Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
The EditorsApril 06, 2016

For young girls in some societies, a wedding day is little more than a far-off celebration and a dream of a white dress. For young girls in other societies, it is a potentially traumatizing day that already has come and gone. Forced marriage of young girls is an ongoing challenge in many nations. The U.N. Population Fund estimates that more than 140 million girls under the age of 18 will become brides between 2011 and 2020, and more than a third of that group will be under the age of 15. Young women in poverty who lack an education are particularly vulnerable. Child brides are often at high risk of sexually transmitted diseases and sexual and domestic abuse and have little opportunity for education or vocational training. Across the globe, pregnancy remains among the leading causes of death for girls age 15 to 19.

The government of Nepal is working to change these statistics. The country recently hosted its first Girl Summit as part of its continued efforts to end child, early and forced marriage. The nation has managed to decrease the number of child marriages by 10 percent over the last decade (in 2013 the rate was 41 percent). Nepal has outlawed child marriage and hopes to end the practice by 2030. The Girl Summit reflected efforts by the government to broaden the reach of this message and sought to educate and empower young girls and boys to end the cultural acceptance of these practices. This multifaceted, widespread approach can serve as a good example for other nations working to end child marriage.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
William Rydberg
9 years 1 month ago
Dors anybody know the average life expectancy of these women and men?
Lisa Weber
9 years 1 month ago
I have to respect Nepal's effort to end child marriages. It is not a wealthy country but is still making an effort to do what is right.
Kari Pohl
9 years 1 month ago
Thank you for highlighting this crucial issue. I'm grateful that the government of Nepal is working to end the forced marriage of minors. Unfortunately, child marriage remains a reality in many other countries, including in the United States. Please consider reading this article that was published by the New York Times on October 14, 2015 regarding the phenomenon of child marriage in the United States and talk with your legislators about eliminating the legal exceptions and loopholes that allow minors to enter into the legal contract of marriage: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/opinion/americas-child-marriage-problem.html?_r=0 Thank you.

The latest from america

Our country is not only in a constitutional crisis; we are in a biblical crisis.
Terence SweeneyMay 21, 2025
A Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinMay 21, 2025
Pope Leo XIV meets with Vice President JD Vance after the formal inauguration of his pontificate at the Vatican on May 18. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo I helped to ensure that Catholicism would outlast the Roman Empire. His name is a reminder that our faith rises above contemporary politics and temporal authority.
The Gospel parable of the “wasteful sower” who casts seeds on fertile soil as well as on a rocky path “is an image of the way God loves us,” Pope Leo XIV told 40,000 visitors and pilgrims at his first weekly general audience.
Cindy Wooden May 21, 2025