Constrained choices: exploring the complexities of adolescent girls' voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia
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This document summarizes key findings from research on child marriage in Ethiopia. The research explored the complex factors that influence girls' agency and choices regarding marriage in different areas of the country. Three main findings are: 1) Drivers and experiences of child marriage vary significantly between rural and urban areas, and rates of marriage are declining faster in some places than others. 2) Girls have limited choices, and face pressure from social norms, but their level of agency depends on their location. 3) While awareness programs and laws aim to empower girls, challenges remain in supporting girls' education and development, engaging both girls and boys, and addressing systemic issues. The research highlights the need for nuanced, locally-appropriate strategies to truly expand girls
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Constrained choices: exploring the complexities of adolescent girls' voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia
- 1. Constrained choices: exploring the complexities of adolescent girls’ voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia Dr. Guday, March 2021 Domestic worker in Amhara, Ethiopia© Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2020
- 2. Presentation Outline 1 • Introduction 2 • Framing, sample and methods 3 • Findings 4 • Questions
- 3. Introduction: child marriage in the Ethiopian context Tremendous progress • Ethiopia’s poverty rate has declined to 24% (in 2016). • Primary enrolment has climbed from 40% to 85% since 2000. • Rates of child marriage before age 15 are falling fast—only 5.7% But… • Ethiopia is still one of the world’s poorest countries—its GDP is half the regional average. • Fewer than one-third of girls ultimately attend secondary school. • Rates of marriage before age 18 are relatively static—40% • There is tremendous variation in child marriage at the subnational level--different rates, different drivers, different ages, different progress.
- 4. Introduction: the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) research programme 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 20,00 adolescent girls and boys - the largest cohort of adolescents in the Global South
- 5. Conceptual framing: understanding child marriage as a ‘choice’ Social norms are informal rules that govern behaviour. People choose to conform because: • They believe they are expected to • They believe they will suffer sanctions if they do not (Bicchieri, 2015; Mackie et al., 2015) Capabilities are the assets and entitlements that allow people to choose their own ways of being and doing (Sen, 1985; Kabeer, 1999; Nussbaum, 2011). GAGE’s framework recognises that girls’ capabilities are shaped by their contexts—at the household, community, state and global levels. Gender norms are especially invisible— and less open to choice– because: • People are socialised into them from birth • They permeate every aspect of daily life (Boudet et al., 2013; Bourdieu, 1986) GAGE’s framework focuses on six capabilities: • Education and learning • Bodily integrity and freedom from violence • Health and nutrition • Psychosocial wellbeing • Voice and agency • Economic empowerment GAGE’s framework recognises that girls’ contexts also shape the change strategies that can be brought to bear.
- 6. Sample and methods Six research sites—chosen for diversity: • 3 rural and 3 urban 2 cohorts: • younger aged 10-12 • older aged 15-17 Nearly 1000 qualitative participants: • 400 adoelscents • 200 caregivers • 248 community members • 80 service providers Hands-on interactive tools
- 7. Findings Adolescents, Amhara, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2020
- 8. Understanding diversity is key to understanding child marriage South Gondar: ‘I would have been cursed and my parents would feel sad.’ (married 15-year-old girl) Zone 5: ‘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) East Hararghe: ‘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) The drivers of child marriage—and the impacts of child marriage on girls—vary tremendously.
- 9. 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
- 10. 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.
- 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. 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)
- 16. 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
- 17. 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.
- 18. 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.
- 19. Adolescent girl, Amhara, Ethiopia © Nathalie Bertrams /GAGE 2020 Questions
- 20. References Jones, N., Presler-Marshall, E., Kassahun, G. and Kebedi, M. (2020) ‘Constrained choices: exploring the complexities of adolescent girls’ voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia’. Progress in Development Studies. Download the article: Constrained choices: exploring the complexities of adolescent girls’ voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia | GAGE (odi.org)
- 21. 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.
Editor's Notes
- Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) is a nine-year (2015-2024) mixed-methods longitudinal research programme exploring the gendered experiences of young people aged 10-19 years. GAGE aims to generate new evidence on ‘what works’ to transform the lives of adolescent girls and boys to enable them to move out of poverty and exclusion, and fast-track social change.
- Our work is rooted in two bodies of literature—the first on social norms and the second on capabilities. Social norms are the widely accepted informal social rules that govern behavior and have, over the last decade, received increasing attention from not only theorists but also from development practitioners seeking to expedite social change (Harper et al., 2018; Boudet et al., 2012). The capabilities approach is premised on the notion that individual and collective freedom is both the end and the means of development and that incomes are a poor proxy for progress (Sen, 1999).
