The first time I met Zainab, an 18-year-old divorcee with two kids, was my first encounter with a survivor of child marriage. I was participating in a youth multimedia fellowship supported by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), and the experience took me to the heart of Farin Ruwa, a rural community in Kano State, Nigeria. It was there that I met Zainab.
As is common among families living in poverty, Zainab was married at the age of 15. Her husband was a truck driver who regularly stopped in her community to rest whenever he was on a long trip. During the course of her marriage, she developed a condition called vesicovaginal fistula, which led her husband to stigmatize her because she “smelled.” Rather than seek a solution to her ailment, he divorced her and used her medical condition as a yardstick to relieve himself of his responsibilities.
Zainab was left to fend for herself and care for her two children. She took up knitting to bring in money and worked for her father doing farming work when she could.
Zainab’s story shook me to the core. How could a child be married? How could a husband discard his wife and children so easily? But what struck me even harder was the prevalence of the problem. Countless young girls like Zainab endure the harsh reality of child marriage across western and central Africa, especially Nigeria.
Plateau killing: Fulani, Mwaghavul communities give conditions for peace in Mangu
Plateau killing: Fulani, Mwaghavul communities give conditions for peace in Mangu
According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria is home to approximately 24 million child brides, with 2 in 5 girls married in childhood. These staggering statistics demand our attention and action, especially on this International Day of the Girl Child.
Today, I implore everyone to rally behind a cause that can be a powerful antidote to child marriage: girl-child education. Educational attainment provides girls with the knowledge, independence and willpower to delay marriage and understand that they have more potential beyond the social norms and attitudes defined by society.
Moreover, countries making significant progress in reducing child marriage have also made strides in areas such as government effectiveness, improved reproductive health outcomes, access to employment, poverty reduction, and educational attainment, according to UNICEF’s virtual training workshop.
What I have witnessed firsthand is that child marriage is not solely a consequence of poverty; it is deeply intertwined with society’s misguided perception of the limited potential of the girl child. If we continue to view girls as secondary to boys and deny them their education, we curtail opportunities for girls and stifle millions of dreams. It is high time we as a society collectively dismantled girls’ barriers to education, from the preferential treatment of a boy’s education to the culture of silence on gender-based violence to the family ostracisation of a girl when she decides to choose her own life partner and yes, to end child marriage, for it itself is a barrier to education.
Education is not merely a tool for acquiring knowledge; it is a catalyst for empowerment, independence, and change. When a girl is educated, her horizons broaden, her aspirations soar, and her resilience deepens. She becomes an agent of transformation within her family, her community, and beyond. When we invest in the education of girls, we invest in the promise of a brighter future, where child marriage is relegated to the tapestry of history.
We must also begin the urgent task of educating boys and men about the pivotal role they must play in championing girl-child education and embracing the manifold advantages that come with being an unwavering ally and advocate. Mere sideline observers fall short of our collective mission; true engagement is paramount. It’s essential to remember that the absence of active participation should never lead anyone to complacency, for assumptions of ‘all is well’ or ‘my family and relatives are not affected’ merely perpetuate the status quo that we currently find ourselves in.
On this International Day of the Girl Child, let us make a resolute commitment to ensure that every girl has unfettered access to her desired level of education by supporting the passage and assent of the Child Rights Act (2003) in states in Nigeria that have yet to fully sign this act into law, namely: Adamawa (passed but not assented), Bauchi (passed but not assented), and Gombe (yet to be passed and assented).
Additionally, lawmakers in the remaining states where this law has been enacted must improve implementation of the law more rigorously. This effort is pivotal in ensuring that the dreams of young girls are fully protected.
The path to ending child marriage begins with the empowerment of our girl children. It begins with our change of mindset on girls’ potential, and our belief in girls’ equality. It is a path we must tread together, hand in hand, until every girl child is free to dream, to learn, and to thrive.
Idris is a member of Every Woman Treaty’s Emerging Leaders Council, a global group of young advocates calling for a treaty through an Optional Protocol to CEDAW dedicated to ending violence against women and girls.
