Feminization of Poverty -The Cause and Consequence of Early Childhood Marriages in Iran

Download article in PDF

Kameel Ahmady

[email protected]

Abstract Feminization of Poverty

Many scholars, studying multiple countries, find that, overall, women are more likely to be poor than are their male counterparts (Findlay & Wright, 1996). In this article, we synthesize the primary,

and most consistent findings that emerge from this body of a comprehensive research undertaken to increase knowledge about the underlying causes of child marriage in general, by looking at Iran as a case example, which is characterized to a large extent by child marriage.

This study defines the phenomenon of ECM in analyses the various underlying factors and consequences of child marriage. The research clearly considers ECM as an obstacle for women empowerment in Iran.

It finds that poverty is inextricably linked to the prevalence of child marriage in Iran. The rise or existence of child marriage is a complex and growing narrative which necessitates further research to diagnose and combat this insidious and deeply embedded practise.

Within Iran, context, the narrative demonstrates the prevalence of ECM in the country, shared statistical information about ECM’s rate, ECM under the age of 18, and rate of divorce under the age of 18.

It further links the poverty as the top notch reason of ECM similarly as a consequence as well. The article has come up with recommendations to reduce the practice up to an extent.

Keywords: Early Child Marriages, Iran, Culture, Islam, Feminization of Poverty

Introduction Feminization of Poverty

Poverty is one of the major contributing factors of ECM in countries and regions where it is acute.

The economic aspects of ECM plays a dominate role particularly in countries/regions, where girls are often considered as an economic burden on the family’s sparse or limited resources. In this context the family’s limited resources and obtaining a guarantee against poverty overrides any concerns for the young girl who often is given to a much older and or elderly man as a strategy of survival.

In the eyes of many, Early Child Marriage (ECM) affects and complicates young children’s lives, brings harmful consequences to their health, and affects their future development on every level.

In some developing countries, ECM is an economic tool that can improve the economic status of the family.  It can fortify bonds between families, ensure girl’s virginity before marriage, controls her sexual desire, and avoids the possibility of a girl reaching an age where she is no longer desirable as a wife by a man or his family (Alemu 2008).

Complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are the main causes of death amongst 15–19 year-old girls (Loaiza and Wong, 2012). Equally devastating are the health consequences which make girls prone to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. From a social perspective, it is a brutal end to her education and autonomy as well as minimising her life choices.  Girls are reduced to mere commercial commodities.

There is no doubt that investing in girls, developing their social and economic assets and ensuring their access to education and health services is a vibrant sign of gender equality that will translate into stronger societies and vibrant economies.

Education is often seen as the key to prevent ECM(UNICEF 2004). Women who are educated are healthier, participate more in the formal labour market, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better healthcare and education to their children compared to women with little or no education (UNICEF 2001).

With worldwide care and support, the levels of ECM are generally declining although a substantial proportion of young children are still married under the legal age of their society. One clear egregious example of this is Iran.

Feminization of Poverty

Iran-Sitauational Analysis and Strategic Context:

Religious concepts of puberty have influenced debates about marriageable age in Iran. Puberty alone, however, does not describe the legal requirements for marriage: the age thresholds and exceptions under Article 1041 must also be considered.

Although ECM marriage is applicable to both boys and girls, the harsh reality is that the impact is greater on young girls. It is a global issue but rates vary dramatically, both within and between countries. Nevertheless, in terms of proportions and numbers, most ECM takes place in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (UNICEF 2001).

Although little data is available on child marriage in Iran and in absence of credible and independent studies, official Iranian government statistics show that tens of thousands of girls and boys under the age of 15 are married off by their families each year in Iran. The numbers may actually even be quite higher. Some families in Iran do not register underage marriages, or do so illegally.

Child marriage in Iran has been documented in historical registration statistics. A 2014 Südwind report, p. 4, gives 33,383 registered marriages involving girls under 15 in 2006–2007 and 43,459 in 2010–2011, an increase of about 30%. These are dated counts of registered marriages; the change alone does not establish the relative roles of poverty, social norms or parental decisions.

