Presentation by Dr Nicola Jones, Dr Bassam Abu Hamad, Prof Sarah Baird, Erin Oakley, Sarah Alheiwidi, Agnieszka Malachowska at the 4th IAAH MENA region Adolescent Health conference in Hurghada, Egypt

1. Bassam Abu Hamad, Sarah Baird, Erin Oakley, Sarah Alheiwidi, Agnieszka Malachowska and Nicola Jones
Child marriage in the context of protracted crisis:
The case of Syrian and Palestine refugees
in Jordan, Lebanon and Gaza
Palestinian girl in Lebanon © Natalie Bertrams / GAGE 2020

2. Outline of Presentation
1
• GAGE overview
2
•GAGE findings
3
•Programming and policy recommendations

3. GAGE overview
Please note that the photographs of
adolescents DO NOT capture GAGE research
participants and consent was gained from
their guardians for the photographs to be
used for GAGE communications purposes.
Married Syrian girl in Mafraq, Jordan @ Natalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

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 20,000 adolescent girls and boys - the largest cohort of
adolescents in the Global South

5. GAGE 3Cs Conceptual Framework

6. GAGE longitudinal research sample
Jordan: 4,100 230 50
Palestine: 1,000 100 50
Lebanon -- -- 100
Global: 20,000 800 200

7. Background contexts
• All three countries have legal loopholes
that allow child marriage
• Child marriage rates are highest among
Syrian refugees
• Also quite high among some Palestine
refugee clans
• Consanguineous marriage is common—
esp for youngest
• Girls usually marry men 7-10 years older
• Is a coping strategy for poverty and
uncertainty
• But is mostly related to gender norms
Jordan
• Has worked with international actors to
see refugees served
• Syrians and Palestinians face restrictions
on employment
Lebanon
• In the midst of unprecedented economic
crisis
• Hostile environment for refugees
Gaza
• Israeli occupation, ongoing blockade and
political infighting
• Extremely high rates of unemployment

8. GAGE findings
Refugee out-of-school girl in Lebanon © Elie Matar GAGE 2021

9. Girls are pushed into accepting marriage
In Jordan:
 only 6% of Syrian girls reported
their marriages were forced
 2/3 reported that they were
ready to marry at the time
Girls feel like agents—with many feeling to
blame when their lives become unbearable
BUT that is only part of the story:
parents acknowledge that they are
controlling girls’ responses
In Gaza:
 Only 6.5% of married girls
reported not being forced into
marriage
 More than half of girls married
as children reported marrying
relatives

10. The wedding night
‘My first day of marriage is the worst experience in my life, I had no idea
what marriage was. The night of my wedding, I ran away from home. I went
back to my family. I was terrified.’ (15-year-old girl, Gaza)
‘In our traditions, the girl is not told any of that till the night of her wedding.
This is because if the girl knows about what happens beforehand, she would
be afraid of getting married… My mother-in-law told me to get the towels
and use them when needed.’ (17-year-old Palestinian, Jordan)
‘I did not know anything before this night…he put the bed sheet over my
face to prevent me from crying and he had sexual relationship with me.
Then, he went out and I started crying.’ (17-year-old Syrian girl, Jordan)

11. Married girls have little agency
‘I just do anything they say in order to save my
marriage and not make my father and uncle
argue with one another.’ (16-year-old, Gaza)
‘I dropped out from school when I got
engaged… … I wanted to complete my study to
obtain Tawjihi certificate …My husband told me
that I should not go to school.’
(17-year-old Syrian, Jordan)
‘The girl in our society is forbidden from many
things. She can only enjoy freedom from behind
the bars that confine her… The girl's life passes
from the father's hand to the husband's hand
while she is just a silent bystander.’
(16-year-old Palestinian, Lebanon)
Participatory photography © GAGE PAR research in Gaza
As a consequence of CM, 68% of girls forced to leave
schools in Gaza, 53% said they lost their independency,
51% faced restrictions to access recreational places.

