Editing Child marriage (section)

==Consequences==
[[File:2007 - 2012, Adolescent birth rate per 1000 women world map.svg|upright=1.35|thumb|Birth rates per 1,000 women aged 15–19 years, worldwide]]

Child marriage has consequences that last well beyond adolescence.<ref name=hrwconsq>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights|title=Q & A: Child Marriage and Violations of Girls' Rights|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=14 June 2013 }}</ref><ref>Bunting, Annie. 2005. Stages of development: marriage of girls and teens as an international human rights issue. Social and Legal Studies 14(2):17–38</ref> Women married as children struggle with the impact of pregnancy at a young age on the body, often with little spacing between children.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|url = http://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2010/10/07/adc.2009.178707.short|title = When the Mother Is a Child: The Impact of Child Marriage on the Health and Human Rights of Girls|last = Raj|first = Anita|year = 2010|journal = Archives of Disease in Childhood|doi = 10.1136/adc.2009.178707|pmid = 20930011|volume=95|issue = 11|pages=931–935|s2cid = 41625496|url-access = subscription}}</ref> Early marriages followed by teen pregnancy also significantly increase birth complications and [[social isolation]]. In poor countries, early pregnancy limits or can even eliminate a woman's education options, affecting her economic independence. Girls in child marriages are more likely to suffer from [[domestic violence]], [[child sexual abuse]], and [[marital rape]].<ref name=hrwconsq/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art16.shtml |title=I have a right to &#124; BBC World Service |publisher=BBC |access-date=2015-02-18}}</ref>

===Health===
Child marriage threatens the health and life of girls.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/09/yemen.child.bride.death/|title=Yemeni child bride dies of internal bleeding|publisher=CNN}}</ref> Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the main cause of death among adolescent girls below age 19 in developing countries. Girls aged 15 to 19 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as fully-grown women in their 20s, and girls under the age of 15 are five to seven times more likely to die during childbirth.<ref name="nourreport" /> These consequences are due largely to girls' physical immaturity wherefore the pelvis and birth canal are not fully developed. Teen pregnancy, particularly below age 15, increases risk of developing an [[obstetric fistula]], since their smaller pelvises make them prone to obstructed labor.<ref name="nourreport" /> Girls who give birth before the age of 15 have an 88% risk of developing a fistula,<ref name="nourreport" /> and those between 15 and 18 have a 25% chance. Fistulas can cause urine or fecal incontinence that causes lifelong complications with infection and pain.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cook | first1 = Rebecca J. | last2 = Dickens | first2 = Bernard M. | last3 = Syed | first3 = S. | year = 2004 | title = Obstetric fistula: the challenge to human rights | journal = International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics | volume = 87 | issue = 1| pages = 72–77 | doi=10.1016/j.ijgo.2004.07.005| pmid = 15464787 | s2cid = 42899619 }}</ref> Unless surgically repaired, obstetric fistulas can cause years of permanent disability and shame to mothers, and can result in being shunned by the community.<ref name="Nour child marriage"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nour |first1=Nawal |title=Health Consequences of Child Marriage in Africa |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |year=2006 |volume=12 |issue=11 |pages=1644–1649 |doi=10.3201/eid1211.060510|pmid=17283612 |pmc=3372345 }}</ref> Married girls also have a higher risk of [[sexually transmitted infection]]s, [[cervical cancer]], and [[malaria]] than non-married peers or girls who marry in their 20s.<ref name="nourreport" />

Child marriage also threatens the lives of offspring. Mothers under the age of 18 years have 35 to 55% increased risk of delivering pre-term or having a low birth weight baby than a mother who is 19 or 20 years old. In addition, infant mortality rates are 60% higher when the mother is under 18 years old. Infants born to child mothers tend to have weaker immune systems and face a heightened risk of malnutrition.<ref name="Nour child marriage"/>

Prevalence of child marriage may also be associated with higher rates of population growth, more cases of children left orphaned, and the accelerated spread of disease which for many translates into prolonged poverty.<ref name=":0" />

===Illiteracy and poverty===
Child marriage often ends a girl's education, particularly in impoverished countries where child marriages are common.<ref>International Center for Research in Women (2005), Too young to wed: education & action toward ending child marriage. Washington DC</ref> In addition, uneducated girls are more at risk for child marriage. Girls who have only a primary education are twice as likely to marry before age 18 than those with a secondary or higher education, and girls with no education are three times more likely to marry before age 18 than those with a secondary education.<ref name="too young"/> Early marriage impedes a young girl's ability to continue with her education as most drop out of school following marriage<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|title = What Works to Prevent Child Marriage: A Review of the Evidence|last1 = Lee-Rife|first1 = Susan|year = 2012|journal = Studies in Family Planning|doi = 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2012.00327.x|pmid = 23239248|last2 = Malhotra|first2 = Anju|last3 = Warner|first3 = Ann|last4 = McGonagle Glinski|first4 = Allison |volume=43 |issue = 4|pages=287–303}}</ref> to focus their attention on domestic duties and having or raising children.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rai |first1=Rajesh Kumar |last2=Singh |first2=Prashant Kumar |last3=Singh |first3=Lucky |last4=Kumar |first4=Chandan |title=Individual Characteristics and Use of Maternal and Child Health Services by Adolescent Mothers in Niger |journal=Maternal and Child Health Journal |date=April 2014 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=592–603 |doi=10.1007/s10995-013-1276-z |pmid=23737107|s2cid=10581145 }}</ref> Girls may be taken out of school years before they are married due to family or community beliefs that allocating resources for girls' education is unnecessary given that her primary roles will be that of wife and mother.<ref name=":4" /> Without education, girls and adult women have fewer opportunities to earn an income and financially provide for themselves and their children. This makes girls more vulnerable to persistent poverty if their spouses die, abandon them, or divorce them.<ref name=hrwconsq/> Given that girls in child marriages are often significantly younger than their husbands, they become widowed earlier in life and may face associated economic and social challenges for a greater portion of their life than women who marry later.<ref name=":4" />

