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    • Opinion
    • Girls' rights

    The hefty price of child marriage

    Policymakers need to prioritize investment to eradicate the harmful practice of child marriage, write Quentin Wodon, lead economist in the Education Global Practice at the World Bank, and Suzanne Petroni, senior director for gender, population and development at the International Center for Research on Women.

    By Quentin Wodon, Suzanne Petroni // 24 November 2015

    Child marriage. It’s a phrase that was barely uttered or understood in the global development community even just 10 years ago. Yet over this past decade, some 140 million girls, most living in the developing world, have married before the age of 18, forcing them to drop out of school and become pregnant before their bodies and minds are ready. Child marriage may also lead to increased intimate partner violence, restricted mobility, limited access to families or friends, and limited ability to engage in their community’s and country’s development.

    Now, after years of research documenting the harms that child marriage can bring to girls’ rights, health and welfare, and as a result of advocacy efforts by communities, nongovernmental organizations, development organizations and girls themselves, we have a global commitment to ending this practice in the next 15 years. Indeed, leaders at the United Nations this fall committed to eradicating child marriage through Agenda 2030 (the Sustainable Development Goals), and governments are finally starting to give this harmful practice the attention it deserves.

    But the financial investments needed to end the practice fall far behind the need. With very few exceptions, policymakers in both donor and developing countries have not prioritized the action and the investment needed to eradicate this harmful practice.

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    The views in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect Devex's editorial views.

    About the authors

    • Quentin Wodon

      Quentin Wodon

      Quentin Wodon is a lead economist in the Education Global Practice at the World Bank. He has also held roles at Procter & Gamble and the International Movement ATD Fourth World, and taught at universities in Belgium and the U.S. He has more than 400 publications, holds Ph.D.s in economics and theology and religious studies, and is actively involved in pro bono work with nonprofits.
    • Suzanne Petroni

      Suzanne Petroni@suzp

      Suzanne Petroni is the senior director for gender, population and development at the International Center for Research on Women, where, since 2012, she has led the organization’s work to improve development programs and policies by expanding the evidence base regarding the relationships between gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights, adolescence and demographic and socio-economic outcomes.

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