public awareness should also be created about the dangers inherent in child marriages as a violation of girls’ human rights with appropriate legislations put in place to punish offenders. The citizens also have to report cases of gender based violence to the police. For instance, it is now a yearly ritual in Lagos State for citizens to parley with the police on gender violence issues. In addition, the Lagos state Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation recently trained health workers drawn from primary and secondary health facilities in the state on Women’s Rights, Gender Based Violence [GBV] and the management of GBV survivors.
The health workers have been trained to serve as change agents through which statistics on rape cases and other forms of violence can be sought. Also, massive enlightenment campaign on family planning, and giving birth to the number of children one can cater for should be stressed to avoid using one child as a source of income for the whole family.
Machinery should be put in motion to provide support for girls who are victims of early marriages and gender based violence by providing them with options for schooling through part-time or evening classes and in some cases skill acquisition programmes to empower them to be self reliant. Rehabilitation homes should also be built for them for their protection and psychological rejuvenation for renewal of interaction with the public. An example that readily comes to mind is the one put in place by the Lagos State government at Ipaja for the rehabilitation of victims of domestic violence,
Efforts should be made to intensify sexual and reproductive health services in form of counselling on family planning methods, safe sex and protection from HIV infection. Similarly, more funds should be made available for corrective surgeries for victims of vesico- vaginal fistula.
In all, it is imperative for policy and decision makers to bear in mind that the worth of a nation is measured by the number of its empowered girls and not the amount of money in its foreign reserve.
•Bakare is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.