Children

Child Brides

Early Marriages in Middle East and North Africa. Initiative on VAW, Carr Center, Harvard Kennedy School; Working Paper.Abstract

"Child marriage remains a widely ignored violation of the health and development rights of girls and young women” (IPPF, 2006). Many reasons are given by parents and guardians to justify child marriage.  Economic reasons often underpin these decisions which are directly linked to poverty and the lack of economic opportunities for girls in rural areas. Girls are either seen as an economic burden or valued as capital for their exchange value in terms of goods, money or livestock. A combination of cultural, traditional, and religious arguments are examples utilized to justify child marriage. The fear and stigma attached to premarital sex and bearing children outside marriage, and the associated family “honor,” are often seen as valid reasons for the actions that families take. Finally, many parents tend to curtail the education of their girls and marry them off, due to fear of the high level of sexual violence and abuse encountered en route to, and even at, school.

Wodon Q, Male C, Nayihouba A, Onagoruwa A, Savadogo A, Yedan A, Edmeades J, Kes A, John N, Murithi L, et al. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Global Synthesis Brief. The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

 

The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage project is a collaborative effort by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and additional support from the Global Partnership for Education.

 

Wodon Q, Savadogo A, Kes A. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Work, Earnings and Household Welfare Brief. The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

The brief summarizes results from an analysis of the impacts of child marriage on women’s work (specifically, labor force participation and type of work held), earnings and productivity and household welfare. It also estimates selected economic costs of these impacts.

 

Wodon Q, Male C, Onagoruwa A, Savadogo A, John N, Petroni S. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Women's Health Brief. The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

This brief summarizes results from an analysis of the impacts of child marriage on a few selected health outcomes, specifically early childbirths, maternal mortality and intimate partner violence. It does not include analyses for other aspects of women’s health that are likely to be affected by child marriage to various extents, such as maternal morbidity, obstetric fistula, female genital mutilation/cutting, sexually-transmitted infections (including HIV and AIDS) and psychological well-being.

Savadogo A, Onagoruwa N, Wodon Q. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Women's Decision Making & Selected Other Impacts Brief. The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

 

This brief summarizes results from an analysis on the impacts of child marriage on women’s decision-making ability within the household, land ownership, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and birth registrations. While these topics are all related to agency, it should be emphasized that they do not together provide a comprehensive measure of agency, which is beyond the scope of this study.

 

Wodon Q, Onagoruwa A, Yedan A, Edmeades J. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Fertility and Population Growth Brief. The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

 

In this brief, we summarize results from an analysis of the impacts of child marriage on fertility and population growth and estimate the economic costs of these impacts.

 

Wodon Q, Nguyen MC, Yedan A, Edmeades J. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Educational Attainment Brief. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

 

In this brief, we summarize results from an analysis of the impacts of child marriage on educational attainment for girls and their children and document the extent to which keeping girls in school could help end child marriage.

 

Onagoruwa A, John N, Wodon Q. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Child Health and Nutrition Brief. The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

This brief summarizes results from an analysis of the impacts of child marriage on two health outcomes - under-five mortality and stunting - for young children. For the purposes of this brief, we focus on the impact of child marriage through early childbirths, as this is the mechanism through which child health and nutrition outcomes are most directly affected. There is a close correlation between child marriage and early childbirths in most countries - at a global level, six out of seven early childbirths take place within the context of child marriage. The brief does not include analyses for other aspects of child health that may also be affected by child marriage, nor does it consider costs that may be incurred by health systems as a result of poor child health.

Wodon Q, Male C, Nayihouba A, Onagoruwa A, Savadogo A, Yedan A, Edmeades J, Kes A, John N, Murithi L, et al. Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: Global Synthesis Report, in The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage. International Center for Research on Women ; 2017. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.costsofchildmarriage.org/publication/economic-impacts-child-m...(Costs_of_Child_Marriage_Products7_6_2017)&mc_cid=4f5de93c86&mc_eid=43d63cddf5

 

The international community is increasingly aware of the negative impacts of child marriage on a wide range of development outcomes. Ending child marriage is now part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet investments to end the practice remain limited across the globe and more could be done. In order to inspire greater commitments towards ending child marriage, this study demonstrates the negative impacts of the practice and their associated economic costs. The study looks at five domains of impacts: (i) fertility and population growth; (ii) health, nutrition, and violence; (iii) educational attainment and learning; (iv) labor force participation and earnings; and (v) participation, decision-making, and investments. Economic costs associated with the impacts are estimated for several of the impacts. When taken together across countries, the costs of child marriage are very high. They suggest that investing to end child marriage is not only the right thing to do, but also makes sense economically. 