In her 2019 legal analysis, Shamin Asghari describes Article 1041 of Iran’s Civil Code as setting marriage-age thresholds of 13 for girls and 15 for boys, with exceptions requiring the guardian’s permission and a competent court’s assessment of the child’s best interests. As Asghari’s analysis explains, the exception does not establish nine as an absolute minimum age.

The Special Rapporteur’s report A/69/356, dated 27 August 2014, paragraphs 40–41, described the 2013 adoption-law provision permitting marriage between a custodian and an adopted child where a court considered it in the child’s best interests. This is the report’s historical account of that legislation.

The same 2014 report recorded 48,580 marriages involving girls aged 10–14 in 2011 and stated that 48,567 of those girls reportedly had a child before age 15. These are figures attributed to that report, not independently verified findings of this study.

It also reported 40,635 marriages involving girls under 15 during March 2012–March 2013, including more than 8,000 with a spouse at least ten years older. Its reported under-ten counts were 1,537 in 2012 and 716 during March 2010–March 2011. These historical figures should not be presented as current estimates.

The 2014 report described rising registered divorces among girls under 15 from 2010. It recorded the Government’s assertion that all marriages were consensual because forced marriage was prohibited. That assertion does not itself demonstrate consent in individual cases.

Early marriage and pregnancy can disrupt schooling and expose girls to health risks. WHO’s adolescent-pregnancy fact sheet, dated 10 April 2024, reports higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis and systemic infections among mothers aged 10–19 than among women aged 20–24. This is a comparison of pregnancy-related risks, not an estimate that all married girls under 15 have five times the overall mortality of adult women.

For the first time this study aims at analysing the prevalence of ECM in Iran by focusing on the prominent socio-cultural factors that mirror this deep-rooted inequality that is responsible for its continual existence and adherence.

The rationale for this study is to demonstrate the evidence and prevalence of this harmful practice in Iran and to assist decision makers in sharpening their focus on this urgent protection of girls’ human rights. Respect for girls’ human rights requires that we prevent and eradicate child marriage and actively support those girls who are already married. It is the only course by which we can avert what otherwise is the human tragedy of ECM.

This study is an effort to bring to the surface the problem of early marriage in Iran.

RESEARCH BACKGROUND & Objectives Feminization of Poverty

The recent study on early marriage prevalence in Iran initially occurred in 2013 when Kameel Ahmady conducted the first large scale survey on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C) in Iran (Ahmady, 2016).

In most of the areas, ECM was found on par with FGM. This research survey on ECM was conceived when the study on FGM was on going.  At that time the international community was unaware of FGM’s existence. Even within Iran, Iranians were unaware of FGM’s existence.

In part, due to the study on FGM, it became abundantly that clear that a study was warranted to gauge the consequences of ECM.

In Iran there has been a meagre pool of information on this subject. Very few individuals have conducted studies to try to identify the depth and prevalence of the problem. Government data is lacking.

Iran with its considerable high rates of this gender based social norm has never been the recipient of any sort in-depth research methodologies. Whilst some descriptive statistics provide a global picture of ECM they do not provide an analysis of the net effects of the examined variables on a girl’s risk of being married as a child.

What little has been mentioned is superficial, confined to university thesis, media, internet activism reports and/or in some reports of a non-analytical nature regarding the statistics about the registered rates of ECM.

In most cases the study of ECM in Iran and has gone no further than a local micro-level analysis.  What was sorely needed was a practical problem-centred and issue-oriented research based specifically on Iran and ECM’s prevalence. During the history of ECM research in Iran, what became abundantly clear was the absence of an in-depth approach in order to bring the origins of ECM issues to the surface and go beyond what has been occasionally done in this area of research.

In order to accomplish this, much more was needed to ascertain, discover and gather the information, facts and statistical data available for the public. From the onset it was quite difficult to get accurate data on the true extent of early marriages. This is because some marriages are not officially registered, and many parents resort to fabricating girls’ ages.

In rural areas this lack of official registration is made easier by virtue of the fact that birth certificates are often non-existent or not properly recorded. This means that ECM is not under the legal scrutiny of a court thus denying girls the benefit of a measure designed to safeguard their interests (UNICEF, 2014, 1). Moreover, not registering a marriage can lead to a lack of legal protection for the spouse and future children.

