Marriage is most often viewed as a public display of the love between two people and their commitment to keeping that love alive. However, whether it be a result of societal norms, financial struggles, religious beliefs, or any of a slew of other factors, marriage in the name of love is a privilege that is not shared amongst the entirety of the human population. Child marriage—the marriage of people below the age of 18—affects 12 million young women globally, annually (Burgess, 2022). In Indonesia, as high as 16% of girls marry before the age of 18, and 2% before the age of 15 (Girls not Brides, 2020). Child marriage has devastating effects on the psyches of these young women as well as the communities in which they live, contributing massively to mental health struggles as well as the perpetuation of patriarchal political structures.
The integration of a multitude of factors is necessary to truly understand why child marriages occur, which makes them all the more difficult to reduce. Within Indonesia, gender inequality, religious ideals, and poverty play major roles in influencing heightened rates of child marriage. As a result of patriarchal structures, women tend to be viewed as less valuable than men in terms of career prospects. For young women living within families of this mindset, marriage and motherhood are prioritized over higher education. These girls feel pressure to marry as soon as possible so as to fulfill the role laid out for them since their birth. As for religious families and individuals, the pressure to avoid premarital sex can cause some girls to feel that they have to marry earlier, particularly in families with more strict beliefs. Even if a teenage girl were to have a partner and not engage in sexual activity with them, the social implication of what “dating someone” entails pushes girls to marry earlier. That being said, Indonesia is home to a wealth of religions and cultures. Certain religious groups have made moves fighting against child marriage, including the Islamic clerics that in 2017 issued a fatwa denouncing child marriage (BBC, 2017). Religion as a factor influencing child marriage is highly dependent on individual households and their interpretations of their religion. As for families and communities facing poverty, it simply makes sense to marry earlier so as to relieve financial burdens, especially if they are of the mindset that their daughters will not enter the workforce. These factors, along with many more, contribute to a society in which child marriage is acceptable and continues to occur.
While the Indonesian government has made attempts to reduce child marriage, such as the National Strategy on the Prevention of Child Marriage, religious courts remain able to legally give out permission to marry on a case-by-case basis. In 2018, President Jokowi vowed to end child marriages. Upon the implementation of his administration’s policies, the minimum age of marriage with parental consent was set at 19, and without parental consent at 21, for both boys and girls. The unfortunate and critical exception to this law is that religious courts continue to be able to hand out passes as marriage is viewed as a religious activity (Girls not Brides, 2020). This means that, in essence, there is no minimum age of marriage in Indonesia; families simply need to appeal to religious courts that will provide legal marriages. In addition, unofficial child marriages can occur via eloping or While rates of child marriage have declined in urban areas, rural communities continue to act with more traditional beliefs and face less scrutiny than those living in big cities. With this in mind, it becomes increasingly clear how poverty contributes to rates of child marriage, as poorer families are unable to move to urban areas in which the efforts of the Indonesian government are more strictly applied.
While the act of child marriage is often disspelled as an unfortunate experience for women who will not be able to marry of their own will, the effects of child marriage run far deeper than a life without the prospect of true love. According to data analysis performed by PLOS Global Public Health which cross-references studies taken between the years 2010 and 2020, girls married below the age of 18 are two times as likely than other girls to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) within their lifetime. One 2019 study in particular found that 18 out of 21 female American victims of child marriage reported that their partners had been sexually, emotionally, or physically abusive in some way, with 7 participants reporting instances of all three (Burgess, 2022). Additionally, the current leading cause of death in girls between the ages of 15 and 19 is pregnancy complications and unsafe abortions (World Health Organization, 2019). Not only that, but babies born to mothers below the age of 20 are 1.5 times more likely to die within the first 28 days (UNICEF, n.d.). A 2016 article posted by the International Alliance of Women also discusses that the median marriage age of lower classes is 15.4 years as opposed to the average of 19.7 of upper-class families, and it’s likely that the general poverty faced by child brides contributes greatly to higher rates of maternal/infant mortality, as they tend to lack access to proper healthcare (Manganara, 2016).
All of these factors (alongside many more) contribute to higher rates of depression, substance abuse, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts amongst child brides (Burgess, 2022). This is likely exacerbated by the fact that child brides are more susceptible to sexual harassment and abuse within the household. There are well-established, statistically significant connections between experiences of sexual abuse and “lifetime [diagnoses] of anxiety disorders, (…) depression, (…) eating disorders, (…) sleep disorders, (…) and suicide attempts” (Chen 24). Certain research conducted in Iran has found that child brides are as much as 2.77 times more likely to develop major depressive disorder than the general population (Burgess, 2022).
While child marriages do involve young males in certain cases, it is at a much lower rate and disproportionately impacts young girls and women. Men are oftentimes viewed as not worthy of marriage until they have found means to make a living and support a family, which contributes to even larger age gaps between child brides and their grooms. By stripping women of their autonomy and placing them in homes with much older husbands, child marriage perpetuates a patriarchal cycle in which women are reduced to accessories of men. Along with that, those who are victims of child marriage are 4 times less likely to complete secondary school (UNICEF, n.d.). Even ignoring the constant threat of IPV within the household, without a proper education these women have no choice but to rely entirely on their husbands. In rural communities, political sway is largely defined by the willingness of supporters of certain ideas to come together and publicly support them. If a bride’s view opposes that of her husband’s (or is a threat to the status of men in society in general), all of these factors prevent her from expressing these views. In a country where rural and local politics can play immense roles in larger elections, the marrying off and silencing of young women is a clear-cut tool of patriarchal systems to reduce political efficacy among women.
In a global context, Indonesia seems to be lucky in an odd way. Taking a look at American society, most people lack a true understanding of the relevance of child marriages. According to a survey performed by PLOS One, almost all of the participants (609) believed that child marriage was legal in five or fewer states, with 42.5% believing it was legal in zero. In actuality, child marriage is legal in 48 of the 50 states, and upwards of 300,000 child marriages took place between the years 2000 and 2018 (Reiss, 2021). In America, people are unaware that child marriage is happening because it is, for the most part, legal. Parents simply need to give consent, and young women are able to marry whomever they wish to. This is not the case in Indonesia—the law clearly restricts marriage to the age of 19 with parental permission or 21 without. This means that with proper enforcement of laws that are already in place, Indonesia can work towards abolishing child marriage completely. The solution to child marriage is hardly as simple as that, but it does provide Indonesia with a strong foundation to work off of.
Marriage is most often viewed as a public display of the love between two people and their commitment to keeping that love alive because that is what marriage should be. It should not be a financial transaction, and it should not be a way to keep women from establishing footholds within society. Recent trends have shown international declines in rates of child marriage, but certain countries still have rates of child marriage as high as 76%, with 30% of those marriages happening before the bride is 15 years of age (Dyvik, n.d.). Indonesia is approaching lower and lower rates of child marriage, but until that rate hits zero we must continue to advocate for the rights of these young women; the right to autonomy, the right to a healthy mind, and the unalienable right to love. (j)
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