Poverty, Consent, and Choice in Early Marriage

Ethnographic Perspectives from Urban Tanzania

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11220447
AutoresLaura Starks (0000-0002-3342-1712, University of Jyväskylä, autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen54
Número6
Páginas565-581
Fecha de publicación2018-08-18
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMarriage & Family Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0149-4929 • E-ISSN: 1540-9635
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01494929.2017.1403998
OpenAlexW2789842390
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas21
Referencias citadas17

The assumed inability of adolescents to voluntarily consent to marriage is a key definition of child marriage. Using ethnography, this study approaches consent, self-determination, and fulfillment as dependent on the ability to make choices, not only between actual alternatives but also between perceived alternatives. In contexts of severe poverty, more attention is needed to the lack of viable alternatives open to families, and their motives in this context. In this study, 171 persons were interviewed in two majority-Muslim neighborhoods in Dar es Salaam. Some girls reported wanting to marry early, since poverty forces them to become adults capable of supporting themselves at roughly age 15–16, regardless of the personal wishes of their parents or guardians. Prior research tends to assume that early marriage prevents girls from continuing their education. This study suggests that educational opportunities are often closed off to girls before marriage. Policy recommendations given here are that organizations can more effectively address early marriage by (1) shifting the focus from legislation to urban poverty alleviation, (2) creating more employment opportunities for the poorest women in the city, (3) campaigning for more gender-equal attitudes in the informal employment sector, and (4) reducing financial costs of secondary schooling for adolescents

Child marriage · Context (archaeology · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnography · Geography · Legislation · Political science · Poverty · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Tanzania · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Law · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Sex work and related issues