 

Adams AE, Greeson MR, Bybee DI, Beeble M, Sullivan CM, Kennedy AC. Beyond deficits: intimate partner violence, maternal parenting, and child behavior over time. American Journal of Community Psychology. 2014;54 (1-2) :46-58. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24777256

*The full article is available through this link. This article may be available free of charge to those with university credentials.

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has negative consequences for children's well-being and behavior. Much of the research on parenting in the context of IPV has focused on whether and how IPV victimization may negatively shape maternal parenting, and how parenting may in turn negatively influence child behavior, resulting in a deficit model of mothering in the context of IPV. However, extant research has yet to untangle the interrelationships among the constructs and test whether the negative effects of IPV on child behavior are indeed attributable to IPV affecting mothers' parenting. The current study employed path analysis to examine the relationships among IPV, mothers' parenting practices, and their children's externalizing behaviors over three waves of data collection among a sample of 160 women with physically abusive partners. Findings indicate that women who reported higher levels of IPV also reported higher levels of behavior problems in their children at the next time point. When parenting practices were examined individually as mediators of the relationship between IPV and child behavior over time, one type of parenting was significant, such that higher IPV led to higher authoritative parenting and lower child behavior problems [corrected]. On the other hand, there was no evidence that higher levels of IPV contributed to more child behavior problems due to maternal parenting. Instead, IPV had a significant cumulative indirect effect on child behavior via the stability of both IPV and behavior over time. Implications for promoting women's and children's well-being in the context of IPV are discussed.

More Than Bruises Are Left Behind. Matla A Bana. 2014. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://matlaabana.co.za/our-projects.php

SECONDARY GOAL

To minimise the secondary abuse children suffer when they report abuse against them. This abuse is often worse than the primary abuse, due to a very unsympathetic reporting system. 

PRIMARY GOALS

“Getting conversation going”

To prevent more child abuse from happening by securing more reporting. To mobilise communities to start speaking about child abuse.

To educate communities on what child abuse is, signs and symptoms and how to report it.

To  educate the public and children on reporting, highlight myths and facts of child abuse and to mobilise the community to start reporting.

Eslick N. Violence against Women in Australia and The National Action Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, in Initiative on VAW, Research Briefing. Carr Center for Human Rights, Harvard Kennedy School of Government ; 2014.Abstract

Violence against Women (VAW) is a pervasive, global human rights violation. This research memo discusses the current state of VAW in Australia, and the Australian Governments proposed National Action Plan (NAP) addressing VAW across Australia’s diverse community. Noting that women’s rights are not fully protected by the Commonwealth and revealing the current appalling statistics around domestic and sexual violence against Australian women, the memo then provides insight on Indigenous women and VAW, followed by a deeper look at NAP. Finally, after a brief look at the recent study tour of Australia by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Australia’s commitment to addressing VAW is discussed with reference to reporting for CEDAW and UPR. The memo then considers the Special Rapporteur’s study tour in light of the election of a new federal government. It then concludes that if the state shows genuine commitment to its people, and to its obligations under human rights treaties, the onus ultimately rests on it to work with civil society to make use of the human rights mechanisms and seek to honestly and with purpose examine their human rights status and develop and adopt sustainable positive change. 

Romano M. Kiribati Islands. A Situation Analysis of Children, Women and Youth. UNICEF; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Most of the issues affecting children, youth and women can be effectively addressed through the Government’s commitment to the obligations of international conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Government should provide resources to the Kiribati National Advisory Committee on Children (KNACC) and also put in place effective advocacy structures to ensure children and women’s issues are known and mainstreamed into the national development agenda. 

Tam J. Domestic violence categories under fire. South China Morning Post. 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1292868/domestic-violence-cat...

The police system for classifying domestic violence cases may be abetting family tragedies rather than preventing them, a women's group says. Association for the Survivors of Women Abuse said yesterday the police categories of "domestic violence" - which warrants urgent follow-up - and "domestic incident" - which doesn't - meant many marginal cases were being ignored.

Pages