A presentation by Workneh Yadete, Save the Children International and Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (Ethiopia), February 2020

1. 17 year old girl with her child, Afar © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020
Workneh Yadete, February 25, 2020
Child marriage in Ethiopia: Evidence from GAGE
Midline and COVID-19 Research
Save the Children event on Child Marriage, Hilton Hotel

2. Order of presentation
1
• GAGE overview
2
• Findings on child marriage
3
• Programme and policy implications

3. GAGE Overview
Adolescent girls, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

4. Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE):
A longitudinal research programme (2015-2024)
By finding out ‘what works,’ for whom, where
and why, we can better support adolescent girls
and boys to maximise their capabilities now and
in the future.
We are following the largest cohort of adolescents in the Global South

5. GAGE 3Cs Conceptual Framework

6. GAGE research sample
6
Ethiopia:
800
Ethiopia:
100
Ethiopia:
220

7. GAGE Ethiopia research sites
 3 regions (Afar, Amhara, Oromia) plus
Dire Dawa City Administration
 Research site selection based on:
• Districts with among highest rates of child
marriage as proxy for conservative gender
norms (MOWCA, UNICEF and ODI, 2015)
• Urban and rural sites
• Food insecure and pastoralist sites as a
proxy for economic poverty
• Woreda-based mapping of all kebeles
based on infrastructure and service
availability (vulnerable/ less vulnerable)
• Programming capacities of NGO
implementing partners

8. Child
marriage:
Before
Covid-19
‘Above the age of 13 years old is considered to be the age limit
for girls to get into marriage.’ (12-year-old girl, South Gondar)
Pregnant married adolescent girls, Amhara, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

9. ‘My soul agitated me to get married right
way when I reached puberty... While
experiencing this feeling, I came across a
gorgeous girl and wanted to seize the
opportunity to marry her… We competed
with a lot of males for the girl… The
competition was fierce... Our rivals beat us
with stones… I beat them and married her
finally.’
(17-year-old boy, who at 14 married a 12-
year-old girl, East Hararghe)
Child Marriage

10. South Gondar
Nearly all marriages are arranged, and two-thirds of married girls would have rather married later.
The age of marriage is
increasing—and girls have
some space to argue for
delay—but most girls are still
married as children.
‘My first marriage proposal
was at the age of 13 but my
father refused as I was a
teenager and then I got
married at age 15.’ (married
17-year-old girl)
Parents’ interest in child
marriage is driven by needs
to prevent premarital sex.
‘We are afraid that they will
start a sexual relationship
before marriage.’ (mother of
married girl)
Girls often feel they must
say ‘yes’ to their parents—
even when they do not want
to marry yet.
‘I would have been cursed
and my parents would feel
sad.’ (married 15-year-old
girl)

11. South Gondar: Rapid progress, with limits
 There is increasing—but limited space for input.
‘How can I get married without their permission? My family asked me if I
want to get married, I said yes and they got me married to him. I know
that he is from our area but I don’t know him in-depth.’
(Married mid-adolescent girl, Shumegie)
‘Families are afraid that girls might get pregnant and can have children
out of wedlock and for that reason they are married early. A boy can have
whatever girlfriend that he may wish to have even when he is in school.
But it is a taboo for a girl.’ (15-year-old divorced girl, Aquashmoch)
 Norms regarding premarital pregnancy drive most child marriages.
An adolescent mother, Ethiopia © Nathalie
Bertrams /GAGE 2020
 Commitment for girls’ education is strong, girls are more likely
to attend secondary school than boys.
‘It is males who got absent whereas female’s participation rate has
increased…. They dropped out school and left to commercial farm areas in
search of income earning job…. ‘ (Educator, Embachiko)

12. South Gondar: youngest adolescents at risk of forced marriage
 Girls who are to be married to priests are made to marry
especially early—because there must be no doubt of virginity.
‘To be the wife of a priest she will be engaged at 7 or 8 years. To be the
wife of a farmer she will be engaged when she is older than that.’
(Boy, 12-year-old, Shumegie)
‘I had no idea that I was going to get married. And then the day
approached and they told me... I said no way. I was even tempted to flee.
But I had nowhere to go. So I got married not to disobey my parents.’
(Married 12-year-old, Shumegie)
 The youngest girls have the least input.
Married girl © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE
2020
 Parents report that they are sometimes forced—by the
broader community-- to marry their daughters.
‘If I refused to marry my daughter the cow would be looted, crops and
house would be burnt and people would be beaten.‘
(Father of a married girl, Aquashmoch)

13. East Hararghe: Complicated and shifting patterns
‘They get married because it is in their interest. You can’t enforce them not to marry if they
want to marry.’ (12-year-old girl, Bidibora)
Many respondents report that child marriage is increasingly adolescent-driven.
‘If a girl is able to carry a 20 litre jerry can, they (the parents) think she is ready for
marriage. They assume she can also manage a man if she is capable of lifting and carrying
a 20 litre jerry can.’ (KI, Nagaa Umer Kule)
Others noted that child marriage has always been common, and increasing.
‘For the child, it is husband and wife decide together for the child. Father and mother
construct house for the boy and the boy searches a girl who is suitable for him. Then after
he marries.’ (19-year-old boy married to a 12-year-old girl, Melka)
The “old” and the “new” are mixing to increase incidence and decrease the age at
marriage. Parents suggest to boys that they marry—and boys choose the
youngest girl they can find to say yes.

