Cortez

Cortez, Angel
English 113b
Feb 8, 2015
Professor Bieber
Child Marriage in Tanzania
Imagine if your sister, daughter, or your mom is being sold at the age of 14. Well you
dont have to imagine it because it is happening in Tanzania today. In Tanzania these girls, at the
age of 14, is enduring physical, mental, and emotional abuse by their husbands. Ceasing child
marriage in Tanzania will help stop abuse and violence these poor girls go through. Child
marriage is a person under the age of eighteen is married to older guy. In Tanzania a fourteenyear-old child can be married off with a parent constant.
Often these girls are being married off because simply their family needs the money. Poor
families are more likely to sell their daughters. The amount of money or cattle can get their
family out of poverty. Men are selling their daughters to get out of debt. This money can also go
to the sons of the father to send the sons to school. According to the education level of the girl
will determine the value shes worth. Women that are older will receive a low dowry and a young
girl will receive a large dowry. In the article Keeping All Girls in School is One Way to Curb
Marriage in Tanzania Agnes Odhiambo states that Matilda which is 14 is forced to marry a man
that already had one wife. Matilda family received a dowry of four cows and 700,000 Tanzanian
Shillings (about 435 dollars). She was attending school but stop going due to her marriage
arrangements. Matilda said her mother tried to seek help but others in the village supported the
fathers decision to get her married off. The fact that your own mom cannot help you in these
situations is terrifying. Your mother and father are supposed to protect you in any type of

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situation. The mothers are scared of the fathers, so the father makes all the decisions in the
house.
Marriage usually ends a girls education in Tanzania. Married or pregnant pupils are
routinely expelled or excluded from school (Odhiambo). Salia J., a 19-year-old girl, was
expelled from school because she was pregnant. Soon after the teacher had found out Salia was
pregnant she called her in the office and was told she needed to leave the school immediately.
You can see how hard it is to going through child marriage in Tanzania. The schools dont want
anything to do with you if you are pregnant. Attending to a secondary school is also tough
because if you fail the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) once there are no way you
can retake it. Now you cannot go to school. What is there to do now? Salia J. was married at 15
after failing PSLE. The other option she had was go to a private secondary school but her parents
could not afford it. According to a survey carried out by Tanzanias Ministry of Education, more
than 16,000 girls dropped out of school from 2008 to 2010 due to pregnancy. The high amount of
teenage girls dropping out should open your eyes and we need to help end it all.
The Tanzanian government should put a stop to all forced child marriage. They need to
come up with a program to help the poor. Help families with money, food, and shelter. Help
families get education. Tanzanian Government needs to get a welfare program, just like the
United States. It starts with helping the people. First, we get families on their feet. Just with
enough supplies need. Get them the supplies that are need for everyday living. A program similar
would change this country forever. They also need to change the legal age from 14 to 18 years
old. We need to get Tanzanian government to back us up, if not this is a lost cause that will keep
getting out of hand. Tanzanian government needs to step first and make a move. This will be the
best way to stop child marriage in Tanzania. The longer Tanzanian government allows this the

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worst it will get.

Womens rights groups said there a strong correlation between child marriage, school
dropout rates, early pregnancy and HIV/AIDS and it is estimated that between 20 and 40 percent
of Tanzania girls marry before adulthood. With help of the government we can tackle this
problem, but have to encourage parents to stop forcing their daughters to marry underage. The
pain you go through just so your family can have two or three more cows. Maybe the 300 extra
dollars will accommodate the price of your life. The weight has to be lifted off these girls
shoulders. Women need a voice in Tanzania. We need to help them find their voice that the have,
and they want to use it so bad. Educating the mothers is one important step but the father rules
all. The father needs to be educated on what he is really doing to his daughters. The Suffering
youre putting on your own daughter, will make her insane.
The problem with stopping all child marriages may hurt a lot of families. The stoppage of
child marriages can ruin a lot of families lives, by not letting them get money. Some women also
think its okay because it helping their family. Wouldnt you do anything in your power to help
your family that is in trouble? Well some girls are sold in this fashion but just to help. The money
that is in place with the arranged child marriage will change a familys life. These girls are the
helping hand in the family. If you have the chance to see your family in good sprits, eating well,
and not struggling as bad, you would want to get married off too. Often times no money is
exchange and the daughter is just being taken away because of a debt the father could not pay
for. Many of these women that are being married off are often in very bad shape.
The village is one sided toward the male. All community, government, and police forces
are leaned towards the husbands side. The man of the house is always right. With this rules in
place its acts like a barrier to the guys. The women are heavily abused. The fifteen-year-old girl

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that is pregnant, in a lot of pain but her husband doesnt believe her. Day and night in pain will
kill you. If you do not listen to your husband you will get hit. If you go tell then you are like
telling on yourself. Often these girls are put in prostitution, to make money on the side for her
husband.
Tanzania government needs to demand on ceasing ongoing battle with child marriage.
This will help the children not to go through the physical, emotional, and mental abuse by their
husbands. These girls need to be put in schools, to help educate them. The girls can marry whom
they would like to, without backlash for it. If Tanzania government would help educate its
population like United States then families will not have to sell their daughters to meet ends.
They men and women need to be treated as equals here in Tanzania.

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Work Cited
Keeping All Girls In School Is One Way to Curb Child Marriage in Tanzania. Africa News
Service 30 Oct. 2014. General OneFile. Web. 3 Feb. 2015.
"Government Hopes New Tanzanian Constitution Bans Child Marriage." Africa News Service 14
Oct. 2013. General OneFile. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
"Factbox - Facts and Figures On Child Marriage in Tanzania." Africa News Service 12 June
2013. General OneFile. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
"Tanzania: Child Marriage Harms Girls." Targeted News ServiceOct 29 2014. ProQuest. Web. 19
Feb. 2015 .