Defining and deconstructing girl child marriage and applications to global public health

Abstract

An estimated 650 million girls and women alive today married before their 18th birthday. Referred to as girl child marriage, the formal or informal union of the girl-child before age 18, the practice is increasingly recognized as a key roadblock to global health, development, and gender equality. Although more research than ever has focused on girl child marriage, an important gap remains in deconstructing the construct. Through an extensive review of primary and secondary sources, including legal documents, peer-reviewed articles, books, and grey literature across disciplines, we explore what the term “girl child marriage” means and why it more accurately captures current global efforts than other terms like early, teenage, or adolescent marriage. To do this, we dive into different framings on marriage, children, and gender. We find that there has been historical change in the understanding of girl child marriage in published literature since the late 1800s, and that it is a political, sociocultural, and value-laden term that serves a purpose in different contexts at different moments in time. The lack of harmonized terminology, particularly in the global public health, prevents alignment amongst different stakeholders in understanding what the problem is in order to determine how to measure it and create solutions on how to address it. Our intent is to encourage more intentional use of language in global public health research.

Individual/Household and Community-Level Factors Associated with Child Marriage in Mali: Evidence from Demographic and Health Survey

“…Outcome Variable. The outcome variable for this study was child marriage, defined as young girls married before their 18 th birthday [1][2][3][4][5]. The outcome variable was dichotomized and coded as "yes" if the age at first marriage among the women occurred before their 18 th birthday and "no" if the first marriage was at 18 years and above.…”

“…Child marriage, i.e., marriage before the age of 18 is a violation of human rights and a major public health problem globally [ 1 – 3 ]. Worldwide, nearly 21% of young women are married before their 18 th birthday, and 650 million girls and women alive today were married as children [ 4 ]. Each year, 12 million girls younger than 18 years are married [ 5 ].…”

Sexual experiences of girls engaged in child marriage: A review of qualitative

“…Girls who get married tend to drop out of school so they have low education and decisions made are considered not a good choice for families. 32,36 Decisions in the family will be taken by the husband or mother-in-law. The decision to have children is also the decision of the husband and mother-in-law.…”

“…The reluctance of girls to have sexual relations also occurs when the marriage is an enforced marriage. 36 They do not know their husbands and are often married to men who are much older. Girls who are younger (under 15 years) often do not know anything about sexual relations and feel embarrassed to talk to their husbands.…”

The Decline of Early Marriage and Motherhood in Latin America: Decomposing Second Demographic Transition Characteristics

“…Because early marriage disproportionately affects young girls rather than boys, and because these girls are exposed to the risks of pregnancy and childbearing they merit the most attention (3)(4)(5). Efevbera and Bhabha recently presented a compelling argument for using the term "girl child marriage" to make the gendered nature of the problem clear in global public health research (6).…”