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CHILDMARRIAGEINAN EVIDENCE REVIEWSOUTH ASIA1

CHILD MARRIAGE IN SOUTH ASIAAN EVIDENCE REVIEWACKNOWLEDGEMENTSUNICEF and UNFPA would like to acknowledge Taveeshi Gupta and Erin K. Fletcher for preparing thisreport. The report benefited from the commitment of UNFPA and UNICEF colleagues in the regionas well as many other individuals and organisations which contributed to the knowledge base onpractices of child marriage in South Asia as well as programmes to end this practice.The UNFPA and UNICEF joint programme to end child marriage is operational in 12 countries aroundthe world including Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The Global Programme is generously supportedby the Governments of Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and theEuropean Union, as well as Zonta International. UNICEF ROSAThe material in this report has been commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Office forSouth Asia with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Asia Pacific Regional Office. UNICEF and UNFPA accept noresponsibility for errors. The designations in this work do not imply an opinion on the legal status of any country or territory,or of its authorities, or the delimitation of frontiers. Permission to copy, disseminate or otherwise use information from thispublication is granted so long as appropriate acknowledgement is given. The suggested citation is: United Nations Children’sFund and United Nations Population Fund, Child Marriage in South Asia: An evidence review, UNICEF, Kathmandu, 2019.Cover photo:Top 3 photos: UNICEF/South Asia 2016/BronsteinBottom photo: UNFPA Asia and the Pacific2

FOREWORDChild marriage remains pervasive in South Asia. 30 per cent of women aged 20-24 were marriedbefore the age of 18 and 4.3 per cent of men were married as boys. South Asia carries a shocking40 per cent of the global burden of child brides. Marrying as a child can limit the agency thesechildren have to make decisions about their lives, impacting on their ability to access their rights. Childmarriage puts at risk the rights of adolescent girls and boys to education and to health, to protectionand safety, to leisure and play. Everyone has the right to choose when and who to marry, whether andwhen to have children, and how many, as enshrined in CEDAW and the CRC, and at the InternationalConference on Population and Development which put rights and choices at the heart of sustainabledevelopment. Each of these rights are put at risk when a person marries as a child.As this evidence review shows, child marriage and its drivers are complex and vary within and acrosscountries. Child marriage may be arranged or adolescents themselves may decide to marry before their18th birthday. It may be a way to unite families, perceived as necessary to secure a girl’s future and safety,a way to protect a girl’s innocence and reputation, and exemplify a boy’s manliness and readiness for adultresponsibilities. Whether by choice or coercion, marrying as a child can result in health concerns, removechildren from their protective environment, deter them from getting an education, and force them intoadult roles such as looking after a household, raising a family, and entering into the labour force.UNICEF and UNFPA are committed to ending this harmful practice in South Asia and globally. Thisrequires a holistic approach – to ensure that there is access to education and that health care,including sexual and reproductive health services and information, is available and appropriatelytailored to adolescents. It requires that children and adolescents as well as parents, understand what ahealthy non-violent relationship is, and know the risks of marrying too young.The UNFPA- UNICEF Joint Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage began in 2015.Phase One (2015-2019) generated a significant body of knowledge and evidence on the drivers andconsequences of the practice as well as the effectiveness of programming interventions designedto end child marriage. This publication reviews the latest evidence on the practice of child marriagein South Asia over the life of the Global Programme. It reviews the influence of gender norms,economics and societal expectations on child marriage, as well as the relationship between childmarriage and health, education, violence and policies and laws. The report presents and synthesizesthe latest evidence and implications for programming in order to ensure effective programmeinterventions. We hope that it will prove useful to policy makers and practitioners in their efforts toend the practice of child marriage in South Asia.We all wish to see a world where all girls and boys, men and women, can choose freely whether,when and who to marry – one of the most crucial life decisions of all.Jean Gough Bjorn AnderssonRegional Director Regional DirectorUNICEF Regional Office for South AsiaUNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office3i

CHILD MARRIAGE IN SOUTH ASIAAN EVIDENCE REVIEWCONTENTSList of Tables. iiiList of Boxes. iiiAcronyms and abbreviations. ivExecutive summary. 1Recommendations. 41.Introduction. 62.Objective and methodology. 72.1 State of the evidence preceding this review.72.2 Methodological advances and how to parse new evidence.83.Rates of child marriage over time. 93.1 Gender. 103.2 Child grooms. 113.3 Contextual and cultural marriage type. 123.4 Love marriages and elopements. 123.5 Divorce and separation. 144.Drivers of child marriage. 154.1 Economic situation. 154.2 Shocks and migration. 174.3 Social capital associated with marriage. 184.4 Education. 184.5 Evolving social norms. 204.6 Evolving agency. 235.Linkages between child marriage and other sectors. 245.1 Child marriage and sexual and reproductive health. 245.2 Gender-based violence and child marriage. 266.Interventions to reduce and prevent child marriage. 287.Legislative and policy coherence on child marriage. 337.1 Minimum age of legal marriage and punishments for offenders. 337.2 Approaches to budgeting and finance and child protection systems. 367.3 Broader legal framework: Marital rape, inheritance laws, and youth and adolescents. 374ii

