Laiba Laraib
A girl learns to walk. Then to talk. Then to read a story. Then, too often, she learns to cook for a husband she did not choose, in a home she did not dream of.
Early child marriage is not a tradition. It is a quiet theft. It steals a girl’s morning before school. It steals her laughter with friends. It steals the small, ordinary freedom of growing up at her own pace.
Every year, around twelve million girls are married before they turn eighteen. That is one girl every three seconds. Some are as young as ten or eleven. They wear bangles and red veils, and the adults around them call it celebration. But inside, many of these girls are still children. They still want dolls. They still want to run barefoot in the rain.
So why does it happen? Poverty is one answer. In families struggling for food, a daughter’s marriage can feel like one less mouth to feed. Fear is another. Parents in some communities worry about safety, about “honor,” about a girl going unmarried. And sometimes, deep-rooted custom simply goes unchallenged because “that is how it has always been.”
But the consequences are not silent. A child bride often drops out of school. She becomes pregnant before her body is ready, leading to serious health risks. She is more likely to face violence at home. And she is far less likely to ever earn her own income or make her own choices. Her world, once full of possibility, becomes a single room.
Here is what we forget in all the statistics: these girls have names. They have favorite colors. They have secret hopes. One might have wanted to be a teacher. Another, a nurse. A third, simply to finish fifth grade. Child marriage does not just end a childhood. It ends a thousand possible futures.
But change is real. Across the world, communities are keeping girls in school. Laws are being strengthened. Grandmothers and fathers are speaking up and saying, “Let her wait. Let her learn.” Countries that invest in girls’ education see child marriage drop sharply. One extra year of primary school can reduce a girl’s risk of early marriage by six percent.
We all have a role. Talk about it. Don’t look away when a young girl is dressed as a bride. Support local teachers and health workers who protect at-risk girls. And remind everyone you meet: childhood is not a dress rehearsal. You only get one.
A girl is not a burden to be married off. She is a seed. Water her with schoolbooks, not wedding vows. Give her time. And watch what she becomes.
Let us be the ones who say, loud and clear: let her be a child first. Let her choose later. Let her live.
Leave a Reply