14. East Hararghe: Why do girls choose marriage?
Girls “choose” to marry because they have few other options, to escape violence, and
are pressured by both older boys/young men and their female peers. This narratives
about girls’ ‘choice’ are more complex than they first appear.
‘I got married because they
[referring to friends] got
married’.
(Married 13 year old girl, Nagaa
Umer Kule)
‘Girls prefer marriage than to
simply sit idle.’ (Father, Riski)
‘I beat the elder girl when she
played with boys…Then she went
to Boko town again and started
living with a boy. She was 11 years
old.’
(Father of a girl married at 11,
Melke)
‘Boys try to lure her to go out
and then beat her… with sticks
and the leaves of a plant that
makes you itch.’
(Local youth leader, East
Hararghe)
‘The reality of what is being
done in shegoye place is that
the boy gives 1,000 birr for a
person who plays a role of
mediating between the girl and
the boy. Girls can be easily
deceived by the money.’
(Teacher, Bidibora)
‘According to our culture that
males better marry with their
younger females. Males are not
interested in females who are
older.’
(Young boy, Melka)

15. Zone 5
• Nearly all marriages are arranged, and two-thirds of married girls would have rather married later
‘I cannot refuse. If I refuse the man who was
going to marry me, he would be given
permission to take me by force.’ (17-year-old
girl)
‘We have our own peculiar culture and
tradition with regard to marriage practice… It
is the absuma marriage tradition.’
(father of a married girl)
‘[My friends] advised me it is better to
kill myself than get married.’ (20-year-
old woman, married at 17)

16. Zone 5 (Afar): Absuma marriages remain the norm
 Boys have some space for input.
‘I have many absuma. I chose my absuma by my
own. I chose her for her beauty.’ (Boy, Daleti)
‘If my daughter married to someone outside of
our kinship, our family line would discontinue.’
(Father, Daleti)
 The absuma marriage system is preventing
progress on child marriage.
Married girl, Afar, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /
GAGE 2020

17. Zone 5 (Afar): Girls are trapped
‘Unless we die, it is our absuma
that we are going to marry.’
(Girl, Daleti)
‘Especially if she is going to get married to an adult who
is older than her; she hates him, since he is going to beat
her when they get married’. (15-year-od girl, Daleti)
‘She drunk a poison because… she disliked the person
whom she was forced to marry…they (the clan leaders)
told her to stick to her marriage and to respect absuma.’
(Older adolescent boy, Daleti)
Adolescent girls, Afar, Ethiopia ©
Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020
‘Most of the families arrange and marry their daughter
before grade 8. This is because after grade 8, girls also start
to refuse their families’ marriage arrangement’.
(Key informant, Daleti)
 Girls have no choice into who or when.
 Families refuse to educate girls—in order to protect tradition.
 Even suicide is not a way out.

18. Some boys are at risk as well
‘While working and living
with my parents is for my
clothes and my food, they
will not give my anything
that will help me in my
personal growth. When I get
married, they will give me
cattle or a given amount of
money for macha.’
(18-year-old, married at 16,
Aquashmoch, S. Gondar)
‘When I refuse to get married,
my parents told me that they
will reject my childhood and
even they will not teach me at
all and told me to left the
house. At that time I don’t
have any person or any choice
who teaches me other than
my parents. That is why I
accept their marriage
proposal.’
(20-year-old, married at 16,
Shumegie, S. Gondar)
Boys want independence Boys are forced Boys options are limited
‘The school located in
this area teaches only up
to 8th grade…Managing
going to school in those
circumstances was
difficult to me and I
resorted to marriage as
a result.’ (17-year-old
married boy, Bidibora, E.
Hararghe)

19. Current COVID impacts on child marriage
‘In our locality if girls are not learning they
can’t reject the marriage arranged by their
parents; however, those who are in school
can say ‘No’ and everyone will support them
not to be forced by parents. But recently
since the school is closed many girls who
were learning will marry in this season
[spring].’ (17-year-old boy, Zone 5, Afar)
‘I am going to marry a girl aged 13 who has
temporarily dropped from grade 3 due to
school closure amid COVID-19… Our wedding
will be held after 10 days and we are making
preparation for the wedding ceremony,
including HIV testing, bridal gifts and food
preparations.’
(19-year-old boy, South Gondar, Amhara)
In Amhara and Afar:
 Covid-19 has led to an explosion of child marriages where lockdowns coincide with the
traditional marriage season and because with schools closed and district-level employees
prevented from traveling, surveillance and reporting mechanisms have faltered.
 Girls who are temporarily out of school are especially at risk, but also boys who were
attending secondary education report being pressured to marry now.