12. Married girls’ SRH is at risk
‘My mother-in-law told me, "My son is old and I want to see his children. When he sees his son, he
will stop talking to the girls by the phone and he will be committed.” At first my mother-in-law took
me to a gynaecologist and obstetrician; she was a Russian doctor. When she knew my age, she said,
"A child and she wants to have a child!"… Then my mother-in-law took me to Ma'an and told the
doctor that I am 19 years old…… She gave me treatment which caused me illness… This treatment
almost caused me uterus explosion … I stayed at a hospital for two days, because my mother-in-law
wants me to have children!’ (17-year-old Syrian girl, Jordan)
‘If I have my period, my husband’s family
gets angry and says “that means she is
not pregnant!’ (married girl, Gaza)
‘I worked with some children who were pregnant and they found that they’re pregnant in their like sixth
month…they do not know that sexual relations makes women pregnant.’ (health care provider, Jordan)
In Gaza , 85% of married girls had been pregnant
 in Gaza, one-third (32%) reported ever using a
family planning method
In Jordan, 45% of married girls had been pregnant

13. Married life is exhausting
‘My life was difficult before the pandemic, but now it has become
a black hole. I have a newborn who cries all the time. I do not
know how to comfort him. My mother, who should be here
teaching me how to care for him, cannot come. My husband has
lost his job and is angry at me all the time because he is stressed
about our financial situation. I am constantly worried about
running out of milk and diapers for my son. I am so tired of life.‘
(17-year-old Palestinian, Lebanon)
‘Black hole’
‘I did not know anything. All I was happy about was the dress and the gold back then.’
(18 year-old Syrian, Jordan)
‘I practice violence on my children because I am distressed,’ she explained. ‘I am a child
and need care myself, how can I take care of children?’ (16 year-old, Gaza)
‘You feel you got kidnapped, this is how I felt.’ (married girl, Gaza)
Participatory photography ©
GAGE PAR research Lebanon

14. Violence from husbands is common
‘The husband will treat you badly and shout
and say all bad words to you . . . while you
cannot talk back because this will make him
mad.’ (16-year-old Syrian, Lebanon)
‘When my father came to me … he was
unnaturally upset… he told me he would
take me with him… I said to him that I did
not want to go… I was afraid of the girls
and society view at me and I was thinking
about what they would say about me.’
(15-year-old Syrian, Jordan)
‘My husband beats me every time he feels
upset because he has no job.’
(17-year-old, Gaza)
‘He used to pour water in my ears, because
these things don’t leave any marks on the
outside.’ (17-year-old Syrian, Jordan)
‘I told my husband, do whatever you want
with me, hit me, I won't leave my home, I
won't leave my son.’ (18-year-old, Gaza)
In Palestine, 45% of married girls report experiencing violence—94% from husbands.

15. Violence from in-laws is common
‘I talked to my mother in law when I was
pregnant and feeling very sick as I didn’t
eat well. She told me to go to my parents'
house and eat there! She mocked me and
told me to go find another place to get
good food!’ (17-year-old, Gaza)
‘My family in law are not leaving me alone.
Whatever I do, they don’t like it. I do all the
housework and the cooking but they still
criticize me and pick fights with me. My
husband is not interfering because he does
not want to take sides.’
(17-year-old Syrian, Lebanon)
‘His mother used to tell me "your family
sold you and we bought you”.’
(16-year-old Syrian, Jordan)
‘Once my father-in-law hit me with an electric
wire.’ (married girl, Gaza)
‘I had a fight with my uncle (father-in-law), he
hit me.’ (16-year-old Palestinian, Jordan)

16. Married girls have little access to psychosocial support
• ‘There was love between us, then it turned to suspicion, jealousy, banning of everything.. Things
turned upside down….. We were not allowed to go out together or hold hands in front of people.
He wasn’t allowed to smile at me in front of people.’ (Syrian, Jordan)
Few married girls are close to their husbands
• ‘I am broken, my life is a disaster, and I am left physically and mentally broken. I have no contact
with other girls my age, because they don’t like to deal with a married woman.’ (Gaza)
Few married girls have access to peers
• ‘We were a close group of friends, but after marriage this changed. .. We communicate on
WhatsApp. Sometimes we go out together. … I do not tell them about home secrets and private
life. … It is true that they are my friends, but marriage changes things.’ (Palestinian, Jordan)
• ‘Even your mother, you cannot tell her everything. Sometimes when you visit your mother telling
her about your problems with your husband, she gets angry and she shouts that she will kill him.
. . . Generally, you should not say everything.’ (Syrian, Lebanon)
Barriers are not only physical, but social