===Domestic violence===
Married teenage girls with low levels of education suffer greater risk of social isolation and [[domestic violence]] than more educated women who marry as adults.<ref name="nourreport" /><ref>Haberland, Nicole, Eric L. Chong, and Hillary J. Bracken. 2006. A world apart: the disadvantage and social isolation of married adolescent girls. Brief based on background paper prepared for the WHO/UNFPA/Population Council Technical Consultation on Married Adolescents. New York: The Population Council</ref> Following marriage, girls frequently relocate to their husband's home and take on the domestic role of being a wife, which often involves relocating to another village or area. This transition may result in a young girl dropping out of school, moving away from her family and friends, and a loss of the social support that she once had.<ref name="Nour child marriage"/> A husband's family may also have higher expectations for the girl's submissiveness to her husband and his family because of her youth.<ref name=":1" /> This sense of isolation from a support system can have severe mental health implications including depression.

Large age gaps between the child and her spouse make her more vulnerable to domestic violence and [[marital rape]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cfr.org/childmarriage|title=Child Marriage|website=www.cfr.org}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Girls who marry as children face severe and life-threatening marital violence at higher rates.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Association between adolescent marriage and marital violence among young adult women in India|last1 = Raj|first1 = Anita|year = 2010|journal = International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics|doi = 10.1016/j.ijgo.2010.01.022|pmid = 20347089|last2 = Saggurti|first2 = Niranjan|last3 = Lawrence|first3 = Danielle|last4 = Balaiah|first4 = Donta|last5 = Silverman|first5 = Jay G.|volume=110|issue = 1|pages=35–39|pmc = 3260080}}</ref> Husbands in child marriages are often more than ten years older than their wives. This can increase the power and control a husband has over his wife and contribute to prevalence of spousal violence.<ref name=":4" /> Early marriage places young girls in a vulnerable situation of being completely dependent on her husband. Domestic and sexual violence from their husbands has lifelong, devastating mental health consequences for young girls because they are at a formative stage of psychological development.<ref name="hrwconsq" /> These mental health consequences of spousal violence can include depression and suicidal thoughts.<ref name=":1" /> Child brides, particularly in situations such as [[vani (custom)|vani]], also face social isolation, emotional abuse and discrimination in the homes of their husbands and in-laws.

===Women's rights===
The United Nations, through a series of conventions has declared child marriage a violation of human rights. The [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women|Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination of Women]] (CEDAW), the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] form the international standard against child marriage.<ref name="too young"/> Child marriages impact violates a range of women's interconnected rights such as equality on grounds of sex and age, to receive the highest attainable standard of health, to be free from slavery, access to education, freedom of movement, freedom from violence, reproductive rights, and the right to consensual marriage.<ref name=hrwconsq/><ref>{{cite web|title=Child Marriage And the Law|publisher=[[UNICEF]]|url=http://www.unicef.org/french/files/Child_Marriage_and_the_Law.pdf|access-date=28 April 2015|archive-date=3 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703221007/https://www.unicef.org/french/files/Child_Marriage_and_the_Law.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Clark | first1 = Shelley | last2 = Bruce | first2 = Judith | last3 = Dude | first3 = Annie | year = 2006 | title = Protecting young women from HIV/AIDS: the case against child and adolescent marriage | journal = International Family Planning Perspectives | volume = 32 | issue = 2| pages = 79–88 | doi=10.1363/3207906| pmid = 16837388 | doi-access = free }}</ref> The consequence of these violations impact woman, her children, and the broader society.{{how|date=March 2014}}

=== Development ===
High rates of child marriage negatively impact countries' economic development because of early marriages' impact on girls' education and labor market participation.<ref name=":3" /> Some researchers and activists note that high rates of child marriage prevent significant progress toward each of the eight [[Millennium Development Goals]] and global efforts to reduce poverty due to its effects on educational attainment, economic and political participation, and health.<ref name=":3" />

A [[UNICEF]] Nepal issued report noted that child marriage impacts Nepal's development due to loss of productivity, poverty, and health effects. Using Nepal Multi-Indicator Survey data, its researchers estimate that all girls delaying marriage until age 20 and after would increase cash flow among Nepali women in an amount equal to 3.87% of the country's GDP.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|url = http://girlsnotbrides.theideabureau.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/UNICEF-Nepal-Cost-of-Inaction_WPo1_2014.pdf|title = Cost of Inaction: Child and Adolescent Marriage in Nepal|last = Rabi|first = Amjad|year = 2014|journal = UNICEF Nepal Working Paper Series|access-date = 8 May 2015|archive-date = 4 March 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304123759/http://girlsnotbrides.theideabureau.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/UNICEF-Nepal-Cost-of-Inaction_WPo1_2014.pdf|url-status = dead}}</ref> Their estimates considered decreased education and employment among girls in child marriages in addition to low rates of education and high rates of poverty among children from child marriages.