20. Married girls’ lives and horizons are limited
1
Marriage can begin with rape:
‘I tried to oppose him. …It must happen, so he forced me…. because I did not know about it, he used to
force me initially.’ (13-year-old married girl, Shumegie, S. Gondar)
2
Most girls were shut out of school:
‘My interest was to continue my education, but they ordered me to dropout my education’. (Married girl,
Aquashmoch, S. Gondar)
3
Girls decision-making was limited:
‘When you are with your family, you can either take their order or ignore it … but … it is impossible to
refuse husband’s orders.’ (Married 14-year-old girl, E. Hararghe)
4
Many married girls are socially isolated:
‘I got sad as I was not allowed to meet with other people.’ (Married 15-year-old, Shumegie, S. Gondar)
5
Intimate partner violence is common:
‘He beats me when I make a mistake….For instance, one time I bought a drinking-glass and he beat me
for buying it.‘ (16-year-old divorced girl, Embachiko, S. Gondar)

21. COVID is complicating married girls’ lives
• The tasks that married girls must handle have become more
dangerous.
'One of our main challenge for this disease is shortage of
water. We cannot protect ourselves at the water source.
We are going to die en masse at the water hole when we
fetch since there are so many people.‘
(Married girl, E. Hararghe)
• Limited access to contraception increases the risk of too early
pregnancy as well as pregnancies that are too closely spaced.
• Increased financial stress, due to the global economic
downturn, is leading to more gender-based violence.
Adolescent girl, Ethiopia
© Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

22. Adolescent girls in Amhara © Nathalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020
Policy and programming
implications

23. Change strategies I: Working with adolescents
Civics and biology classes—as well as girls’ clubs– teach about child marriage (although
this is not consistent across schools).
‘At the wedding, husband impregnate her. Her womb cannot carry the child. So she will deliver at
health facility via caesarian. She will suffer a lot. It is double jeopardy for her.’
(18-year-old married girl, Bidibora, E. Hararghe)
Empowering girls with SRHR knowledge is key
‘She refused to marry. She told us to choose suicide rather than married. … I tried to influence her
to marry like her friends but she refused.’
(Father of an unmarried girl, Aquashmoch, S. Gondar)
Empowering girls with voice is essential
Efforts to engage boys and young men are very rare—but norm change programmes e.g.
Act with Her is helping. In Amhara, some schools have gender clubs, but none of the boys
we interviewed were members.
‘Before we take the training, we didn’t support our sisters in different works but now after the
training we started to support them. I hold her baby when she went to the market. …. I fetch
water and collect fire wood.’ (11-year-old boy, Shumegie, S. Gondar)
Engaging with boys and young men is needed to bring about transformative change

24. Change strategies II: Working with Parents & Communities
South Gondar
‘The government has been
creating awareness for a long
time, they teach us that it
creates bad complication
during childbirth.’
(Fathers’ FGD, Shumegie,
South Gondar)
East Hararghe
‘The girls’ club is working with
religious leaders to stop brokers
from using shegoye as a venue
for trapping girls.’
(Teacher, Community K, East
Hararghe)
Zone 5
‘If we teach them directly to
stop early marriage and cross-
cousin marriage, we will
provoke conflict.’
(Teacher, Community A, Zone 5)
Parents of adolescents are not well targeted – programming on parenting practices should
be expanded to include adolescent-specific developmental needs
Community engagement is varied and variably successful.
 Messages are framed around girls’ health, the importance of education, and economics.
 Messengers include Health Extension Workers, I:5 groups, religious leaders, and NGOs.

25. Change strategies III: Working with Systems and Services
‘Girls know how to report the case when parents try to arrange her marriage without her
interest.’ (13-year-old girl, Shumegie, South Gondar)
Schools increasingly serve as a venue for reporting—esp in Amhara (although this
was a major challenge during closure of schools in the pandemic
‘Teachers just go out even if you don’t understand what they teach…They don’t even write well on
the board. All she knows is putting make up on her face…. Even I write better than her. When she
takes our exercise books to grade our homework, she had to refer before she writes; she isn’t
good enough.’ (13-year-old girl, Abena, S. Gondar)
Schools (esp. in rural areas) are not well resourced enough to ensure girls’
academic success—which protects them from marriage.
• In South Gondar, some parents are punished for forcing their daughters to marry.
• In Oromia, officials are working to stop and punish brokers and to make sure girls are ‘old
enough’.
• In Afar, justice officials use a less punitive approach that emphasises girls’ risk of suicide.
Formal justice approaches are rare, but can work.
There is a critical need for updated surveillance and reporting mechanisms due to covid-19.

26. Contact Us
WEBSITE
www.gage.odi.org
TWITTER
@GAGE_programme
FACEBOOK
GenderandAdolescence
About GAGE:
 Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence
(GAGE) is a nine-year (2015-2024) mixed-
methods longitudinal research programme
focused on what works to support
adolescent girls’ and boys’ capabilities in
the second decade of life and beyond.
 We are following the lives of 20,000
adolescents in six focal countries in Africa,
Asia and the Middle East.