2. Introduction
Adolescent marriage is a widely prevalent problem across the globe, especially in
developing countries. Today, more than 700 million women around the world were married as
children, and about 250 million of them were married before the age of 15 (UNICEF 2014). This
problem is quite widespread in Latin America, with Guatemala having one of the highest
occurrence rates in the region.1
The legal age of marriage in Guatemala is 14 with parental
permission; however, this law is not enforced very effectively (Sinclair 2015). Child marriage
especially common in the rural areas of Guatemala, where about 53 percent of women age 20 to 24
were married before the age of 18, and 13 percent of women were married before the age of 15
(Population Council 2011). Early marriage often leads to early pregnancy and childbirth, which
often occurs with serious complications such as infant or maternal mortality due to the fact that the
young mothers’ bodies are not mature enough for pregnancies and childbirth. These same child
brides are also more likely to drop out of school, contract sexually transmitted diseases, and suffer
from domestic abuse. Factors associated with this serious problem in Guatemala include: access to
reproductive/sexual health education, lack of girls’ formal education, ethnicity, poverty, and place
of residence. Preventative measures targeting these factors would decrease its prevalence in
Guatemala and contribute to the country’s development.
Background – Reasons for Early Marriage
There are several reasons why adolescent marriage is common in developing countries.
Families often have economic incentives to marry off their daughters sooner, at early ages, rather
than later. First is the high cost of having children, as they require food, clothing, education, and
healthcare services (Jensen and Thornton 2003). Providing all of these essentials for children can
1
(http://www.operationworld.org/guat). See figure 1.
3. become quite costly, and because of this, children are considered an economic burden to families.
Girls in particular are thought of as an economic burden to their families because they are not
considered able to be an economic asset by contributing to household wealth. This is particularly
common in areas where fertility rates are high and parents have many children, as more children put
more strains on economic resources of a family (Jensen and Thornton 2003). The high costs of
raising children give parents an incentive to marry their daughters out at early ages and be free of
the economic burden that they believe girls to be. Often, parents aim to marry their daughters into a
“more financially stable household” than their own, allegedly for the best interest of the girl (Jensen
and Thornton 2003, 17). However, it seems that marrying their daughters off at younger ages truly
only benefits the girls’ families, as countries that practice dowry or bride prices usually put higher
prices on girls who are young than on girls who are older (Economic and Political Weekly 2009).
In these ways, the parents of young girls actually benefit more financially if they sell their
daughters as brides as soon as possible.
Marriage is also seen by parents as a type of safe haven or protected space from violence
and pre-marital sex (Bruce 2003). A high value is placed on a girl’s virginity in many cultures; in
this way, a girl’s reputation and that of her family depends on her sexual innocence. Girls who are
believed to have had pre-marital sex are often ostracized from their peers, from their families, from
future suitors, and the community as a whole. In developing countries like Guatemala, adolescent
girls face enormous societal pressure to “avoid boys and remain virgins,” while young boys are
encouraged to explore their sexuality and sexual behavior (Weiss et al. 2000, 236). This cultural
double-standard pitted against women encourages early marriage, so as to wed the girl before she
has lost her virginity out of wedlock. This way, when the girl loses her virginity, she is married –
even if she is only 14. It is also common for communities in developing countries to view early
4. marriage as a type of protection against sexually transmitted diseases, the logic being that if the girl
is married as a young virgin, she has not yet had time to contract a disease. In other words, a
younger bride is thought to be less likely to have had many sexual experiences and therefore is
more likely to be “free of disease” (Weiss et al. 2000, 240). Girls are also more likely to be wed
early in areas where crime or violence is rampant, as parents perceive marriage as a type of shelter
and a way to protect their daughters from the community violence (Jensen and Thornton 2003).
The demand for child brides is also high in developing countries like Guatemala where the infant
mortality rates and the miscarriage rates are relatively high (Jensen and Thornton 2003). For
example, in Petén, a very rural municipality of Guatemala, the infant mortality is 40 deaths for
every 1,000 births (Sinclair 2015). This high infant mortality rate encourages communities with
high desired fertility rates to marry their girls early when they are young and are seen as having
longer reproductive lives. In this way, younger brides who have children starting at their early
marriage are thought of being able to offset the high infant mortality and miscarriage rates.