Objective of the Research Study Feminization of Poverty

Some early marriages described in this research were arranged to settle debts or address financial pressures. Unregistered marriages can be missed by official statistics, making the scale of the practice harder to measure. The evidence presented here does not establish that most early marriages in Iran are unregistered.

This study through has explored the hidden data to reveal the existence of the early marriages in Iran. This is the first and only comprehensive study in Iran which would bring into surface the unregistered number of marriages which took place in early age.

The objective of this study is to present available empirical evidence obtained through household questionnaires in order to estimate the prevalence of ECM and to identify and understand the factors associated with child marriage in Iran.

Research Methodology Feminization of Poverty

The methodological approach adopted by this research is designed as a qualitative large-scale method. As no previous sort of research was available to refer to, or known methodology had been already implemented in Iran as a comparative analysis, research methodology compatible to the subject matter was absent.

This clearly point to a need for a comparative study  of  different  states  with  high  prevalence  rates  of  child  marriage within Iran that  would  help  in identifying  the  similarities and  differences  in  the  factors  leading  to  child  marriage. The genuineness of the research and its novelty of scale and purpose determined the steps and forms of each method.

Considering the fact that hardly any research of this dimension of ECM in Iran been undertaken in this field, the task was highly challenging and the methodology evolved was dynamic.

Methodological decisions were completely flexible depending on the different variations that the research faced in each step. Population size, sample size, sampling method, number of interviews in each district and even the time spent in a particular province was a reflection of the prevalence percentage of ECM.

Considering all the variations and differences, the methodology of research was adopted to fulfil what is needed in this crucial step. It is worth mentioning that the methodological decisions are unique and tailored for this sort of gender sensitive research, based on the program areas’ unique characteristics. These decisions might not be applicable in other contexts.

To explore the program areas, the study narrowed the search to selected designated areas of interest by using the data from the National Organization for Civil Registration. Seven provinces with the highest rates of registered child marriages were selected.

The provinces were chosen by analysing the recent decade’s available data on registered marriage cases. This was based on calculated demographical information of the most recent decade.

It is to be noted that the ranking order in this list is not the same as the lists previously published by the government, as the ranking order is was based on choosing the provinces with the highest ranks of ECM’s prevalence. Accordingly the seven provinces are as follows:   1. Razavi Khorasan, 2. East Azerbaijan, 3. Khuzestan, 4. Sistan and Baluchestan, 5. West Azerbaijan, 6. Hormozgan and 7. Isfahan.

The context and indicators related to ECM was sorted through the examination of three age

groups: under 10, 10–14 and 15–19 years. Seven rankings of registered marriage events were prepared by age group, sex and total count for the study period. The 15–19 band includes people aged 18 and 19, so that band cannot by itself be treated as a count of marriages before age 18.

Table 3-1; Marriage ranks in 2014 sorted by age groups and gender

 Girls’ marriage          Boy’s marriage                              Totals

The broadness of the program areas, budget and time constraints, and limitation of funding necessitated the use of cluster sampling functional. By using cluster sampling, several towns located in the north, south, east and west of Iran were selected for the first cluster. Accordingly some villages of each town were selected as the next cluster.

The number of interviews in each province was based on its rank in the latest rank table. Accordingly all program areas had required different numbers of interviews. Although the questionnaire used in them was a local edition of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) questionnaires a great part of which was researcher-made.

The fieldwork used a locally adapted questionnaire drawing on Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) instruments, as described above. Although standard DHS surveys are designed to be nationally representative, using an adapted questionnaire in selected provinces does not make this study a nationally representative DHS survey.

In order to use DHS standard questionnaires in this study, it was vital to make some changes and modification in order to translate the questions into local languages and make it user-friendly.

Based on the specific cultural differences and variations in each district, adjustments were necessary. Structured questions, as well as observations, were obtained through interviews and used in the categories of Background, Marriage, Marriage Decision, Female Reproduction, Male Reproduction, Gender Attitudes, Female Sexual Violence and Male Domestic Violence questions. The questionnaire focused on the prevalence and causes of child marriage in the surveyed areas. This above mentioned type of questionnaire was used in interviewing only local people.