- While the broader GAGE dataset includes a quantitative component (over 6,700 adolescents and their caregivers completed our survey), this paper draws exclusively on qualitative research.
- Our findings underscore Ethiopia’s sociocultural and economic diversity, and how these shape inter-regional differences in the prevalence and drivers of child marriage—and its impacts on adolescent girls.
- Afar has the second lowest average age at first marriage (16.4 years) and has seen very little progress over time. The absuma marriage system, which is seen as central to family and clan membership, is preventing progress. Marriage partners—for girls and boys—are maternal cousins. Boys generally marry in early adulthood, as they must wait to be given livestock by their fathers (or relatives, if the family are poor) to lead an independent life, and have some input into which cousin they prefer.
- Girls are typically made to marry during mid-adolescence and have no input into which cousin they marry. Girls are often forced to marry much older men—boys nearly always marry younger girls or age mates. There is some community agreement in recent years not to allow girls to attend secondary school because educated girls are refusing absuma marriages. A key informant in Daleti (Zone 5) also noted that ‘most of the families arrange and marry their daughter before grade 8. … after grade8, girls start to refuse their families’ marriage arrangement.’ Even suicide is not a way out of an unwanted marriage for girls. Key informants were clear that absuma marriage is so inviolable in the community, that they are afraid to message against it at school or in clubs.
- Amhara—despite the fact that 59% of older girls in our sample had married as children—has seen the most progress. Traditionally, in Amhara, girls were married in childhood—sometimes as infants-- to cement ties between families. Many of these marriages were more ceremonial than “real”. As these ceremonial marriages are abandoned the age of marriage is rising rapidly. Land fragmentation and commitment to education are also working to reduce child marriage. Families increasingly see that agriculture is not a secure future and that children—including girls—need an education to open up other livelihood opportunities. In 2019, the net enrolment rate for secondary school was 32% for girls and 28% for boys. Girls who are in school are much less likely to be married as children. That said, while the AGE of first marriage is climbing rapidly, child marriage remains very common. Marriage at 15 or 17 is not seen as “child” marriage. ON the whole, parents marry their daughters to ensure their sexual purity and protect family honour. Parents often believe that adolescent girls are “wild” and need sex. Parents also marry their daughters so that if they are raped they will not become pregnant before marriage. Some marriages are to get agricultural labour for girls’ families. Some marriages are to get domestic labour for young men’s families. Girls who are out of school often marry because it is the only route forward to adult status. Although some older girls, particularly those who have attended secondary school, have increasing input into who and when they will marry, nearly all marriages in Amhara are still arranged. Even those who are allowed input often have quite limited input—they simply say yes or no to what their parents have arranged.
- The marriages of the youngest girls are often forced. Marriages to Priests, who must marry virgins, often involve very young girls—despite the church preaching against child marriage. Parents in some communities reported strong social pressure to conform to tradition, with elders repeatedly pushing for marriage and even threats of violence.
- Statistically, and at a regional level, the age at first marriage in Oromia is largely unchanged in recent years—most girls marry before the age of 18. Some respondents—especially parents--report that the age of marriage in East Hararghe is dropping—as girls “choose” to marry in early adolescence. Other respondents—particularly key informants-- emphasized that child marriage has always been common and that what is changing is who chooses the marriage partner. These days, adolescents are making their own matches. Both appear to be true. In the past, parents had more control over not only when, but who. Specifically, boys’ parents chose when their sons married, but also picked out their brides. They did not choose 11 and 12 year old girls. These days, parents suggest to their sons that they should marry, and boys go out and find their own partners. They very much prefer younger girls. As younger and younger girls are asked for marriage, this has set up a feedback loop wherein girls are afraid if they don’t say yes in early adolescence, they will get “left on the shelf”. Parents of the youngest girls report that they are powerless to stop them—and some clearly try. But many others, afraid their daughters will become pregnant before marriage, simply bow to the inevitable.