Another contributing factor to the high demand for child brides in developing countries is
the significant influence older husbands can have over their adolescent spouses. Machismo, or the
Latin American traditional belief that men are superior to women, fuels the unequal power dynamic
in Guatemala society as well as within the household. Having a girl as a wife increases the
perceived inequalities of machismo, as the husbands think of their young wives as their property.
As explained by Jensen and Thornton, large age differences between husband and wife “can affect
the power, status, and the autonomy of women within the household” (2003, 14). The resulting
power dynamic at home is used to manipulate the young bride. Hardly seen as partners to their
husbands in a machismo society, young wives are considered more “trainable” than older wives, as
5. they tend to be less assertive and more impressionable than grown women due to their lack of
emotional and mental maturity (Jensen and Thornton 2003, 18).
Consequences of Adolescent Marriage
Adolescent marriage has many negative consequences for the young girls who fall victim to
the phenomena. Firstly, early marriage usually means early age at first pregnancy and childbirth,
which begins the trend of frequent pregnancies with little spacing between them (Wulf and Singh
1991). Carrying out a pregnancy and giving birth at an early age before physical growth and
development is complete has negative health effects on the mother and child because the mother’s
reproductive system has not had time to “mature sufficiently to manage a birth” (Pebley and Stupp
1987, 43). Pebley and Stupp argue that this contributes to the already high infant mortality rates
because closely spaced births deplete the mother’s reproductive and nutritional resources necessary
for the birth of a strong, healthy baby, and very often the baby is born malnourished, weak, and
small. If the weak baby survives, it experiences greater competition among its siblings for family
resources like food, clothing, healthcare, and parents’ attention. Also, children of similar ages in
the same family are more likely to pass diseases to each other because they spend a great amount of
time together in close proximity (1987). Young mothers also tend to not know how to properly take
care of their children, as found by UNICEF: “If a mother is under 18, her baby’s chance of dying in
the first year of life is 60% higher than that of a baby born to a mother older than 19” (Smith et al.
2012, 537). Young girls giving birth before they are physically mature also puts their own lives in
danger due to complications during childbirth, contributing to maternal mortality rates. Young
mothers also tend to have their babies at the home instead of a clinic or hospital, which means that
they and their new children are often not receiving the necessary, high quality prenatal care that a
hospital can provide, nor are they being educated by professionals on how to take care of their
6. newborns. This puts the child in serious danger. In fact, children born at home are approximately
45 percent more likely to die than children born in hospitals (Pebley and Stupp 1987, 51). Clearly,
serious consequences for mother and child result when young girls are married at an early age.
Child marriage is also a hindrance to a girl’s education. Girls in Guatemala already have
less access than boys do to primary education because of the foundation of the machismo society.
Upon their early marriage, their attainment of the little education they do have access to is almost
non-existent. These girls are expected to leave school in order to “devote their time to the care of
their new home or to childbearing and childcare” because in Guatemalan society, marriage and
schooling are perceived as “incompatible” (Jensen and Thornton 2003, 10-13). In fact, in a study
researching educational attainment by girls in Latin America and the Caribbean, Guatemala was
found to have one of the lowest levels of female education in the region (Wulf and Singh 2003).
Dropping out of school means that these women are not obtaining what Wulf and Singh call
“educational credentials” that allow them to obtain higher-paying jobs that help them support
themselves or their families (1991, 138). In addition, without the proper education, the girls are not
getting the information necessary to make informed decisions about their sexual practices. This
makes them particularly vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted diseases and to becoming
pregnant more frequently.
Girls who are married are prone to contracting STDs because of their lack of education, but
they are also likely to contract these diseases because of their perceived inferiority in the household.
