Kelley Carter
2:15 pm
18 September 2009 m
The Yemen government has recently begun trying to limit the number of young girls getting married. However, it was not passed because many conservative parliamentarians claimed that it did not follow Shari, or Islamic law. Preventing young girls from marrying is important because it often pushes girls into younger pregnancies. The younger a girl is when she becomes pregnant the more risk for her and her baby’s life there is present. Nonetheless child brides are common in much of Yemen, especially in more tribal areas.
Many cultures have traditionally married young, usually young girls marrying older men. Even in America it was relatively common for women to marry before they were 18 in past centuries. However, with more medical knowledge and less need for child labor in the home the age of marriage has been on an increase. This is important because it allows women to be healthier through pregnancy, which means an increase in the number of children that survive. The article says that five times the number of girls under the age of 15 die in childbirth than women over the age of 20. There is clear evidence that young brides are in danger and this makes it a human rights issue because a culture is forcing many of its minors into a very dangerous situation. The country should be applauded for trying to pass legislation outlawing this, but when a culturally focused parliament is allowed to overturn fair legislation it is often an indicator of many democratic issues.
1 comment:
I think this is an excellent example of the tradition vs. human rights argument. In most cases I side with the human rights, and that is the case here. I don't think there is anything culturally devastating in letting girls mature a bit more before they wed, even if it's still arranged. The health of women is important in terms of the propagation of a culture and/or a people.
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