A model of women’s educational factors related to delaying girls’ marriage (original) (raw)

How Much Education Is Needed to Delay Women's Age at Marriage and First Pregnancy?

Frontiers in Public Health, 2020

Background: Early childbirth is associated with adverse maternal and child health outcomes. In South Asia, where women generally marry before having children, public health efforts need to focus on delaying marriage. Female education is widely considered the primary means to achieve this. However, it remains unclear how much education is required to delay marriage to the universal minimum age of 18 years, or what predicts marriage age in women lacking any education. This is crucial to address in the Terai region of Nepal which has the highest proportion of children out of school and where girls marry and have their first pregnancy early. Methods: We analyzed data from 6,406 women aged 23-30 years from a cluster-randomized trial in lowland Terai Nepal. Using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, multivariable logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression models, we investigated associations between women's education level and age at marriage and first pregnancy, and the interval between these events. Among the uneducated women, we investigated associations of husband's education level with the same outcomes. Results: Compared to uneducated women, educated women had a greater probability of delaying marriage until the age of 18 years and of pregnancy until 20 years. Women needed to complete grade 9, and ideally 11, to substantially increase their odds of marrying after 18 years. Delaying first pregnancy to 20 years was largely due to marrying later; education had little extra effect. The association of marriage with first pregnancy age worked independently of education. However, later-marrying women, who generally had completed more education, had their first pregnancy sooner after marriage than earlier marrying women. Most uneducated women, regardless of their husbands' level of education, still married under the legal age of marriage. Conclusion: Delaying marriage to majority age requires greater efforts to ensure girls get to school in the first place, and complete secondary education. Since currently only 36% of girls in the Terai attend secondary school, parallel efforts to delay marriage are crucial to prevent early childbearing. Sexual and reproductive health programmes in school and in women's groups for married and uneducated adolescents may help prepare for marriage and pregnancy.

EARLY MARRIAGE AS A BARRIER TO GIRL'S EDUCATION: A Developmental Challenge in Africa

This paper explores the issue of early marriage in Africa. It sheds light specifically on reason behind its perpetuation, its harmful consequences, shows how it constitutes a barrier to education and enjoyment of girl's human rights and how it further threatens the development of countries. The findings from an extensive reading of materials related to early marriage suggest that early marriage is due to various factors including among others, the search for economic survival, protection of young girls, peer group and family pressure, controlling female behavior and sexuality, wars and civil conflicts and socio-cultural and religious values. It is a violation of girl's human rights as it deprives her from freedom, opportunity for personal development, and other rights. It also a developmental challenge for population pressure, health care costs and lost opportunities of human development. It is barrier to girl's education as young girls drop out from school to get married which impacts negatively on the community as whole and on the wellbeing of future generation. This practice stands in direct conflict with the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); such as the promotion of basic education, fight against poverty, the prevention of HIV/AIDS and reduction maternal mortality rate. To deal with the problem a number of strategies have been suggested mainly providing economic opportunities to young girls, promoting education of girls and using mass media to increase the awareness of the whole community about the consequences of early marriage on girls themselves, their family and on the community as a whole.

EFFECTS OF EARLY MARRIAGES ON GIRLS' EDUCATION

Global Journal of Management, Social Sciences and Humanities, 2020

This study was designed to investigate the effects of early marriages on girl's education. The core assumption of this study was that early marriage is one of the major socio-cultural customs that compelled early marriage of school-going girls. To study the effects of early marriage we collected data from 50 married girls, having age from 15 to 30 years. The results show that 94% of the respondents regretted over their early marriages, 92% said that they had negative effects on their lives due to early marriage, 92% of the school girls were married due to poverty, 24% of the school girls were married because they were pregnant. We recommend that the government should launch awareness campaign on media against early marriage and benefits of education.

Students and brides: a qualitative analysis of the relationship between girls’ education and early marriage in Ethiopia and India

2019

BackgroundEarly marriage (< 18 years) is associated with education cessation among girls. Little research has qualitatively assessed how girls build resiliency in affected contexts. This study examines these issues in Oromia, Ethiopia and Jharkhand, India among girls and their decision-makers exposed to early marriage prevention programs.MethodsQualitative interviews were conducted with girls who received the intervention programs and subsequently either a) married prior to age 18 or b) cancelled/postponed their proposed early marriage. Girls also selected up to three marital decision-makers for inclusion in the study. Participants (N = 207) were asked about the value and enablers of, and barriers to, girls’ education and the interplay of these themes with marriage, as part of a larger in-depth interview on early marriage. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using latent content analysis.ResultsParticipants recognized the benefits of girls’ education, including incre...

The effect of education on the timing of marriage in Kenya

Demographic Research, 2005

This paper investigates the effect of education on the timing of marriage among Kenyan women and the relative effects of education across generations of women. Data used is drawn from the 1998 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. The Cox proportional hazard model and linear regression analysis are used to analyse the data. The results show that education has a statistically significant and strong positive effect on a woman's age at first marriage; the effect remaining robust in the presence of a number of controls. The highly educated women are more likely to delay marriage. Significant variations in the effect of education across the generations of women are apparent. The effect is greater for the younger women, indicating increased postponement of marriage. Premarital sexual activity, premarital childbearing, region of residence, religion and year of birth are also significantly associated with age at first marriage.