Due to the extremely unbalanced power dynamic between young child brides and their older
husbands, the girls are unable to voice their opinions about their own sexual behavior to their
husbands (Weiss et al. 2000). This means that these girls must engage in frequent – often
unprotected sex – at their husbands’ bidding. In fact, Clark, Bruce, and Dude write that marriage
7. generally “results in a transition from virginity to frequent, unprotected sex” for young girls
because of the strong desire for pregnancies (2006, 79). This drastic rise in the frequency of
unprotected sex, combined with the fact that young boys are actually encouraged to explore sexual
intercourse before their marriage, makes these girls especially vulnerable to contracting STDs from
their new, more experienced older husbands. This debunks the common traditional belief that
daughters are safer from STDs when they are married because the young girls are likely to be
married to older, more sexually-experienced husbands were encouraged to have multiple sexual
partners growing up (Clark et al. 2006). As a result, these child brides are more likely to be
infected with a disease. Child brides are also more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases
because they are usually not enrolled in school and have less exposure to accurate information
about sexual and reproductive health (Samandari and Speizer 2010). Without the proper
information about how to keep themselves safe from unwanted pregnancies and diseases, these
adolescent wives contract STDs more easily than their single peers.
In a similar way, young wives are vulnerable to domestic abuse, with their older husbands
being the perpetrators. Studies show that girls who are married before age 18 are at a higher risk of
experiencing domestic abuse and violence (Jain and Kurtz 2007). This domestic abuse includes
physical and sexual violence, such as the aforementioned unwanted and unprotected sex. Because
the young brides are considered inferior to their older husbands in machismo Guatemala, it is
socially acceptable to suppress young wives through physical violence. This violence is considered
justified if the child bride is unfaithful, her family does not pay husband’s family, she shows
disrespect by resisting sexual advances, or if she neglects household duties (Jensen and Thornton
2003). Even more unsettling is the fact that many girls agree that domestic abuse is often justified
8. because men are superior to them, due to their young age in comparison to their spouses, and
because they have grown up in a machismo society.
All in all, adolescent marriage results in less power, status, and autonomy for girls in the
home and beyond. Because young girls are more impressionable and immature than older women,
they are easily oppressed by their older husbands in their households. The often wide age gap
between child brides and their husbands worsens the uneven power dynamic. They are not able to
voice their opinion about their sexual practices with their husbands, which means that they often
experience domestic and sexual abuse. This oppression often follows them for the rest of their
lives, as the cultural inertia and conditioning of constantly being under the control of their husbands
makes it almost impossible for the girls to live independent lives of their own.
Factors Contributing to Adolescent Marriage
There are several factors that make some girls more vulnerable to child marriage than others
in Guatemala. The most significant of these is education levels. Education positively influences a
woman’s status in the household and the community because it allows for financial independence
from husbands and families, and improves a young woman’s self-esteem that has been oppressed
from years of machismo (Weiss et al. 2000). Without self-confidence and accurate information
about protection and contraception, Guatemalan girls are less likely to stand up for themselves and
their rights. Self-confidence gained from empowerment through education not only gives them the
ability to voice their opinions on their own sexual behavior, but the education also gives them
information on how to take precautions against STDs or use contraception. Additionally, a lack of
education “hinders women’s participation in the labor market, thus increasing the likelihood of their
marrying” (Smith et al. 2012, 542). Without economic independence gained from education, girls
9. are likely to marry early to become financially secure. In this way, education can reduce the
economic incentive for early marriage. The financial independence that an education allows –
especially an education on the Spanish language – helps to decrease the economic motivation for an
early marriage because it leads to rising wage rates and increased access to jobs (Singh and Samara
1996). Also, education also is associated with later marriage because parents usually want their
daughters to marry someone who is at least as educated as they are; with a higher education, girls
will – in a way – set higher standards for their future husbands, delaying early marriage (Smith et
al. 2012). Girls in school are also simply less available for early marriage. Unfortunately, in
Guatemala, girls’ enrollment in education drops significantly at age 12. According to the
Population Council, Guatemala has one of the lowest educational attainment and literacy rates in
Latin America (Hallman et al. 2006). These rates need to improve in order for child marriage in
Guatemala to be reduced. 2
The most overarching and indiscriminate factor that plays into the likelihood of child
marriage is poverty. Latin American girls who are living in poverty are more likely to have had sex
or to have ever been married than their peers from wealthier families, while all other factors are
held equal, and Guatemala is no exception to this (Samandari and Speizer 2010). This is due to
several reasons. First, the economic incentive to marry girls into more financially-secure
households is higher for parents whose families are poor. Second, poverty makes it more difficult
to access education. As found by Hallman and her partners at the Population Council, Maya
females who live in extremely poor households and enroll in school do so 1.2 years later than their
non-poor peers.3
This extra time spent out of school can be the difference between adolescent
marriage and an independent, healthy life for a young Guatemalan girl. Poverty also makes it
2
Smith et al. 2012. See figure 2.
