‘A Girl Who Gets Pregnant or Spends the Night with a Man is No Longer a Girl’: Forced Marriage in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

This article reports fieldwork carried out in 2011 with the aim of investigating the attitudes and reported behavior of young Congolese men and women concerning sexual relationships, including forced marriage. A sample of 56 boys and girls aged 16-20 from two urban and two rural high schools in South Kivu province took part in focus groups and 40 of them were subsequently interviewed individually. Most male and female participants reported that parents would force their daughters to marry their boyfriends if she spent a night with him and came back home because, according, to Bashi tradition, she is 'no longer a girl'. If their daughter becomes pregnant, most parents would force their daughter to marry the genitor. The onus of preventing sex, pregnancy and rape is on the shoulders of the girl, which is consistent with oppressive patriarchal norms that may perpetuate violence against women.

Motives and Agency in Forced Marriage among the Urban Poor in Tanzania

“…8 What distinguishes ndoa ya mkeka from marriages arranged by relatives with an older or wealthier groom is that the relationship between the coerced bride and groom in ndoa ya mkeka is not decided by the parents but is initiated by the couple themselves. In this respect, it is comparable to the form of forced marriage described by Mulumeoderhwa (2016) for a Swahili-speaking area in the eastern part of the Demographic Republic of Congo. If both partners in ndoa ya mkeka are Muslim, the actual changes forced upon the couple are their shift in status from an informal to an institutionalised union, as well as the concomitant expectations of cohabitation, female domestic labour, and the man's economic provision for his wife and children.…”

Contraceptive use among adolescent and young women in North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A cross-sectional population-based survey

“…Age at first marriage was below 18 years in this population of sexually active young women; age of sexual debut was lower. Stigma concerning unmarried adolescent pregnancy is strong, particularly in North and South Kivu, and may contribute to this low age of marriage [11,12]. Girls who get pregnant outside of marriage may be forced by their parents into marriage with the man who got her pregnant [11].…”

“…Stigma concerning unmarried adolescent pregnancy is strong, particularly in North and South Kivu, and may contribute to this low age of marriage [11,12]. Girls who get pregnant outside of marriage may be forced by their parents into marriage with the man who got her pregnant [11]. In other cases, "girl-mothers" may be expelled from their home, be forced to leave school, and/or may seek a (likely unsafe) abortion [11,12].…”

“…Girls who get pregnant outside of marriage may be forced by their parents into marriage with the man who got her pregnant [11]. In other cases, "girl-mothers" may be expelled from their home, be forced to leave school, and/or may seek a (likely unsafe) abortion [11,12]. Further analysis of these data comparing married and unmarried young women is needed to ensure appropriate targeting of different groups and meeting their different needs.…”

“…According to the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), 18.0% and 20.7% of adolescents aged 15-19 had begun childbearing in North and South Kivu, respectively [10]. Stigma related to pregnancy outside of marriage or being a "girlmother" is high in North and South Kivu [11,12]. In Masisi, North Kivu, a 2013 assessment found that none of the 26 assessed public health facilities had a health worker trained to provide adolescent-friendly services; participants in focus group discussions stated that adolescent women were less likely than adult women to access contraceptive services [7].…”