The study that also contains viewpoints and interviews with authorities, governmental figures and religious and community leaders influenced and changed the types of questions asked. The procedure tends to vary structurally.

Survey Results Feminization of Poverty

The research establishes that family type (and/or household structure), interacted with gender, dramatically affects the likelihood of poverty. Our findings confirm that single-parent households—which are overwhelmingly female headed in all of these provinces face the greatest risk of poverty. Women who are married this young become invisible in their communities;

it is both a human rights violation and something that perpetuates the cycle of poverty. The research has gauged three variables and triangulate through grounded theory that how ECM constitutes a base for the gendered poverty.

Diagram 1 compares the counts labelled “child marriage” with total registered marriages in seven selected provinces during 2005–2014. Summing the displayed counts gives 1,508,311 divided by 2,767,616, or approximately 54.5%. On that arithmetic, Sistan and Baluchestan has the highest within-province ratio, about 72.3%, while Razavi Khorasan has the largest displayed count. These calculations follow the chart’s labels; they do not establish national prevalence or resolve the age-band limitation described above.

Read the numbers in Diagram 1’s table rather than the coloured bar proportions. The original chart stacks the “child marriage” count together with the total-marriage count, even though the former is part of the latter, so the blue segment is not the child-marriage share of all marriages. The original figure is retained; its age coverage requires reconciliation with the under-18 definition before these figures can be used as an under-18 prevalence estimate.

Diagram 2 is labelled as marriages before age 18 in the seven provinces during 2005–2014. It displays higher counts for girls than for boys in each province. Counts are not sex-specific prevalence rates without corresponding population denominators, and this province comparison does not show annual changes.

Diagram 3. Provincial shares shown in the original under-18 divorce chart, seven selected provinces, 2005–2014.

Diagram 3 allocates the displayed under-18 divorce total across provinces: Razavi Khorasan 34%, East Azerbaijan 17%, Khuzestan 16%, Sistan and Baluchestan 3%, West Azerbaijan 13%, Hormozgan 4% and Isfahan 13%. These shares sum to 100%; they are not the percentage of marriages ending in divorce within each province.

The pie chart does not separate girls and boys, provide a year-by-year series, or record widowhood. It therefore cannot establish an annual increase in divorce, a comparison with the previous decade, or a trend in the number of child widows.

To compare divorce risks between girls and boys or changes over time, sex-disaggregated counts, consistent yearly age definitions and appropriate denominators would be needed.

Divorce or widowhood can compound the difficulties faced by girls who marry young. Stigma, limited income and caring responsibilities may leave them without adequate support. These social concerns should be distinguished from trends that the displayed chart cannot measure.

A close analysis of both diagrams reveals that ECM has a dramatic effect on girls than boys. Whilst boys are sometimes subjected to early marriage, girls are disproportionately affected and form the vast majority of the victims of child marriage.

For girls the affects go well beyond adolescence. Many aspects of their lives are controlled by older men who considered the girls little more than sexual and domestic servants.

The greater the age difference, the more likely girls are to be disempowered and at risk of violence, abuse or exploitation.  Sometimes the girls’ problems began only after making it home with their babies, where they were frequently abandoned by their husbands.

The main driving forces are patriarchal notions and the desire to subjugate women in order to control her sexuality. The complex issue of ECM is rooted in gender inequality and the belief that girls and women are somehow inferior to boys and men.

Poverty, lack of education, cultural practices, and insecurity fuel and sustain ECM’s existence as girls are not valued as much as boys. They are seen as a burden on their family.

Marrying a young girl at a young age can be viewed as a way to ease economic hardship by transferring this ‘burden’ to her husband’s family. ECM is also driven by patriarchal values and the desire to control female sexuality, for instance, how a girl should behave, how she should dress, who she should be allowed to see, to marry, etc.

The end of an early marriage can create additional social and economic difficulties for girls. The provincial divorce shares presented here do not establish how girls’ divorce rates compare with boys’ rates.