3
Hallman et al. 2006. See figure 3.
10. extremely difficult for Maya families to send their daughters to school because secondary school
requires a fee. For this reason, Guatemalan girls living in poverty who are past the age of 12 are not
often enrolled in schools (Hallman et al. 2006). Finally, poverty decreases the access that
Guatemalan girls and their families have to sex education, reproductive healthcare, modern methods
of contraception (Samandari and Speizer 2010). This means that Guatemalan girls living in poverty
are not learning the information they need to make wise decisions about their sex lives, which in
turn increases STD rates, complicated pregnancies, and infant and maternal mortality rates in the
impoverished population of Guatemala.
Place of residence is also a contributing factor in the probability of child marriage in
Guatemala, as the life outlook for girls living in rural areas is different from those living in urban
areas of the country. First of all, urban populations have better access to education because there
are more schools in cities. Adolescents growing up in rural areas are often in remote regions of
Guatemala and because of this, they are “considerably less likely than their urban counter parts to
have reached [secondary] schooling” (Wulf and Singh 1991, 138). Additionally, Wulf and Singh
write that there is a significant gap in the literacy levels betwen young women in Guatemala who
live in urban areas and those who live in rural ones (1991). This deficit in formal education puts
Guatemalan girls from rural regions in particular danger of child marriage. In fact, in Wulf and
Singh’s study, rural teenagers in Guatemala were over two times more likely than urban teenagers
to be married before the age of 20 (1991). This may also be true because rural residency is often
linked to poverty, which is another factor that increases a girl’s vulnerability to adolescent
marriage. Finally, contraceptive knowledge has been found to increase with the length Guatemalan
adolescents had lived in an urban area (Lidstrom and Hernandez 2006). This suggests that
teenagers who are living in urban areas of Guatemala are more exposed to education about
11. reproductive/sexual health than those living in rural areas, probably because cities allow for more
access to resources concerning sex education. The lack of exposure to this information in rural
areas contributes to the pervasiveness of child marriage there, because it allows for the spread
misinformation about sexual and reproductive health.
The ethnicity of Guatemalan girls also is a factor in their vulnerability to adolescent
marriage, with indigenous Maya girls being more susceptible than Ladino girls because they are the
group most likely to be undereducated, live in rural areas, and live in poverty. This is most likely
because indigenous populations are “isolated” culturally and linguistically, as said by Lindstrom
and Hernandez (2006, 151). In other words, the Maya culture, languages, and its machismo
tradition often cut them off from the tools they need to be safe from child marriage. For example,
indigenous adults normally have less than half the level of schooling as non-indigenous adults, with
Maya women being the most disadvantaged (Hallman et al. 2006)4
. The dropout rate from primary
schooling is much higher for Maya females than any other group in Guatemala, and they have the
lowest literacy rates (Hallman et al. 2006). This trend of under-education of indigenous
Guatemalans means that they are further sheltered from reproductive health education and modern
methods of contraception. Also, they often do not speak Spanish and therefore are unable to
receive much of the information available to the Ladino population about sex education and modern
methods. These factors result in only 7% of indigenous women in Guatemala using modern
methods of contraception and protection, which makes them very vulnerable to STDs (Remez
1997). Indigenous Maya are usually poor as well – three-quarters of indigenous Guatemalans are
poor compared to 40% of the non-indigenous Guatemalans (Hallman et al. 2006). This poverty
contributes to the economic incentive to marry daughters young, as discussed previously.
