'No ifs or buts': Child marriage needs to be abolished in Malawi, once and for all

by Seodi White, Special for CNN

Updated 8:49 AM ET, Tue March 3, 2015

Seodi White is a Malawian lawyer and women's rights activist who is determined to
stop young girls from giving up on an education and marrying in their early teens.
Story highlights

50% of girls in Malawi will be married by the time they turn 18

Studies show the practice increases the risks of childbirth for both mother
and infant

New laws preventing child marriage are still overruled by Malawi's

Constitution

Seodi White is an international development, law and gender expert from Malawi.
She runs Maxi Change 360 Degrees Consult, a consultancy firm, and is a researcher,
policy analyst and program designer in women's rights. The views expressed in this
commentary are solely hers.
(CNN)About 15 years ago, I was doing research on inheritance laws in Malawi and
their impact on women.
Part of my research methodology was to engage in focus group discussions with
women in village settings. In order to do this in any village in Malawi, one has to
seek permission from the village chief.
And so I did. The chief told me to come back the next day so that he can have time
to mobilize the women, as well as give them proper notice of the proposed
discussion.
When I came back the next day, the "women" had indeed gathered waiting for me.
However I noticed that the "women" were not women, as such. They were... kids.
Teenage girls.
I said to the chief "I was hoping to talk to women and not to kids or girls, as I don't
think they would understand much about inheritance." His response was, "but these
are our women; look, they have babies with them and they are all married."

Seodi White
I was shocked. Then it dawned on me, "aah, girl-child marriages." After asking, I
found the girls' ages ranged from 13 to 18, with two being 24.
This then spurred me into action and it was the beginning of a decade-plus journey
of understanding girl-child marriages in my country and fighting for the practice to
end.

What I found out was disheartening as the statistics came in. I was horrified to learn
that Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. It is ranked
eighth of the 20 countries that are considered to have the highest rates of child
marriage by the U.N. Population Fund.
On average, one out of two girls in Malawi will be married by their 18th
birthday, according to the United Nations. In 2010, half of the women (50%) aged
20--24 years were married or in a union before age 18 (compared to 6.4%of boys),
while 12% of women married before they were 15 compared to only 1.2% of men.
Child marriage is in both rural and urban areas. It is also higher than the regional
average for sub-Saharan Africa (37%).
'Law, save the girls!'
Being a lawyer, I looked to the law. "My hero the law, save the girls," I thought! Yet, I
soon found out that this was a complex story.
The Constitution of Malawi, which is the supreme law of the land from whom all
legal authority is derived, has provided for some measures of protection for all
children. However the same Constitution defines children as those aged 16 and
below. The United Nations defines children as those aged 18 and below and so to
that extent the Constitution does not comply with international standards on
definitions of childhood.

Fighting child marriage in Malawi 08:38

Malawian lawyer fights for girls 07:10

White: 'Widow cleansing' must change 06:49

The Constitution also allows marriages of persons aged 18 and below and it does
not have a cut-off point where marriage is actually prohibited.
This means for all intents and purposes, the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi
allows child marriages. Alas the law had failed me!
False hope?
But there was hope in the air. In February, Malawi's parliament passed the Marriage,
Divorce & Family Relations Bill of 2015 into law.
This law was born amid the outcry against girl-child marriage, as the country had
realized the dangers of girl-child marriage.
Save for a few areas, it is a very progressive piece of legislation, particularly from a
women's rights perspective. Among other things, the law prohibits marriage for
anybody below the age of 18.
So, does it mean that the Constitutional provisions fall away? The spanner in the
works is that since the Constitution allows marriage below the age of 18, the new
law to the extent that it prohibits child marriage is invalid.
So whilst many have celebrated the new law, I haven't, as girls remain shackled by
a Constitutional provision that basically allows child marriage. So until the
Constitution changes and recognizes children as those aged 18 and above, and
therefore puts marriage age at 18 giving many girls the opportunity to go to school
and get educated, I will remain sad as I was 15 years ago.
'Guarantee for poverty'
I will remain sad because I know the cost of child marriage. It deprives girls of
education and undermines their self-confidence and self-identity. It also makes them
prone to physical and emotional abuse by their so called husbands.
Further to this, girl-child marriage inevitably means early parentage and higher risks
of maternal mortality. As if this is not enough, studies have shown that girl-child

marriage is a risk factor in the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections, as young wives do not have much bargaining power to negotiate safe
sex with older men.
Girl-child marriages need to be prohibited tough the Constitution because they are a
violation of every conceivable human right including the right to life, health,
education, human dignity and development.
What I know for sure child marriage is a guarantee for poverty among girls in my
country and I want it to end. No ifs or buts.