Strong awareness yet high prevalence

The majority of Bangladeshis are aware of the minimum legal age for marriage and the disadvantages of getting married earlier, but that awareness is not reflected in the social practices here, according to a study by UK-based Plan International.

The survey conducted in three countries, including Pakistan and Indonesia, found Bangladeshis more aware than other nationals, but still Bangladesh has the highest number of early marriage in the group.

Some 73 percent females in Bangladesh get married before they turn 18. The rate in Indonesia is 38 percent and in Pakistan 34.8 percent.

The findings of the study commissioned by development organisation Plan International and UK-based research body Coram International were presented yesterday at a press meet at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.

The report titled "Getting the evidence: Asia child marriage initiative" cites that while around 60 percent of Pakistanis and Indonesians consider marrying girls off early to prevent sexual violence, only 14.4 percent in Bangladesh think that way.

The root cause behind the high rate of early marriage in Bangladesh is not religion as the two other countries surveyed are also Muslim majority nations, said Senait Gebregziabher, country director of Plan International Bangladesh.

He stressed the need for further research to understand why people's understanding of the disadvantages of early marriage is not translated into action here.

However, the study concludes that patriarchal norms insisting on male dominance and control over females cause early marriage of girls.

Across the three countries, 89 percent respondents agreed with the statement “a wife should be subservient to her husband” while more than 90 percent think that “a husband should be the head of a household”.

The report quoted a Bangladeshi boy as saying, "I must choose a bride who is younger than me so that I can control her. Moreover, she will be able to satisfy my demands…  If I marry an older woman, she will try to have authority over me and might not satisfy me sexually. "

The study, which began in 2010, was conducted in Dinajpur and Gazipur of Bangladesh, in three districts of Pakistan and two of Indonesia. It covered 2,742 individuals -- 484 females and 306 males -- in Bangladesh, 767 females and 414 males in Pakistan and 472 females and 299 males in Indonesia.

The report recommends addressing the issues that encourage child marriage, including poverty, lack of access to education, community safety and impunity for violence against girls and women. It also calls for increasing access to sexual and reproductive health services, strengthening law, sensitizing people to child marriage and promoting gender equality.