Girls who marry young, are more prone to be divorced at an early age. Child brides are often disempowered and dependent on their husbands.

Girls who experience divorce or widowhood may face responsibilities for which they have received little preparation or support. The figures presented here do not establish that these experiences increase every year.

The enormous responsibility for a young girl to go from a life, then mother and now a divorcee or widow is catastrophic.

These girls are more vulnerable to persistent poverty if their spouses die, abandon, or divorce them. Given that girls in ECM 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.

This problem threatens to increase with the expanding youth population in the developing world. In addition as ECM is considered an interfamilial binding contract, the breaking of it, i.e.

divorce can have serious consequences both for the families and for the girl. Even those girls with the option of divorcing an abusive spouse are vulnerable because they have little earning power, education, and financial support. Widowhood  is  one  of  the  most  neglected  gender  and  human  rights  issues within ECM.

These young girls, long invisible in many countries are most vulnerable.  This is particularly acute in rural areas, where   traditions,   customs   and   discriminatory interpretations  of religious  codes  often  dominate and  where  there  is  a  glaring  lack  of  the modern age  of marriage  legislation.

The  consequences  of  widowhood which  include  social ostracisation, economic  dependency,  marginalisation,  legal  discrimination,  political  insensitivity  and human rights violations.

All these consequences are intensified by the fact that they are being faced by young child widows who are extremely vulnerable. Child widows are the legacy of ECM.

The displayed data concern selected provinces and the historical period 2005–2014. They do not demonstrate that child marriage has always exceeded 35% of all marriages nationally or in every year. Age definitions, denominators and geographical coverage must be consistent before such comparisons are made.

Discussion Feminization of Poverty

The findings of the research and survey results can be briefly summarized in the following analytical model that depicts the relationship amongst the numerous independent variables that trigger ECM.

The consequence of ECM as a new independent variable that shape dependent variables are on the right side of the model. Gender and area of residency (urban or rural areas) are considered as control variables.

A closer look on the model give us a prominent overview that how poverty is become a prominanet variable and a leading cause and consequence of ECM.

Poverty and child marriage are closely interlinked. Both a symptom and a driver of poverty, child marriage precludes the possibility of education, employment and other economic development, and exposes girls to a multiplicity of vulnerabilities.

Poverty and not being able to pay the fees were the more common reasons in Hormozgan province. In East Azerbaijan schools that were far away also were contributing factors that explained why respondents dropped out of school.

Details on school dropout reasons are provided as an example.  Child marriage perpetuates the cycle of poverty by cutting short girls’ education, pushing them into early and repeated pregnancies, and limiting their opportunities for employment.

The discontinuance of the privileges of childhood also encompasses the discontinuance of education. ECM and school dropout are the twin events that mark the exit of young girls lives.

The findings of the research were overwhelming in this regard. ECM is accompanied by a parallel and interconnected incident of dropping out of school.

More so in a poor household, the value of pursuing girls education is directly related to the prospect of improving employment and earning opportunities.

Low levels of education restrict girls’ economic autonomy, thus increasing their vulnerability. In the case of a girl child, aspirations in the education and professional spheres may be stifled by predetermined gender roles that see a woman confined within domestic walls.

In such cases, investing in girls’ education clashes with the economics of poor households. What little resources that are available for the future of their daughter’s money is invested in paying for wedding expenses and a dowry, rather than extending education.

Conclusion & Recommendations Feminization of Poverty

Our review of the survey findings, literature and our empirical analyses shed light on gendered outcomes of ECM which directly lead to an increase in gendered poverty.

Our findings reveal how ECM intersects with various social institutions to shape women’s risk of poverty, both absolutely and relative to men’s. While the relationship between gender and poverty is complex, several elements of this relationship are evident.

ECM’s dominance position in the gender inequality chain continues to flourish against the background of poverty, social expectations, sexual violence culturally-embedded sexual norms, gender stereotypes, social pressure and family hardship. This demands the necessity of finding new policies and solutions and acceptance of norms that reflect gender equality.

