Tied too soon: Unpacking the social toll of child marriage

Infograph: TBS

Beauty Akhter (pseudonym) was married off at the age of 12. Despite having an austere childhood, she was a happy kid. But luck did not approve of her happiness. Beauty's father railroaded her into marrying a man who was much older than her. 

Beauty is a burning example of what child marriage could do to young girls who are forced into a marriage when they don't even understand the moral and social obligations that come with such a serious relationship. 

A few months into her marriage, her husband started showing his true colours as he resorted to violence even at the slightest excuse. 

Beauty Akhtar said, "I was married off to a 30-year-old man when I was not even mature enough to have a physical relationship. But who cares about me? My husband didn't spare any opportunity to oppress me. The real problems started when I left him." 

Her case is a cautionary tale of how society looks down upon those who decide to come out of an abusive conjugal life.

Child marriage has turned into a part and parcel of our society, especially, it has consistently been an integral aspect of rural traditions. Nonetheless, the intensity and type of trauma experienced by a young girl due to such a hasty decision regarding their future differ from family to family. 

From a critical perspective, victims of child marriage have to endure social humiliation, psychological trauma, and other societal complexities even after divorce, leading to a life full of abject suffering. 

According to a global report by Unicef, UN Women, and Plan International released on 8 March of this year, as of 2025, 51.4% of girls in Bangladesh - equivalent to 1 in every 2 women - are married off even before they reach 18, making it the country with the highest child marriage rate in Asia.

What is more alarming is the fact that around 71 out of every 1,000 girls aged between 15 and 19 have already become mothers at an age when they are supposed to remain under their mother's care. 

Such an alarming level of child marriages has far-reaching social impacts, including higher dropout rates, a serious blow to women's empowerment, and social marginalisation, with young girls left at the mercy of fate in many cases, as such marriages do not last in most cases. 

According to findings of the Socioeconomic and Demographic Survey 2023 published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), marriage is directly responsible for around 42 per cent of dropouts. Out of these, almost 71 per cent of female dropouts cite marriage as the reason for leaving school at a young age. 

Josna Khatun is a glaring example of such reality. Married off at the age of 14, she could never receive formal education, which led her to endure a lot of problems when she finally tried to do something on her own. 

In the initial days of her marriage, she had a decent life. But her husband's behaviour changed all of a sudden. Quarrels and flogging became more commonplace in their conjugal life. Unable to roll with the punches, she mustered courage and escaped. 

Her sufferings did not end there; rather, the real suffering began after she embarked on a new journey of starting her life afresh. 

"Many young girls like me want to break the vicious cycle of child marriage and have a better life. But it's really difficult to live a life of respect given our socio-economic realities. When I moved to a new place, I faced several problems, including discrimination at work and social oppression", Josna shared.  

Such a situation even leads girls like Josna to explore unsafe migration and job opportunities abroad, which might invite more perils. As in Josna's case, she took a job as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia. She was subjected to sexual abuse and other forms of physical and mental abuse by her employer.  

So, achieving autarky often turns out to be a Sisyphean task for victims of child marriage. This kind of hindrance widens gender disparities, limiting girls' contributions to Bangladesh's development and hamstringing their personal growth as well.

"When a child is forced into child marriage, it seriously hampers her overall growth as a human being. When we fail to provide an enabling environment, deprive young girls of basic rights, and instead confine them within the four walls of the homes, its fallout effects (mostly negative) are observed in the society," opined Dr Soma Dey, Associate Professor, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka. 

"For example, when someone is married off young, they cannot contribute significantly to the country's development", she added.

Apart from such hardships, these girls have to bear the brunt of child marriage throughout their lives as they face different kinds of harassment and are constantly subjected to social humiliation. People question their character, and they find it tough to get jobs since many people, including the employers, try to take advantage. 

When Latifa, another victim of child marriage, finally decided to move ahead in life, she faced a number of setbacks. On the one hand, she did not have much money; on the other hand, people did not want to rent houses to an unknown single woman. 

While looking for this job, she had to endure taunts from random people and answer unpleasant questions from neighbours. Many even came up with indecent proposals. 

In her words, everyone considers a woman who does not have a guardian as their property. Many have also threatened her because she did not agree to their lewd proposals. 

The struggle is real, while the way out of this situation is often plagued with difficulties. 

Instead of looking for solutions to this menace, Soma Dey underscored the need for stamping out child marriage in the first place.

"Prevention is better than a cure. We have to do whatever it takes to stop this practice. We need to make an analysis of the factors (including social security and poverty) that are spiking up child marriage incidents and address those issues in order to put an end to this culture of pushing young girls over the edge. 

"Child marriage is a harrowing experience for a girl. Proper implementation of the existing laws must be ensured to prevent child marriage", Soma added.  

"If a girl child wants to come out of such a relationship, everyone should extend help. If necessary, there should be a rehabilitation facility available for the victims of child marriage. For example, such victims should be entitled to lifelong educational opportunities. Moreover, society must support the girls who want to start anew in life after such a traumatic experience", she concluded.

This article has been produced in association with Badabon Sangho.