Are Indonesian Girls Okay? An Examination of The Discourse of Child Marriage, Victimization, and Humanitarian Visuality of Global South Girls

Abstract

The discourse of child marriage in relation to the lives of the girls in Indonesia specifically and the Global South generally is often limited to describing their vulnerability and position as victims. Practices of child marriage are inseparable from its exploitative and harmful nature. This paper, however, shows that the discourse of child marriage produced in humanitarian projects and interventions often avoids the complexity and diversity of the practices and the lives of the girls and reduces the problem into monolithic narrative of their communities’ traditions, backwardness, and inherent gender inequality. This paper asks: How has the discourse of child marriage in relation to Indonesian girls developed historically? How have international NGOs depicted the issue of child marriage? We show that child marriage discourse is historically rooted in colonial ideas surrounding modernity, childhood, and marriage, and that documents published by international NGOs tend to flatten the complex experiences and lives of Indonesian girls.

Menikah adalah Ibadah: Peran Agama dalam Mengkonstruksi Pengalaman Melajang di Indonesia

“…Interaksi nilai sosial, budaya, dan agama di Indonesia dalam memaknai pernikahan menyajikan konteks yang menarik untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman melajang. Ini karena masyarakat Indonesia menganggap afiliasi agama, status pernikahan (Himawan 2020b), serta konformitas terhadap praktik-praktik budaya khususnya terkait pernikahan (Beta and Febrianto 2020;Colquhoun and Nilan ABSTRACT Religion plays a major role in the lives of most Indonesians. While most religions favour marriage, little is known regarding how religion shapes the singleness experience, especially from the Indonesian perspective.…”

Tick tick boom: The rise of child marriage in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…However, the escalating application numbers after 2019 could be because of the change of the minimum age for the bride from 16 to 19 years old (Presiden Republik Indonesia, 2019). The first attempt to rise the bride's age was attempted in 2015 but the petition for judicial review was rejected were the only dissenting opinion among nine justices coming from the sole female judge (Barr, 2015;Beta & Febrianto, 2020;Girls Not Brides, 2022;Grijns & Horii, 2018). It could also emphasise the statement that child marriage is like an iceberg phenomenon, in which the registered numbers were representing only 3-8% of the child marriage reality while the rest of the cases were hidden through religious marriage (Sirri) or date of birth falsification to rise the child's age (Colquhoun & Nilan, 2020;Grijns & Horii, 2018;Iustitiani & Ajisuksmo, 2018;Kelompok Kerja Perempuan dan Anak Mahkamah Agung Republik Indonesia, 2020;Sumner, 2020).…”

“…A previous study on child marriages in five countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Nigeria) that accounted for 50% of global child marriages estimated the total number of child marriages after the pandemic until 2035 could be 3.5-4.9 million if it is not be mitigated (Yukich et al, 2021). Therefore, this study aimed to comprehensively provide reliable child marriage numbers in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular between 2020 and Findings from this study could complement the retrospective and self-reported survey conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik/BPS) before the pandemic, which was found that 1 in 9 girls aged 20-24 married before 18 years old (Beta & Febrianto, 2020;Kelompok Kerja Perempuan dan Anak Mahkamah Agung Republik Indonesia, 2020). Areas with high numbers of child marriage dispensation applications could be identified and a strategic plan could be effectively designed to reduce the numbers (Efevbera & Bhabha, 2020).…”

“…There were some efforts for reducing and preventing child marriage in Indonesia. For example, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1990 and ratified as a law of the Protection of the Children Rights in 2002 then amended later in 2014 (Beta & Febrianto, 2020;Iustitiani & Ajisuksmo, 2018;Kasjim, 2016). Furthermore, after 45 years, the Marriage Law 1974 was revised in 2019 by increasing the age of first marriage to at least 19 years for both boys and girls, which previously was 19 for boys and 16 for girls (Girls Not Brides, 2022;Grijns & Horii, 2018).…”

Pemuda, Perkawinan, dan Perubahan Sosial di Indonesia

“…KEYWORDS: Youth | Transition | Marriage | Social Changes | Indonesia nya, seperti merantau, tinggal terpisah dari orang tua, lulus kuliah, dan mempunyai pekerjaan yang mapan (Jones, 2005(Jones, , 2007. Kedua, seperti yang didapati di negara-negara Global Selatan lainnya (National Research Council, 2005), jumlah perkawinan anak/remaja di Indonesia -terutama yang dilakukan jauh sebelum batas legal usia dewasa -juga masih signifikan (Grijns, Horii, Irianto, & Saptandari 2020;Beta dan Febrianto 2020 dalam edisi khusus ini).…”