By placing children in adulthood roles, ECM affects the present and the next generation in terms of multiple pregnancies, restricted access to education and income generation opportunists, enforced social seclusion, early widowhood and abandonment and trapping survivors in a generational cycle of outdated roles and rules. The acute gender based oppression permeates into the collective thinking process and passes on to the next generation.

Regardless of geographical and cultural setting, child marriage seems to directly correlate with conditions that typically characterise poor development, such as rural residence, low or no education, and poverty, with pronounced disparities emerging in the prevalence of ECM.

Interrupted education and limited economic opportunities can make it harder for girls who marry early to escape poverty.

UNICEF identifies poverty as one of several interacting risk factors for child marriage, alongside social norms, legal frameworks and civil-registration conditions. Comparisons between countries require dated estimates using the same age group and poverty measure; the undated country percentages and daily-income comparison previously cited here do not provide that basis.

Responses to ECM may geographically and culturally vary.  What may efficiently work in some province can exacerbate the phenomenon in others and what is deemed acceptable in one nationality or culture may not hold true in the other.

For instance the means in which preventive messages about ECM are transferred to people are different depending on the region. A holistic, comprehensive and coordinated policy must factor the specificities of each respective culture as a one size fits all approach may not simply be feasible.

This requires adaptability and flexibility. Policies must be cognisance of differences and variation when enacting a core action programme to eradicate ECM.

There remains much to be done to combat ECM marriage in Iran. Based on the findings from the analysis and input from participants in the survey, the recommendations of the study are listed below. Many of the recommendations reinforce existing child marriage prevention programs and emphasize that multifaceted holistic approaches needed to tackle the problem of child marriage.

The complexity of ECM requires that effective legal, policy and programme measures be taken by coordinating efforts at international, national and local levels.

There are a range of approaches needed to address child marriage, and crucially everyone has a role to play. This means there must be long-term, sustainable interventions that are coordinated, well-resourced and reflected the empowerment of girls, mobilisation of families and communities, access to services and establishment and implementation of laws and policies.

• Official Registration of All Births and Marriages is mandated in order to negate existing child marriage by making it impossible. With a limited or lack of reliable official records of birth, it is difficult to determine a bride’s age with certainty. Parental estimates can be inaccurate, false, and simply a lie. Registration is a critical step to counter the practice of ECM as it provides the proof of girls’ age. Sound marriage registration is only possible if it can rely on timely and rigorous birth registration. Birth registration is a fundamental human right which supports the enjoyment of a host of other entitlements. In countries where birth registration is not compulsory or is implemented inconsistently, marriage registration is liable to hinge on non-existent or unreliable birth certificates. According to UNICEF, the gap in recording births facilitates the falsification of the age and the identity of the child, particularly of girls being sought for early marriage. When a girl’s birth is properly certified, the advantages are priceless: her identity is protected, her capacity to access basic services is heightened and her protective rights are greatly enhanced. Registering births and marriages helps prevent ECM by proving the age of a girl and her partner and allows girls and women to seek financial and legal redress if the marriage ends.
• The role of government is pivotal. Government, as the origin of every country’s power base, can be a crucial in ECM’s prevention. A clear governmental commitment is needed to ensure the law is adequately enforced, particularly as social and cultural norms tend to override legal norms. Governments must show strong political leadership by making ECM of national importance and providing adequate financial resourcing across ministries to tackle the issue holistically. Government can further coordinating organizations’ policies, provide funds for studies on ECM and other related research projects in order to  diffuse the message to the populace about ECM. This is crucial to ensure protective and non-discriminatory legal frameworks, strict implementation of laws and policies, as well as provision of effective education and protection services, reproductive sexual health care and legal remedies to both married and unmarried girls.

