Child marriage in Bangladesh

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Submitted by
Abdun Nur
Reg: 81900386
Roll: C61
Section: US905
Submitted to
Dr. Nipun Chaudhary
Assistant Professor
Lovely Professional University
Topic: Child marriage in Bangladrsh

2. Saying ‘NO’ to Child Marriage in
Bangladesh
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3. Bangladesh at a
Glance
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• About 161 million (2015)
population is in the area of 147,
570 sq. km. (densely populated)
• Around 23% of them are
adolescents and 66 millions
are children.
• The literacy rate among the
15-19 age group is 82% and
52% for 25+ age group and
education is a priority area of
Government of Bangladesh.

4. Child Marriage
• Child marriage can be defined as
“any marriage carried out below
the age of 18 years, before the
girl is not physically and
psychologically ready to
shoulder the responsibilities of
marriage and childbearing”
• Child Marriage is a form of
violence against children as it
denies the right of children to
health, nutrition, education,
freedom from violence, abuse
and exploitation.
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5. Child Marriage in
Bangladesh
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 The child marriage rate in Bangladesh is still very high.
 According to United Nations ICEF figures, 66% of
Bangladeshi girls are marriage before the age of 18.
 The Child Marriage law of enforcement in Bangladesh
is very negligible.
 The consequences of child marriage is long term - early
pregnancy ,pre term child birth, malnutrition, withdrawn
from schools and also unequal power
relations of spouses as age gap is also high.

6. Key Factors of Child
Marriage
Dowr
y
Povert
y
Perception
of
Economic
Burden
Accessibility
and
availability
of secondary
education
Lack of
law
enforceme
nt
Knowled
ge
Gaps
Social
Acceptan
ce
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7. Root
Causes
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 The reasons behind the elevated rate of early marriage
stem from traditional Bangladeshi customs and moral
codes.
 In Bangladesh, unequal society prevails day by day.
 On top of this, poverty is a major factor encouraging
early marriage.
 Young girls are often considered as an economic burden
by their families and survival strategy in order to obtain
financial security.
 Additionally, parents are attracted by the prospect of
lower Dowry payments if they marry their daughters off
at an early age.
 Another root cause of early marriage in Bangladesh is
the fear of Sexual Harassment of young daughters.

8. Legislation
• In Bangladesh the legal age for marriage
is 21 for boys and 18 for girls.
• This was established with the national
Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1929.
• However, the authorities rarely intervene
to stop child marriages and parents
continue to marry off their daughters
secretly.
• Despite this legislation, the
Bangladesh Demographic and Health
Survey has found that the average age
for marriage of girls is
16.4 years. 8

9. Strategies to Way Forward
 Education
 Female empowerment
 Strict application of law
 Reduction of poverty
 Raising awareness especially among rural and poorest
people
 Change of perception and mindset 9

10. How to Reduce Child Marriage
 There is limited enforcement of law relating to
early marriage in Bangladesh.
 On top of this, advocacy is fundamental. Efforts
must be improved to raise awareness and educate
at all levels of society from grassroots initiatives to
governmental policies.
 Significant schemes have been set up in recent
years in Bangladesh in order to limit the harmful
practice of child marriage.
 UNICEF also plays an important role in
Bangladesh, running an adolescent
empowerment project to help prevent child
marriage, dowry and other forms of abuse and
exploitation of adolescents, especially for girls.
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11. The key messages are…
• However, despite these initiatives,
parents continue to marry off their
underage daughters and data suggests
that there has been no significant
change in the percentage of women
married before the age of 18 in recent
years.
• Governmental and non-governmental
bodies need to come together to promote
advocacy and raise awareness on this
issue, being sure to reach out to the
poorest and most rural communities in
Bangladesh.
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