Child Marriage Practices: A “Cultural Siege” Against Girls in the Indigenous Communities in Northern Uganda

Abstract

The study examined the impact of child marriage on the education attainment and welfare of girls in Northern Uganda. Two indigenous communities, Tepeth and Matheniko were used as case study. The study employed case study design, while qualitative approach (face-to-face interview) was used in data collection. 25 key informants participated in the study that includes 15 female and 10 male. The study was guided by the Radical Feminist Theory. The theory, argues that patriarchy is the primary cause of women oppression because partriachy gives men advantage over women in the society and puts men in an advantage position to determine the future of women. The study findings reveal that two main factors: poverty and cultural practice of cementing alliances are responsible for child marriage in Northern Uganda. In addition, the study found that child marriage breaches different aspects of human/ children’s rights, such as the right to education, healthcare, and protection from physical and sexual abuse among others. The study concluded that child marriage is a practice that has long lasting negative impact on the welfare of the affected individuals and by extension the development of the communities where it is practiced. Consequently, the study made recommendations on possible solutions and strategies to eradicate the practice.

The practice of child marriage: A profile and policy advocacy for Indonesian government

“…L. Rumble et al (2018) and C.C. Ogbonna et al (2021) illustrates that cultural, religious and economic factors tend to be more dominant in many cases found in some Region C areas, for example to avoid adultery, the occurrence of child and adolescent pregnancies, or to protect the family's good name. D. Candraningrum et al (2016) found that some of the factors driving child marriage are discussion and socialization of sexuality knowledge from parents and society in general to children is considered a taboo subject.…”

“…Several studies describe the presumption of the root of the problem of child marriage, including the education factors (Mim 2017;Gaston 2018), economic factors (Mitra et al 2020), cultural/traditional and religious factors (Ogbonna et al 2021), factors of residence and disaster situation (Dewi, Dartanto 2018). Another study strengthens the impact of child marriage on education, health and labor participation (Parsons et al 2015;Delprato et al 2017;Alfred et al 2020;Iustitiani, Ajisuksmo 2018).…”

“…The proposed recommendation is to implement a social participation model for all age levels through community forums, strengthen health awareness and prevent child marriage by means of minimum age of marriage is 19 years or more in the future (Duadji, Tresiana 2018a;Ogbonna et al 2021). Several best practices carried out both in Indonesia and other countries in the form of knowledge sharing programs and public awareness campaigns in collaboration with the media, community activists, children, young people, and local governments are priority recommendations (Plan Indonesia 2021; Rumble et al 2018;Ogbonna et al 2021).…”

“…The proposed recommendation is to implement a social participation model for all age levels through community forums, strengthen health awareness and prevent child marriage by means of minimum age of marriage is 19 years or more in the future (Duadji, Tresiana 2018a;Ogbonna et al 2021). Several best practices carried out both in Indonesia and other countries in the form of knowledge sharing programs and public awareness campaigns in collaboration with the media, community activists, children, young people, and local governments are priority recommendations (Plan Indonesia 2021; Rumble et al 2018;Ogbonna et al 2021). Forming child protection groups down to the village level can be done by strengthening the capacity of social change agents, by providing life skills, education and information regarding delaying the age of child marriage, which is at least 19 years of age, has implications for reducing the number of child marriages, and strengthening the role of their peer group (Duadji, Tresiana 2021).…”