• Evidence widely shows that keeping a girl in school is crucial. As ECM interferes with girls’ education, the education of girls pushes back child marriage. According to research by the International Center for Research on Women, in 18 out of the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage, the level of education a girl reaches is the most powerful predictor of the marriage age. Consistently, in all regions, girls with higher education levels were less likely to marry as children.
• Educate the public about ECM and raising their general literacy is a must. Based on the findings of this study, the respondents showed various ranges of glaring ignorance and or little or no knowledge about ECM’s detrimental and overall general harmful effects. ECM is both a cause of illiteracy and an effect of it. Any step in tackling ECM must include the necessity of diffusing the negative outcomes to the public. This is when the power of technology comes into play by using mass media campaigns and other innovative methods such as radio, TV, mobile phones and digital media to raise awareness of girls’ rights and the impact of child marriage. Without this important factor, advancement is an unreal outer force that cannot be permanent.
• Legislation defining age for compulsory education should progressively align with the minimum age for marriage. In Iran, the case for raising marriage-age thresholds must also address the exceptions under Article 1041 discussed above. It is important to note that whilst most countries legislate for a minimum legal age of marriage, the age of marriage is often higher for men than it is for women and many countries continue to have a legal age of marriage lower than in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• The practice of ECM in many communities has flourished due to a lack of knowledge and awareness of the negative drawbacks and consequences of the practice. It is imperative that efforts be undertaken to mobilize communities with the provision of knowledge and education about its negative physical, psychological and social impacts. Community involvement in ECM must be reinforced. A comprehensive advocacy plan should be designed and implemented to promote the empowerment of children, girls in particular, as a social norm.
• Working with men and boys is a critical part of ending ECM.  In many communities it is the men who hold the power and make the decisions. Interventions targeting fathers, brothers, husbands and future husbands are important in helping men and boys reflect on the gender based status quo and to see the benefits of a community which values and supports girls and women to fulfil their potential.
• Community programs should be conceived to benefit the families with financial incentive including helplines for victims, shelter and other safe places for girls. In addition to that, capacity building and education for community leaders and other key actors on the negative impact caused by ECM marriage will further help to ensure that it does not continue.

• a multi facet  holistic approach is require by involving all  players from civil society, communities and government actors to look at all of the factors that limit women’s development and respond accordingly with an integrated approach, including interventions at the community level and strengthening  national policies.
• Religious leaders have been key agents of change. It is therefore essential that religious leaders receive training on the adverse effects of child marriage. Given the influence of religion, approaching the issue through the enforcement of Sharia law may be an effective strategy. A comprehensive method must be thought of to train and consult these religious leaders in order to diffuse the preventive message. In communities where religious leaders play a prominent role in decision-making or influencing the prevailing norms, it is necessary to target their support as positive advocates for change.
• The widespread traditional practice of temporary marriages further fuels the intensity of child marriages in Iran. Often following the initial removal of a young girl from her parental home, under the pretext of marriage, she can be sold into the sex trade, or just sold to another husband, as in the case of so-called fake or temporary child marriages. Men may engage in serial unions, marrying a girl for a limited time until she conceives a child (hopefully a boy, if the previous or present regular marriage has failed to produce one), or assists in economic activities. These young girls are then abandoned (and her child, if unwanted) once she is no longer required. Once girls are abandoned, they are unmarriageable and forced to continue a life of exclusion. Child marriage thus turns into human trafficking, free labour, prostitution, or, in short, enslaving a girl for the purpose of indiscriminate exploitation. This is one of the prominent contributory factors to the increasing trend of child marriages in Iran. Tracking of such marriages is not easy as they are not registered transactions. This is no doubt a fact that registration of temporary marriages would not only highlight the ratio of the ECM prevalence in Iran but also would help in prevention of sex trafficking and child prostitution.
• Empowering girls by giving them the opportunity to build skills and knowledge  to understand and exercise their rights and to develop support networks, plays an important part in ending child marriage. As girls are the victims and later the survivors they are also the agents of change. Girls are the key to social transformation around early marriage. Young girls should be helped to develop the necessary resilience to defend themselves from attempts made by adults, even well-meaning parents or elders, to marry them before they attain majority. In addition to protecting itself, a well-informed, aware and proactive new generation should provide the backbone of initiatives being set in motion in their communities, countries and internationally to progressively make child marriage an echo of a no longer existent tradition. Knowledge of marriage laws and reproductive right could be integrated into their life skills training in order to improve girls’ knowledge about their reproductive health and legal rights including the right not to marry before age 18 and the right to give free and full consent to marriage. Activities could also include increasing girls’ self-confidence and ability to negotiate key life decisions including continued schooling and annulling marriage.
• It is high time for Iranian legal authorities to incorporate international laws into their legal system or practice. Iran ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 13 July 1994 with a reservation and has obligations under that Convention; Iran has neither signed nor ratified CEDAW. Iranian legal authorities have a responsibility  to take all necessary legislative, judicial, administrative and other measures to ensure the full attainment of women’s and children’s rights which are an integral part of these conventions.
• A  range  of  policy  and  programmatic actions  are  needed  to  assess and reduce  early  marriage  and  its  impact. This includes data research. At  present,  there  is  a  serious  lack  of  data on  all  aspects  of  ECM, let alone ECM in Iran. These gaps need to be filled urgently, since data influences and guides policies and programmes and provide a basis for effective advocacy. Existing demographic data may be disaggregated  and  used  in  ways  that  tell  us more  about  the  prevalence  of  early  marriage.
• A substantial and significant shortage of available material on child marriages in Iran is a matter of immense concern. There is lack of awareness from the populace and deliberate indifference from the government.  In Iran, the contemporary research bodies analyse child and gender based issues such as domestic violence and child education. ECM however has been largely ignored. This attitude of indifference towards ECM has resulted in a scarcity of data on the issue which has limited the knowledge about the issue to the domestic and international community. Many have no idea about the presence of ECM in Iran. Consequently in many global reports on child marriage, Iran is scarcely mentioned undoubtedly due to this lack of available data.
• It is vital that more research on the topic is undertaken so that the world is cognisant that ECM in Iran is highly prevalent. The research would also facilitate the government, law makers, civil institution, analysts and policy makers in Iran to identified and combat the issue. Academic society, scholars and university researchers are needed to undertake more in-depth studies and country size reports on ECM to document the nature and prevalence child marriage and its ensuing sexual violence.
• The Iranian government desperately needs to develop comprehensive social safety net programs, reduction of poverty level and proving economic opportunities to encourage families to end ECM. In the world wide battle to eliminate ECM, Iran has been neglectful and neglected.

