INDONESIA
The price paid by a child bride
“My age is 17 years old and I’m supposed to sit in Grade 2 in Junior High School. Unfortunately, I no longer attend school now.” The sadness and regret at not being able to go to school is evident from the words of Mawaddah, a Muslim girl belonging to the Madura tribe in Indonesia. Even at a young age, Mawaddah knew that she wanted to study to become a doctor.
She grew up in a remote village on Madura Island, East Java province. It is 35 kilometers away from the nearest city, travelling through rough and rugged roads. The nearest public health facility (Puskesmas) is around three kilometers away. “Although there are staff in Puskesmas, there are no doctors. There is no proper equipment to treat people who are ill,” she wrote.
The lack of medical facilities contributes to poor understanding of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Customary practices also undermine these rights. Young girls like Mawaddah receive no medical advice when they experience menstrual pain. Women give birth only with the assistance of a shaman[1].
Mawaddah was still in Junior High School when her mother betrothed her to a 16-year-old boy. She got married at the age of 15. “My mother said that our marriage was to maintain good relations between our families. I was not sad but I was not too happy. I could only let go, because it has already become a tradition to marry off children. Girls who are still unmarried at the age of 17 will be deemed not ‘sold,’ and their parents will be ashamed,” she wrote.
The prevalence of child marriage in Indonesia is among the highest. According to a 2015 study by UNICEF, one out of four Indonesian girls married before they were 18 years old. Child marriage is found to be 1.5 times higher in rural areas than in urban areas and twice more prevalent in low-income families. Girls marrying before the age of 18 are also six times less likely to complete their secondary education.
After getting married, Mawaddah and her husband stayed in her parents’ house. But the marriage was full of household strife. One day, her husband left without any explanation. “If anyone wants to marry you, accept,” he said, before leaving their home. The marriage lasted only 30 days.