CONTENTS8.Unintended consequences. 409.Areas for future study. 429.1 Questions unearthed by recent work. 429.2 Persistent gaps in research. 4310. Conclusion. 44References. 46Appendix I: Search strings used to locate resources. 57LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Percentage of women aged 20–24 years who were first married or in unionbefore ages 15 and 18 in South Asia countries9Table 2: Percentage of boys and men aged 15–29 years who were married or in union attime of survey in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan, and married by 21 years in India11Table 3: Minimum age for marriage, by country and sex34LIST OF BOXESBox 1: Bicycle distribution scheme in India and its impacts on increasing enrolment inschools22Box 2: Lessons learned from global review on ASRH programming25Box 3: Challenges of changing norms – a slow process that requires buy-in29Box 4: Key take away messages on effectiveness of communication activities to changegender norms31Box 5: Lessons learned for effective national plans to reduce child marriage35iii5

CHILD MARRIAGE IN SOUTH ASIAAN EVIDENCE REVIEWACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONSABAD–Apni Beti Apna DhanADHS–Afghanistan Demographic and Health SurveyAFR–Adolescent Fertility RateAIDS–Acquired Immunodeficiency SyndromeASRH–Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive HealthBDHS–Bangladesh Demographic and Health SurveyCCC–Conditional Cash TransferCRC–Committee on the Rights of the ChildCMRA–Child Marriage Restraint ActCEDAW –Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against WomenCSE–Comprehensive Sexuality EducationEGM–Expert Group MeetingGII–Gender Inequality IndexGOA–Government of AfghanistanHIV–Human Immunodeficiency VirusIDHS–India Demographic and Health SurveyIPV–Intimate Partner ViolenceMICS–Multiple Indicator Cluster SurveysNDHS–Nepal Demographic and Health SurveyNFHS–National Family Health SurveyNPA/C–National Plan of Action for ChildrenNSDP–Net State Domestic ProductPDHS–Pakistan Demographic and Health SurveyRCT–Randomized Control TrialSDES–Socio Demographic and Economic SurveySLDHS–Sri Lanka Demographic and Health SurveySRH–Sexual and Reproductive HealthUNICEF –United Nations Children’s FundUNFPAUnited Nations Population Fund–iv6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe topic of child marriage is generatinghigh global interest, as evidenced by a jointinitiative of the United Nations Children’sFund (UNICEF) and United Nations PopulationFund (UNFPA). The joint Global Programmeto Accelerate Action to End Child Marriageand related initiatives is particularly salient inSouth Asia. Scholars and practitioners alike areengaged in research on a wide array of topicsin the region ranging from national level trendsand legal frameworks to rigorous evaluationsof programming to in-depth qualitativeexaminations of subnational cultural practicesand changes in the agency and empowermentof girls. In 2016, UNICEF and UNFPA hosted anexpert group meeting to discuss the prevailingevidence and identify opportunities for futurework. Since then, research and publicationson the topic have proliferated, resulting insignificant growth in the understanding of thephenomenon of child marriage, and warrantingthis review. What follows is a summary ofthat process, a rapid evidence review of childmarriage programmes, policies, developmentsand debates in South Asia. The review wasnot intended to be comprehensive. It bringstogether lessons from materials such as peerreviewed journal articles, policy documentationfrom government and international agencies,and quality grey literature (including NGOreports and evaluations) produced since 2014.marriage is not only one of poverty that canbe fixed through conditional cash transfers,or simply an issue of social norms. In manyplaces, child marriage is a deeply held social andcultural practice that intersects with restrictivegender and social norms, access to educationand health resources, coherent national legalframeworks that intersect with and reflect thecultural and religious institutions underpinningchild marriage, intimate partner violence,and more. Viewing child marriage as part ofa system that rests on patriarchal attitudesand devalues girls’ and women’s’ agencyalongside poverty, perceptions of vulnerability,and a pervasive desire to conform to perceivednorms – often while ignoring personal beliefsor knowledge of adverse effects – exertssignificant effects on the ability of programmingand legal frameworks to support young girls andprevent early marriage.An important change from the 2016 meetingis the advancement of measurement andevaluation. The completion of severalrandomized control trials (RCTs) on childmarriage programming provide answers, butmore often than not raise further questionsregarding what sort of interventions areappropriate for which groups and what arethe associated unintended consequences.Acknowledging the significant heterogeneitywithin countries, more focused and in-depthqualitative work has revealed novel findingsand given nuance to strongly held beliefs onchild marriage. These traditionally held truismshave in the past hampered programming fromreaching its full potential. Moving forwardwith an increased focus on acknowledgingheterogeneity and identifying the correct toolto measure and evaluate a phenomenon is animportant evolution in child marriage research.Rates of child marriage across the regionare falling, but the practice continues to bewidespread and often concentrated in particulargeographic regions or among certain culturalgroups. Much of this review is focused onidentifying successes and lessons learnedfrom them as well as missteps or setbacksand how these might be avoided in the future.The review examines a growing awarenessand understanding that the problem of child1

