Women in Afghanistan marry < 16 yrs old

[Glenda]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5225434D-7CD3-4D9E-990F-9CC09D1FD1A7.htm

"Nearly 45% of marriages in this country involve girls below the legal age of 16," the UN Population Fund said in a statement on Thursday.

"The tradition of marrying off daughters as young as six is still common."

The United Nations has also said that it is common for girls to be traded to resolve conflicts between tribal families and that such children usually become the "property of the family or individual who receives them".

...

Since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, millions of girls have returned to school and women returned to work, especially in the cities.

A new constitution enshrines women's rights, but the law is often ignored and President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government has little authority in some areas, especially remote rural ones, to enforce it.

[Jacobin]

1. Um, it was pretty much the same in the U.S.

in the 1800's. You were an old maid at 20.

Why do we think the whole world wants to be McDonaldized?

I do not understand that thought process

[etherealtruth]

5. Slavery was legal in the US until the 1860's

I don't understand the logic ... hopefully, humans become more enlightened and no longer engage in exploitive practices.

I don't imagine one would say that they are not opposed to slavery because such opposition is an American (or western) construct.

[Jacobin]

9. Well, now that sounds a lot like what the neo-cons want

Let's just bring all these backward brown folk up to our level, so we can have mcdonalds and walmarts and traffic congestion, everyone can take prozac and all be fucking civilized.

I find these ideas, and particularly those who want to impose them by force to be astounding. astounding

the comparison you make of marriage to slavery is perhaps telling?

[Glenda]

10. It's forced marriage

this article talks about how media exposure is helping:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4738379.stm

"At the moment lots of young girls forced into marriage commit suicide. If they're able to talk openly on TV, it might reduce the problem."

[etherealtruth]

11. I definitely equate the marriage of a child as young as SIX ...

to slavery. I hope my attitude IS telling! The UN believes this to rise to the level of a human rights violation as do I:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48115&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN

I can provide a multitude of different and reputable resources outlining the situation there


Everything about the "Western world" is NOT bad or wrong ... I certainly DO NOT want to see the Walmartization of the rest of the world ... but I certainly don't think they need to reinvent the wheel, they can learn from history as can we.

Upon edit:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_376/ai_n13503313

http://www.medicamondiale.org/download/KinderheiratAfghanistan2004_e.pdf

The buying and selling of young children is slavery. How else does one describe the "ownership" of a human being?

[Glenda]

16. Thanks for all the links!

The pdf is particularly informative. Just the thought of those poor young girls forced to marry and have kids so young... And then imprisoned at times...

[etherealtruth]

17. I'm just grateful that you started the conversation in your OP ...

I am starting to feel (I don't know if it's accurate, but it's how I FEEL) that people are willing to accept human rights violations, if the victims are all women. I am tiring of arguing that the abuse and exploitation of women is cultural so that makes it OK.
:rant:

Thanks again for bringing attention to this issue and starting the conversation.

[etherealtruth]

2. I'm sure Iraqi women ...

...see their future.:puke:

[God Bless the USA]

3. Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis....

are just two names that pop to mind involving marriages where one partner was 13. I personally have in-laws in southeastern Kentucky that have married as young as 14 and 15..

It's not that uncommon even here in the USA

[Glenda]

4. In the US, it's probably not marrying off 6-yr-olds

to adult men.

And I'm wondering if the 16-yr-olds, for example are marrying men in their 40s+ as well. Can't tell from the article

[Cleita]

7. Were they traded to their husbands' families for sheep or

other gains? Did they have no choice in whom they married or when they married. I doubt it.

[etherealtruth]

12. It is UNCOMMON in the USA ...

... but it is not unheard of. That, however, is irrelevant. I would hope that we and others aspire to be BETTER and not justify the exploitation or abuse of others by bad actions in our history or in the history of others.

[leftofthedial]

6. just like tennessee!

[mixedview]

8. Men have always been and always will be attracted to young women

even if they are under the (arbitrary) age of 18.

As long as the female is post-pubescent/reached sexual maturity/has developed secondary sex characteristics - it's not pedophilia - it's human nature.. a biological reality. These females are sexiest to men - even in our own culture - older women simply use makeup etc to mimick the appearance of the post-pubescent girl. It has nothing to do with advertising and everything to do with biology.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to discourage the practice for the good of the women. But it should not be criminal/rape as long as both parties are consenting. Make the age of consent 14, which is the age of high school freshman in this country.

[etherealtruth]

13. The point of this is that children (very often prepubescent) ....

Are being "married off" by their families, often as payment for debts or other economic gain.

Attraction doesn't really come in to play here.

I do understand the points you are making ... but in the situation in Afghanistan free will and the sexual maturity of the girl are not present.

[mixedview]

14. I agree. Forced marriage or forced anything

is a violation of human liberty.. "unalienable rights" which every human being is entitled to, regardless of culture or government.

[Nikia]

15. Another bad thing about them marrying so young

For them early marriage=early pregnancy. Having children in one's early teens is high risk compared to one's early 20s, especially if there is not the level of medical care that there is in the U.S. and other more modern areas. These girls also aren't as healthy to begin with as their American and European counterparts. As a result, a significant amount of these girls will die in child birth.