Understanding Child Marriage: Gendered Constraints and Alternatives

 
 
Overview
 
1.
AISSR ‘Her Choice’ research programme: intro and set up
2.
Overview of articles in Special Issue & key arguments
3.
Thinking about implications
 
 
2
 
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Difference in Difference design
:
‘’Treatment’’  and ‘’comparison’’  locations
Three phases: 
Baseline, Midline, Endline
 
Mixed-methods
: Quantitative and qualitive data collection tools
 
Collect data to:
Measure 
39 programme indicators 
in all 10 countries
Support, 
validate, inform, explain indicators
 
Generated questions 
regarding notion of 'choice' in contexts characterised by
fewer opportunities & where choice might be (even) less an individual matter
 
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Governing choice and child marriage: Young women, marriage and
development aid 
programes
, 
Progress in Development Studies
Guest editors: Esther Miedema, Winny Koster and Nicky Pouw
 
Growing investment in early marriage              issue meriting attention
What drives decisions, and is a focus on women’s individual choice  as
indicative of feminist gains (always) useful?
Who is served by focus on women’s ‘empowerment’ as typically
conceived? Women?
 
Purpose of SI: to contribute to debates on CM by offering emic understanding
of decision-making processes and choices of various sets of actors.
 
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Different affiliations & different research designs, most within larger intervention
programmes
Research conducted in settings with high prevalence rates in SSA, South (East) Asia
 
Reasons for marriage:
o
Free choice? (Saul et al.): In contexts where 
emphasis is placed on girls’ obedience,
parental and community approval, and  there are limited economic opportunities,
particularly for women, what does it means to have a ‘choice?’
o
Complexity (Jones et al.): interplay of social norms, economic factors, and young
women’s capacity to exercise choice, and variation that exists depending on
individual, family, and community characteristics
o
Traditional or modern (Hori)?: Marriage as resolving contemporary ‘problem’ of
unplanned out-of-wedlock pregnancy and as response to current precarities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I
m
p
l
i
c
a
t
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o
When we draw on understanding of CM as primarily indicative of lack
of education, individual rights, ‘harmful traditions,’ and women (in the
Global South) as victims, tendency to fall back on ‘awareness raising’
(Van Raemdonck & De Regt; Miedema et al.)
o
Need for dialogue and space for women and men’s own
perspectives,  and parking assumption that CM is always and
unvaryingly harmful (Van Raemdonck & De Regt; Miedema et al.)
 
o
Given constraints and possibilities of particular socio-economic
contexts and existing (gender) orders, what functions does child
marriage serve?
 
I
n
 
c
l
o
s
i
n
g
 
o
Exclusive focus on negative outcomes of child marriage, and 'empowering' girls
and 'combatting' CM as counterproductive. Such a focus may mean that:
more child marriages go underground;
positive outcomes of child marriage are overlooked, such as (short-term)
social, physical, and economic security;
complex structural processes and drivers of child marriage are insufficiently
addressed in programs; and
too little is done to identify alternative arrangements that could generate the
kinds of securities families and girls may seek, while mitigating the negative
(longer-term) consequences
 
 
Q
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What kinds of alternative arrangements could be identified that could
generate the securities families and girls may seek when deciding on an early
marriage (while mitigating the negative (longer-term) consequences)?
What role can we play in addressing complex structural processes and drivers
of child marriage? What is within our scope, and what can we do (and which
alliances are needed) in relation to underlying structures?
How do we tackle the gendered dimensions of structural constraints and
barriers?
 
 
 
9
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This research explores the structural drivers of child marriage and examines the gendered constraints faced by young women and families. It delves into the decision-making processes and choices of various actors related to early marriage, offering insights into the complexities of societal norms, economic factors, and individual agency. The study aims to contribute to debates on child marriage by providing an emic understanding of the issue.


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  1. Child marriage, structural drivers and alternatives: Attending to gendered constraints and structures encountered by young women and families Esther Miedema, Winny Koster & Nicky Pouw, GID

  2. Overview 1. AISSR Her Choice research programme: intro and set up 2. Overview of articles in Special Issue & key arguments 3. Thinking about implications 2

  3. HC impact evaluation study - design Difference in Difference design: Treatment and comparison locations Three phases: Baseline, Midline, Endline Mixed-methods: Quantitative and qualitive data collection tools Collect data to: Measure 39 programme indicators in all 10 countries Support, validate, inform, explain indicators Generated questions regarding notion of 'choice' in contexts characterised by fewer opportunities & where choice might be (even) less an individual matter

  4. Special issue: background & rationale Governing choice and child marriage: Young women, marriage and development aid programes, Progress in Development Studies Guest editors: Esther Miedema, Winny Koster and Nicky Pouw Growing investment in early marriage issue meriting attention What drives decisions, and is a focus on women s individual choice as indicative of feminist gains (always) useful? Who is served by focus on women s empowerment as typically conceived? Women? Purpose of SI: to contribute to debates on CM by offering emic understanding of decision-making processes and choices of various sets of actors.

  5. Special Issue: intro & findings Different affiliations & different research designs, most within larger intervention programmes Research conducted in settings with high prevalence rates in SSA, South (East) Asia Reasons for marriage: o Free choice? (Saul et al.): In contexts where emphasis is placed on girls obedience, parental and community approval, and there are limited economic opportunities, particularly for women, what does it means to have a choice? o Complexity (Jones et al.): interplay of social norms, economic factors, and young women s capacity to exercise choice, and variation that exists depending on individual, family, and community characteristics o Traditional or modern (Hori)?: Marriage as resolving contemporary problem of unplanned out-of-wedlock pregnancy and as response to current precarities.

  6. Implications o When we draw on understanding of CM as primarily indicative of lack of education, individual rights, harmful traditions, and women (in the Global South) as victims, tendency to fall back on awareness raising (Van Raemdonck& De Regt; Miedema et al.) o Need for dialogue and space for women and men s own perspectives, and parking assumption that CM is always and unvaryingly harmful (Van Raemdonck& De Regt; Miedema et al.) o Given constraints and possibilities of particular socio-economic contexts and existing (gender) orders, what functions does child marriage serve?

  7. In closing o Exclusive focus on negative outcomes of child marriage, and 'empowering' girls and 'combatting'CM as counterproductive. Such a focus may mean that: more child marriages gounderground; positive outcomes of child marriage are overlooked, such as (short-term) social, physical, and economic security; complex structural processes and drivers of child marriage are insufficiently addressed in programs; and too little is done to identify alternative arrangements that could generate the kinds of securities families and girls may seek, while mitigating the negative (longer-term) consequences

  8. Questions to explore What kinds of alternative arrangements could be identified that could generate the securities families and girls may seek when deciding on an early marriage (while mitigating the negative (longer-term) consequences)? What role can we play in addressing complex structural processes and drivers of child marriage? What is within our scope, and what can we do (and which alliances are needed) in relation to underlying structures? How do we tackle the gendered dimensions of structural constraints and barriers?

  9. 9

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