Child Marriage

She loved her toys,
As did the boys.
Her life was same,
As all children.

She loved the game,
She played a wife,
She enacted a mother,
All in innocence.

She was happy,
Replacing her doll,
She felt excited.
Little did she knew,
Expectations the act bear.

Sea of tears,
End of childhood,
Forced womanhood,
Unrealistic expectations,
All that followed,
The remorseful farewell.

Girls playing with their dolls and enacting to marry them is a common sight among all households. The scene is actually quite cute. But the society took it literally and started imitating it by marrying of kids who are equivalent to dolls themselves. While such kids include both boys and girls, the percentage of girls is on much higher side.

Why Child Marriage
1. Illiteracy
Lack of education results in non-awareness of the ill-effects child marriages cause to children's life. The girls with proper education even if married early are less likely to have motherhood in younger age thus reducing one of the major issue.
2. Poverty
Families which are financially stable generally marry their girls at a more adolescent age. The poor the family is, the more pressure they suffer to get their daughters married as soon as possible.
3. Human Trafficking
Many poor families in some areas actually sell off girls in the name of marriage for the exchange of money to support their families. Such girls have to face the gruesome effects of trafficking including mental and physical (sexual as well as non-sexual)tortures.
4. Gender Discrimination
In many cultures, girls are married at an early age to prevent their virginity. Another case of gender discrimination can be seen when the widowers irrespective of their age are remarried to younger girls.
5. Following traditions blindly
Some cultures follow the tradition of child marriages with baseless beliefs like adolescent and educated girls have diluted minds and they loose their capability of managing the family of they are unmarried for long.

It is needless to say that the impact of child marriage is harmful on both boys and girls. But then, the expectations and health - physical as well as mental impacts are more serious for the girls.
I believe that the only way to curb child marriages is through education. The more educated people are more they are aware about fatal consequences of such practices.

This post is written as a part of April 2015 A to Z Challenge. My theme for this year is 'WOMEN and ISSUES AROUND THEME'. Click at the link to check other common issues women face in and their respective links.