17. Married girls’ distress is palpable
‘I am not the same. I used to be more than this…I hate the most that my psych
has changed. I didn’t want it to change.’ (15-year-old Syrian, Jordan)
In Jordan, 37% of married girls scored high enough on the GHQ to suggest emotional distress.
In Gaza, 67% of married girls reported increased stress level as a result of CM, only 34% scored
above average on wellbeing scale.
‘I felt like all of my reactions are not real. I am about to lose my mind.’
(18-year-old Syrian, Jordan)
‘I used to be proud of myself, but now I don’t. All I need is to go back to being
single, or to go out to a place where there is no one, or to die.’
(17-year-old Palestinian, Jordan)
‘I have tried it suicide many times. I drank poison and pills, because of the kind of
living I have is very hard and there is no money.’ (16-year-old, Palestine)

18. Most marriages are not close and often end in divorce
‘Divorce is a common outcome. The longest
marriage lasts for 1 month, 1 month and a half, 2
months. I mean, for me, I have multiple cases that
I know in this region. The whole thing fails. The life
of divorced girls is miserable in many ways’.
(community service provider, Jordan)
Divorce often carries difficult consequences for girls
married as children.
‘I am divorced and I would like to return to school
and complete my studies … but my family refused
because I am divorced’. (16-year-old girl, Gaza)
Among Syrian refugees in
Jordan, divorced girls
reported experiencing
daily stigma and exclusion
in their community
‘We face rejection by married women
who assume that divorcees ‘want to
take away their husbands’.
(19-year-old Syrian girl, Jordan)

19. Policy
implications
Adolescent mother living in ITS, Jordan © Natalie Bertrams / GAGE 2019

20. Implications for programming and policy
1
Step up efforts to prevent child and consanguineous marriage—working with girls, young men,
girls’ and boys’ parents, and communities—using religious leaders as possible.
2
Provide young married couples with classes aimed at improving communication.
3
Work with young husbands and in-laws to grow support for delayed pregnancy and better
spacing—going door to door as necessary.
4
Expand support for the survivors of violence—stepping up access to legal and psychosocial
support.
5
Provide married girls with recreational opportunities—including access to caring adults and
unstructured downtime with friends. Opportunities should foster girls’ confidence and voice
and might win marital families’ approval if they also taught girls domestic and childcare skills.
6
Work with husbands and in-laws to shift the social norms that constrain married girls’ lives and
drive their distress.
7
Provide married girls with opportunities to continue their educations as well as culturally-
sensitive training that will help them earn their own incomes.

21. GAGE
publications
on
child
marriage
and
adolescent
well-being
‘No One Should Be Terrified Like I Was!’
Exploring Drivers and Impacts of Child Marriage
in Protracted Crises Among Palestinian and
Syrian Refugees
Child Marriage in Humanitarian Crises:
Girls and Parents Speak Out on Risk and
Protective Factors, Decision-Making, and
Solutions |
Through their eyes: exploring the
complex drivers of child marriage in
humanitarian contexts
Adolescents in protracted
displacement: exploring risks of age-
and gender-based violence among
Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon
and the State of Palestine
Adolescent well-being in the time of covid-
19
Empowering adolescents through an
integrated programming approach:
exploring the effects of UNICEF’s Makani
programme on Dom adolescents’ well-
being in Jordan
Adolescent well-being in a time of crisis:
assessing SDG progress during covid-19
and priorities for a resilient recovery for
adolescents and youth
Qualitative research toolkit to explore
child marriage dynamics and how to
fast-track prevention

22. 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 18,000
adolescents in six focal countries in Africa,
Asia and the Middle East.