4
Hallman et al. 2006. See figure 4.
12. Indigenous Guatemalans also often face discrimination in wage rates and access to jobs, because of
racially-based prejudice that favors Ladinos and because they often do not speak Spanish (Hallman
et al. 2006). This, combined with the cultural pressures to marry, results in Maya girls being in
particular danger of child marriage.5
The final factor that plays into the vulnerability of Guatemalan girls to child marriage is
access to reproductive and sexual health education. More access to information on these subjects
may lead to fewer girls being married, and it also empowers girls who are already married to stand
up for their rights to their own bodies – this gives them the confidence to start a dialogue with their
husbands about their sexual practices. Women’s level of access to this information is also
contingent on all of the already discussed factors: level of education, poverty, place of residence,
and ethnicity. These factors all influence the exposure levels which various subgroups in
Guatemala receive. There are several channels through which this type of education is available in
Guatemala. The most obvious is formal schooling, which is another reason why educational
attainment is critical to reducing child marriage. Mass media is the second method, which includes
television, radio, newspapers, movies, etc. (Bertrand et al. 1982). In a study by Bertrand and her
partners, women in urban populations in Guatemala were found to be much more exposed to this
type of advertisement than women in rural areas (1982). Because urban populations mostly consist
of non-indigenous Guatemalans who have more money than indigenous Guatemalans in rural areas,
we then turn to the third channel – the use of interpersonal communications. This channel, which is
person to person, can be done through seminars at clinics, home visits by doctors, communication
through peers, group presentations, or group meetings known as charlas (Bertrand et al. 1982).
When these communications are well-organized, they can be much more effective in reaching the
5
Hallman et al. 2006. See figure 5.
13. Guatemalan girls who are most sheltered from this information – Maya girls living in poverty in
rural areas of the country. The levels of access to reproductive and sexual health education is most
drastic between the indigenous Maya and the non-indigenous Guatemalan populations, with “a
much lower level of exposure among Indian respondents (primarily rural) as compared with the
Spanish-speaking Ladino population” (1982, 194). This demonstrates the significance of the
ethnicity factor in Guatemala (which is often associated with place of residence, with Maya
populations typically living in rural areas and Ladinos mostly living in urban areas). For this
reason, it is important that preventative interventions target indigenous women and families in rural
areas.
Preventative Interventions
The most critical intervention that can be taken to prevent child marriage in Guatemala is to
promote education and economic opportunities for girls. This education can include formal
education (primary, secondary schooling), but it can also include training in valuable life skills such
as finance education, learning marketable skills with which to earn a living, and communication
skills with which to improve the dialogue between girls and members of their communities. In fact,
training in these skills in formal education institutions may be the best method to promote the two
types of education together. Targeting Guatemalan girls who are young, still in school, and not yet
sexually active in this way may raise educational attainment for girls in the country. However, life
skills education can also be accessed through other channels, such as girls clubs and adolescent
support groups (Wehr and Tum 2013). Wehr and Tum also found that these groups for just young
girls and women are particularly useful for lessons on sensitive issues such as personal
empowerment, gender violence, sexual/reproductive health, and women’s rights to their own bodies
(2013). Once the women are more comfortable on these topics, lessons and workshops with males
14. participating as well is empowering to the women because it treats both sexes as equals, and shakes
off the “fear and shame” many of the women used to feel talking about these subjects (Wehr and
Tum 2013, 138). Promoting education also involves improving the accessibility of formal
education for girls in Guatemala. First, the educational programs should be offered in the
indigenous Mayan languages, not just Spanish, so that the information is being accessed by even by
populations who do not yet speak Spanish. Also, since financial barriers are often cited as a main
hindrance to girls’ education in Guatemala, schools and programs could offer scholarships or loans
or provide subsidies on school supplies or school uniforms (Lee-Rife et al. 2012). Financial aid in
this way may make parents be more inclined to send their daughters to school and empowerment
programs.