- Respondents highlight many reasons that girls in East Hararghe “choose” to marry—even as very young adolescents. For many, marriage is simply the only option they can see. Unlike in Amhara, where girls are not only likely to attend school, but are more likely to attend than boys, adolescent girls’ access to education in Oromia is limited. In 2019, the NER for upper primary school for girls was only 52% (vs 61% for boys). Girls’ school drop out has been further complicated by recent drought. Families cannot afford to educate their daughters and instead have them spend up to 6 hours a day fetching water. Quite a few girls choose marriage over endless housework and boredom. Respondents noted that where boredom is accompanied by violence, girls have even more reason to choose marriage. Shifts in shegoye, a traditional Oromo dance, are also highlighted as a reason for increased child marriage. Dancing used to be seasonal but in some communities is now nightly and year-round. Adolescents begin spending their nights dancing as early as 10—and respondents note that girls typically marry within a year or two of beginning to dance. Some girls choose to dance—and other girls are forced by their peers to participate under threat of social exclusion. Adolescent respondents noted that girls are often forced into sex and then marriage by their dance partners, who can be years older. Brokers are also often involved in marriages in East Hararghe. For a fee, they “trick” girls into saying yes, by promising them things they have no intention of delivering. The fear of being “unwanted” is large—for parents and girls—girls who marry as older adolescents may be forced to marry older men who already have children and are looking for girls mature enough to handle heavy workloads. Younger, more desirable, boys and men are not interested in older girls.
- While some girls are happy to be married, and have supportive partners who encourage them to dream and achieve, we are finding that most adolescent girls find marriage to be a prison. The youngest girls and those who were forced to marry are at the highest risk. It was not uncommon for very young married girls to report that they had been initiated into marriage by rape. Although there is increasing space in Amhara for girls to combine marriage and school, most married girls loose access to education. Either their husbands refuse to allow schooling, or they are unable to find the time, given their heavy workloads. Married girls also added that their access to decision-making, which many thought would improve after marriage, was instead sharply limited. They are allowed to go no where—and meet no friends—without permission, which is often not forthcoming. Girls noted that disobedience to husbands’ demands is regularly met with violence.
- Re girls There have been numerous efforts (especially in schools) to empower girls and raise awareness about their rights, particularly around child marriage. They have been most successful in Amhara, where 1:5 groups are stronger and girls are more likely to be in school in adolescence. We found that girls in Amhara are increasingly advocating to stay in school and to delay arranged marriages. They are using their newfound power to stake out new futures. In Oromia, fewer girls attend school in adolescence and girls’ clubs are not as strong. In addition, we found that because fewer girls perceive that they have real options for their future, where girls feel empowered, it can lead them to demand traditional roles on their own terms rather than to seek out new futures. In Afar, very few girls are in school in adolescence and even when they are—and schools have girls’ clubs—club leaders report limited impact. Leaders are afraid of contravening local norms if they message against absuma and child marriage and even if girls were to want different futures, there is little space for them to input. Our research strongly suggests that while empowering girls is critical, environments must be enabling for girls’ empowerment to make a significant difference. Re Boys Key informants, especially in Amhara, reported that gender clubs are available at some schools—but they appear rare. Few boys are hearing messages about gender equality and child marriage outside of school classrooms—except in communities where Act with Her is providing boys with gender sensitivity programming. In those communities, participant boys are beginning to help their sisters with school work—so that their sisters can study and do well enough in school to pass exams and avoid child marriage.
- Outside of parents participating in AWH, we found no evidence of efforts to engage parents of adolescents as parents of adolescents—where parents were targeted, they were targeted as community members. Efforts to engage communities on HTPs, including child marriage, are widespread. Efforts are highly varied in terms of messages and messengers. They are also highly varied in terms of how they are paying off. In South Gondar, the better buy-in by religious leaders—paired with shifts in agriculture—have resulted in rapid change. Health and economic risks have the most traction. In East Haraghe and Zone 5, efforts are visible—but still nascent and not delivering at scale. In Zone 5, there is concern about retrenchment and back-sliding, as adults wish to maintain their way of life and are willing to deny their children an education in order to do so.
- Systems and services also play a role in protecting adolescents from child marriage. School teachers are generally the first link in the reporting chain that allows marriages to be canceled. In the ideal world, girls tell their teachers of impending plans and first schools, and then kebele leaders, work with parents. School under-resourcing, however, continues to shape girls’ risk of child marriage. Where classrooms are over-crowded, teachers teach subjects in which they are not trained, and learning supplies are limited, adolescents and parents see little point in commitment to school. Formal justice approaches can also help, though they are still rarely implemented despite strong laws. In South Gondar, some parents are punished—with jail time-- 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. There is a need for more age verification and to engage with traditional leaders, who continue to mete out justice outside of the formal system. With schools closed and woreda level oversight now effectively on hold, due to COVID, the most critical need at the moment is for updated surveillance and reporting mechanisms.