Child Marriage - A Global Problem Long Ignored

Did you know that every day, 41,000 girls marry before they are 18 years old? That means 15 million girls are married before they turn 18 every year. In developing countries, 1 in 3 girls are married before they turn 18; 700 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. Child marriage threatens the health and education of every girl. As you can see on the map, child marriage is indeed a global problem.

Child marriage reduces the probability that girls will complete their secondary education. Educated girls typically marry later, when they are more capable to care for their children. We need a world without child marriage where girls are empowered with education.

To illustrate how close to home child marriage hits, I recently learnt that my great grandmother was married at 13, and bore her first child at 15.

Many charities are working across the globe to address this long-ignored problem. The site girlsnotbrides.org impressed me. Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 900 organizations committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential. Let us join them to help educate girls and their communities. Please consider donating and supporting the cause by going here https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/take-action. Proceeds from January to March 2018 sales will go there as well. So, you can also shop at my store to support the cause. If you have any thoughts on under age girl marriage and how to stop them, I would love to hear from you.