Educational programs should also be targeting parents and other members of Guatemalan
communities, not just young girls. Involving adolescent girls’ parents in the discussion and
education about child marriage is critical to its reduction, as parents play a large deciding role in
whether or not to marry off their daughters. A recent study by Smith and her partners found that
parents, especially mothers, who had received more schooling and education on child marriage are
more likely to defer the marriage of their young girls in preference of their education or formal
labor market participation (2012). Involving parents and other community members in discussions
and lessons about sensitive issues such as sex, reproductive health, and family planning is also
effective in ridding the community of the shame or embarrassment that is often associated with
those topics (Wehr and Tum 2013). Getting rid of this taboo makes it much easier for productive
and educational discussions to take place and can contribute to the eradication of child marriage.
Reducing adolescent marriage in Guatemala involves changing what is socially acceptable for
15. young girls and women and influencing public attitude towards women – for this reason, it is
critical to involve the entire community in this educational process.
Another step to be taken to delay marriage of girls in Guatemala to offset the financial
incentive parents often have to marry their daughters. As mentioned previously, this can be done
through training young girls and women on marketable skills with which they can make a living
and support their families. Schools can be made more affordable for families through academic
scholarships for daughters and their families, as well as subsidies on school expenses and providing
loans to Guatemalan families. Training in microfinance can also be a method with which to earn
more income for families living in poverty in Guatemala (Lee-Rife et al. 2012). Micro-loans given
to young women and members of their families can be extremely effective in helping the receivers
of those loans begin lucrative business endeavors that become big income generators for themselves
and their families. The increased income through microfinance could give parents of young girls
less of a reason to “sell” their daughters into marriage, especially if the daughter herself is the
member of the family who is producing income.
Finally, policy-makers and the Guatemalan government need to take more action addressing
the issue of adolescent marriage in the country. Local and federal governments should fund
“community sensitization and awareness training” that raises awareness and begins the discussion
on adolescent marriage in Guatemala (Jain and Kurz 2007, 36). In addition to this, governments
can create legislative policies that direct more resources – access to formal education and
reproductive health services, for example – to women and their daughters so they are allowed an out
from this cycle of oppression. Enforcing the legal marriage age in Guatemala is also critical to
reducing adolescent marriage rates. If local governments ensured that more birth registration took
place (allowing for an accurate record of community members’ ages), as well as the registration of
16. all marriages, it would be less likely that girls would be married off before the legal age (Economic
and Political Weekly 2009; Jensen and Thornton 2003).
Conclusion
It is clear that child marriage in Guatemala is a complicated issue that stems from cultural
and institutional discrimination against and oppression of girls. This oppression – in the form of
lack of education and financial independence – ensures that young girls find it difficult to reach
their full potential and recognize their own individuality and self-worth, as opposed to simply being
valued as mothers or wives. Because of this cyclic oppression, more Guatemalan girls are being
married as children, contributing to their own marginalization and hindering the development of the
communities they live in. Currently married girls and their children need to be supported with
improved access to maternal/child health clinics that offer family planning and reproductive health
services and education. The currently married girls could also use financial and entrepreneurship
training, so that they can be economically independent and secure from their husbands.
The issue of child marriage in Guatemala needs to be resolved with a holistic approach, or
one that tackles all of the very clearly interrelated contributing factors of ethnicity, education levels,
poverty, place of residence, and access to reproductive/sexual health information. The preventative
measures discussed earlier need to be institutionalized in schools, girls clubs, support groups, etc.,
and repeatedly enacted through programs that work to empower Guatemalan girls with all types of
education – formal primary and secondary, communication and confidence-building, reproductive
health, family planning, and financial. This way, Guatemalan girls – even impoverished indigenous
Maya who live in remote areas of the country – will have access to the tools they need to become
self-sufficient, educated women who have the power to choose if and when to get married.
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