Early child marriages: recent law reform and jurisprudence in Africa towards banning the practice.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Many young girls m the developing countries, mainly in Africa, are subjected to early marriages.
The majority of such girls cannot choose their marriage age or the person they marry. In this
dissertation, the literature on early child marriages in Africa as well as recent legislative
reforms towards curbing the practice are reviewed. Most of the findings from empirical studies
indicate that the incidence of early marriages is high in Africa and that those young girls who
marry early tend to possess fewer years of schooling and start childbearing prematurely. Malawi,
Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ghana have experienced increases in early child marriages and
the integration of international and regional legislation has been, at ti.mes, in conflict with
customary laws. Moreover, empirical evidence suggests the existence of disparities in the minimum
age of marriage for girls and boys in Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa with age differences
under separate laws such as under customary laws and other marriage laws. Studies also
indicate that within Africa as well as other regions of the world, longstanding risk
influences such as poverty and male-dominated social values work together to weaken the effect of
interventions to curb early child marriages. The most documented successes against early child
marriage in Africa have been credited to the propagation of schooling opportunities for young
girls as well as women economic empowerment policy interventions. The literature reviewed suggests
a high prevalence of child marriages not only in Africa, but across the world. Cases of
early child marriages were found to be enabled by a plethora of socio-economic and cultural factors
such as poverty prevalence, weak legislation, deep-rooted stereotypes about gender roles and
cultural and religious practices supporting early child marriages.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.