A new television series is in the process of being produced about child brides in Istanbul. The main character in this soap opera will be a 15 year old girl named Hayat, who is married to a 70 year old man. This series will be focused on the life Hayat is living in Anatolia and attempting to escape poverty while enduring the life of being married off. This storyline is very common for girls who live in Turkey, “with one out of every two women being married off as teenagers”. Child brides are a religious marriages that very acceptable in the Turkish society, for this is used to continue the practice of polygamy. Another reason many girls are married off at such a young age by the family to reduce the economic burden of the child's family. One of the most important aspects in child marriages are preserving the family honor by reducing sex before marriage or marrying the girls who have been raped to the rapist or other men. Though this practice has become controversial as it is seen on infringing on child rights, women's rights, and human rights. This series has hopes of giving a positive effect, raising awareness to the persisting issue of child brides.
It is necessary to address the issue of child brides for the rights of these young girls who are not given the opportunity to express given rights. The Commission on Equality of Opportunity for women and Men have stated because this practice restricts these girls rights, they suffer from domestic violence, infant mortality and gender inequality. Even though it has been discussed that arranging children to be brides when they are still minors is immoral, action has not taken place to prevent child brides. Every living being is protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Right, yet so many are still being denied those rights. It is crucial to demand that these rights are being fully expressed for every individual in order to obtain equality and the right for these child brides to chose the life they want to live.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/world/europe/turkish-television-takes-on-topic-of-child-brides.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=women
2 comments:
Girls get married off to a man that raped them?? This extremely immortal.It is unfortunate that young females have to go off and marry a man four times their age. Stories like these should help us women be more grateful of the country that we live in. Can you imagine having your childhood taken away from you and having to marry someone you did not love? The Declaration of Human Rights is extremely ineffective. To me, it's just a piece of paper.
Girls marrying their own rapist is ridiculous! Not only is this taking away their childhood but it's giving in to immortality. It's really strange how here in America, this would be considered child abuse and the men would be looked at as child pedophiles. Also the rapist would end up behind bars instead of in a marriage with their victim. This really makes you thankful that we do have ways to prevent this here.
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