Flowers for Fatima

It’s 8th March, International Women’s Day.

A day when we mark the long march for equality, rights and empowerment of girls and women. This struggle is not over.  It not only takes place in the political arena but also in the everyday struggles of individual girls and women.

One of them is Fatima[1], a 15 year-old Roma girl from just outside Podgorica, she was forced into an early marriage. She is not alone. Although the rate of child marriage in Montenegro is low – around 1% of the total population, the percentage is significant within the Roma and Egyptian communities. According to 2013 data, almost one of three girls, from these communities aged 15-19 is married.

[1] The real name is changed for the purpose of protecting privacy.

The profound impact of child marriage

When a girl is forced to marry as a child, she faces immediate and lifelong consequences. The chances of her finishing school drop considerably: the likelihood she will experience domestic violence rises. She is more likely to become pregnant in her teens, and to risk death through complications in teen pregnancy and childbirth. Complications not experienced by women in their 20s or 30s.

Deeper societal consequences of early marriage occur when cycles of poverty and derivation are continued from generation to generation.

This devastating practice has no single cause, rather results from the complex and dynamic interaction of linked factors. Factors such as the cycle of poverty, lack of opportunities or alternative options, poor education, social and cultural norms and expectations of girls and deep-seated discrimination.

Education as a key to empowerment

Education is the most powerful tool to help girls step out of poverty.

According to global statistic, girls with secondary or higher education are three times less likely to marry by 18 than those with no education.

But succeeding and staying at school is far harder for Fatima than for her non-Roma peers. Coming from a socially isolated community, she faces number of obstacles which hinder her success.  These include the language barrier, poor socio-economic conditions in her family, and often social exclusion, stigma and discrimination from peers and teachers. Her employment opportunities beyond school are also limited.

As the harmful impact of child marriages is more widely known, many countries have set a legal minimum age for marriage. But even where laws exist, the practice persists. It is often casual attitudes that fuels the practice. The attitude that child marriage is a traditional practice – not a violation of children’s rights - contributes to its perpetuation. These views need to end.

There are solutions

There is no one or direct solution to that will change early marriage practices. Instead, a comprehensive, linked approach is required. A comprehensive approach requiring political will and a long-term vision.

What does it mean? For example, an approach making marriage registration compulsory for all and raising the minimum age for marriage to 18 might work. But, it would be critical to work this closely with Roma and Egyptian children and their families in developing new laws. Also parallel interventions that offer economic support and incentives to girls and their families are needed. Interventions that improve access to quality formal education for girls’ and boys’, pay special attention to academic (under)achievers and put special measures in place to effectively prevent dropout from schools. In addition, we are bound to diligently investigate and sanction the cases of child marriage, as none of 50 reported cases of forced marriage led to an indictment.

Overall, it is critical to offer Roma and Egyptian girls’ and boys’ opportunities that fulfil their aspirations and create real alternatives to child marriage.

Leave no one behind

There is some good news, though.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a vision of a better world in which no one is left behind, offers a direction. This bold development plan for next 14 years, adopted in 2015 by 193 UN member countries including Montenegro, defines 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Ending child, early, and forced marriage is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goal 5 – To achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.  This makes early marriage an issue an international and national priority, including for Montenegro.

Fatima does not need flowers today.

She certainly needs support to realise her rights and dreams and to develop her full potential. She needs a society which will gather around the problem. A society which will ban child marriage, invest in education and empower young people. As said by the UN Secretary General Antonio Goutières: “A girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled. This is an issue that we must address everywhere in the world.”