CHILD MARRIAGE IN SOUTH ASIAAN EVIDENCE REVIEWTRENDSsteeped in societal pressures and social norms,as well as national or regional level economicsituations, are also likely important to predictingchild marriage. There has been more of a focuson the perception of economic vulnerability,which is difficult to measure but shown to beimportant qualitatively, as well as the economicshocks themselves, which may be more easilymeasured, showing mixed effects on thepropensity to wed early. The intersection ofeconomics and norms present a place whereresearch may focus to identify tipping points.For many countries in South Asia, child marriageof girls is decreasing. But information on theexperiences of boys as child grooms is scant,and this aspect of child marriage remains largelyunexplored. Child marriage rates are falling inBangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal andPakistan, but there is insufficient information tosay something similar for Afghanistan and a lackof data over time for Sri Lanka. Some countries(e.g., Bangladesh and India) are experiencing astronger decline in child marriage than othersand in Sri Lanka rates are currently low. Certaingroups (e.g., closed caste communities inIndia and Nepal), regions (e.g., some islandsin Maldives), and states (e.g., Rajasthan,Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in India) areshowing increasing rates of child marriage.Education. Among researchers, the growingconsensus is to urge caution regarding causalinferences between education and childmarriage. Studies find that simply attainingeducation or measuring/enforcing attendance isnot enough to reduce the risk of child marriage.Specific elements of girls’ education, suchas literacy, quality, completion of secondaryschool, and aspirations or quality of postschooling opportunities may be important forthe future benefits they predict, rather thanattainment itself. Instead, components ofeducation that are important to include aregirls’ literacy levels, completion of secondaryeducation, and mother’s education.Marriage ‘type’ is also evolving in the regionwith several studies in recent years notingan increase in love marriages, elopementsand cohabitation. While many studies do notdifferentiate between these types of marriage,more information is needed to distinguish theseown-choice unions from each other as wellas to better understand their origins and theconsequences, if any. Arranged marriages arestill preferred in many areas and own-choicemarriages stigmatized, highlighting again theintersecting nature of girls’ lack of agency, socialnorms, and adverse outcomes associated withearly marriage.Persistent and evolving social and gendernorms. Social and gender norms underpinall forms of child marriage and shouldbe accounted for in any programming orpolicymaking. Relatively fixed social and gendernorms include patriarchal views on puberty forboth boys and girls that dominate readiness formarriage, restriction on girls’ mobility and voiceas they get older, devaluing the worth of girlsand linking their status to marriage, and normsunderlying dowry practices (often exacerbatedby climate related emergencies). Strongly heldperceptions of community or society levelnorms may work to keep practices going evenin the face of opposing personal beliefs orknowledge of adverse consequences. In otherwords, even when gatekeepers and parentsknow child marriage is harmful, it is not enoughto stop the practice.DRIVERS OF CHILD MARRIAGEEconomic situation and shocks. Therelationship between poverty and childmarriage is complex. Although the literature hastraditionally shown that girls with less accessto economic resources were more at risk forchild marriage, recent research identifies thatgirls from higher income brackets may alsobe at risk, pushed by normative and socialpressures to join families and maintain a girl’s‘honour’. Factors tangential to wealth that are2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSome norms are changing, including increasingeducational and future aspirations for girls,increasing adolescent empowerment,shifting gender roles and decreasing maritalage gap between men and women due tomarriage squeeze, and improving labour forceparticipation for women. Recognizing wherenorms are changing is important since contextswhere norms are in flux are most amenable tochanging child marriage practices.LESSONS LEARNED FROMINTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE CHILDMARRIAGEA wide variety of interventions are in placearound the region to reduce child marriage fromwhich a few key lessons emerge. Empoweringgirls with information, skills, and supportnetworks is largely considered a promisingstrategy but a narrow focus on one approach isnot enough to bring about the desired results,and the results of such interventions are mixed.Significant programming is focused on theimportance of awareness

children have to make decisions about their lives, impacting on their ability to access their rights. Child marriage puts at risk the rights of adolescent girls and boys to education and to health, to protection and safety, to leisure and play. Everyone h

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