About the Author :

Kameel Ahmady is a social anthropologist and researcher who received a True Honour Award from IKWRO in 2017.

He was also the first-place recipient in the Literary category of the 2018 Global Woman Awards, organised by Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation. Kameel has worked mainly on international and social development on gender and minority related issues. His previous pioneering research books have garnered International attention and are published in English, Farsi, Turkish and Kurdish languages.

“Another look at east and south east of Turkey” (Truism with the touch of Anthropology) published by Etkim, Istanbul-Turkey 2009 and research of “In the Name of Tradition” (A Country Size Comprehensive Study on Female Genital Mutilation FGM/C in Iran), published by Uncut Voices Press-Oxford- 2015 also “An Echo of Silence” (A Comprehensive Study on Early Child Marriage ECM in Iran) published by Nova Science Publisher, Inc., New York 2017.

“A House on Water” (A Comprehensive Study on temporary Marriage in Iran) and “Childhood plunder” ( A research study on child scavenging –Waste picking- in Tehran/Iran printed and lunched in 2019 in Iran/Tehran. His new books “Forbidden Tale” (A Comprehensive Study on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) in Iran (2018) and “A House under shadow” (A Comprehensive Study on temporary Marriage in Iran) are  printed in English and Farsi by Mehri publishing in 2020.

References Feminization of Poverty

Alemu, Bogalech. “Early Marriage in Ethiopia: Causes and Health Consequences.” Exchange on HIVand AIDS, Sexuality and Gender 1 (2008): 4-6.

Findlay, Jeanette, and Robert E Wright. “Gender, Poverty and the Intra‐Household Distribution of Resources.” Review of Income and Wealth 42, no. 3 (1996): 335-51.

Loaiza Sr, E, and Sylvia Wong. “Marrying Too Young. End Child Marriage.”  (2012).

UNICEF. “Child Marriage Ij Jordan.”  (2014).

“Early Marriage: Child Spouses.” Florance, Italy, 2001.

“Girls’ Education: Introduction.” 2004.

Feminization of Poverty