Monsoon child brides: The hidden cost of climate crisis in Pakistan

 

In Pakistan, the term “monsoon child brides” represents a socio-cultural crisis where traditions and growing economic desperation force young girls into early marriage, dramatically perpetuated by climate change. Since the last monsoon, reports indicate that nearly 45 underage girls have been married, from Dadu, Sindh Province of Pakistan in exchange for money (approximately 250,000 PKR / 897 USD per child bride), to survive the flooding resulting in food insecurity. Centuries-old socio-cultural traditions such as dowry customs, patriarchal expectations, and familial honor-related pressures drive child marriages in Sindh. Because older men are more likely to forgo accepting dowries from the younger bride’s family, alleviating financial constraints. Although patriarchy often views girls as burdens, in this case older men pay younger bride’s families providing financial safety net to the family.

Climate change makes this situation worse by making floods more intense, which destroys crops and livelihoods and increases food insecurity for farming communities. Families turn to early marriages in a desperate attempt to survive.

Sindh was heavily affected by the 2022 floodings affecting 9,957 acres of fertile land and most of the area has still not recovered. Flooding damages agricultural land, disrupts livelihoods, and forces families into desperation, where child marriage is seen as a way to reduce the number of dependents or secure financial relief.

UNICEF predicts that Pakistan’s extreme weather-related flooding will cause an 18% increase in child marriage rates, thus reversing five years of improvement. Although Pakistan has witnessed a decline in child marriages in recent years, severe climate change-driven flooding has affected this progress, as food insecurity among farmers exacerbates the crisis. The laws regarding child marriage in Pakistan are still not uniform. While the federal laws set the minimum marriage age at 16 for girls and 18 for boys, provincial Sindh’s law sets the age at 18 for both genders. Despite these legal structures, child marriage persists, because of ingrained cultural norms, insufficient local provincial and federal law enforcement compounded by the absence of accessible reporting mechanisms that hinder the protection of young girls.

It has been reported that underage girls are more prone to have difficult early or mistimed pregnancies and childbirth, which may dramatically increase maternal and infant mortality rates. Child marriage can result into intimate partner violence and sexual violence. Child brides also do not receive proper health care facilities or providers during prenatal checkups or delivery procedures. Since young brides are frequently cut off from their peers and denied education, child marriage can psychologically result in hopelessness, stress, and feelings of isolation. Being pushed into adulthood prematurely can cause trauma that can persist for a long time, creating an endless cycle of emotional suffering and poor mental health outcomes like anxiety, depression, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

It is pertinent that domestic governments and multilateral organizations must collaborate to invest cross-sectoral projects in accordance with SDG 3 (health) and SDG 5 (gender equality) indicators to ensure universal health coverage and education. It is crucial that development grants or funds for climate adaptation be set up expressly to address the intersection of child marriage and climate change. These funds can provide the resources for microfinancing of families, especially with girls so the families can afford to start a small-scale business or invest in their farming to avoid the economic and food insecurity. Multilateral organizations, domestic governments and local humanitarian NGOs can collaborate to build emergency shelters with targeted educational programs. Providing the necessary vocational training to young girls who can get employment to become economically independent may prove a pathway for girls empowerment at a younger age. Governments can set up community-based monitoring systems, by redefining and bolstering the role of community health workers and social workers in reporting child marriages. Organizing grassroots public awareness campaigns that challenge patriarchal norms and highlight the socio-economic and health advantages of postponing marriage may also be beneficial. Ending child marriage is crucial to achieving these global goals and ending gender-motivated crimes like monsoon child brides.

Acknowledgment: We wish to dedicate this correspondence to the recent Monsoon child brides, 14-year-old Shamila and 13-year-old Amina from Dadu, Sindh, Pakistan, and thousands of girls who are married off without their say in the most important decision of their lives.

 

About the authors:

Mehr Muhammad Adeel Riaz, a physician-academic from Pakistan, specializes in quantitative transdisciplinary research with a focus on climate change, mental health, and the rights of gender and sexual minorities. He is a recipient of the Donald J. Cohen Fellowship for his academic and policy contribution in child and adolescent mental health policy in Pakistan.

Dr. Mehrub Awan is a public health professional and gender justice activist with a strong interest in post-coloniality, gender, and sexuality.

Dr. Christina W. Hoven is a Professor and Child Psychiatric Epidemiologist at Columbia University-New York State Psychiatric Institute and Mailman School of Public Health. As Director of the Global Psychiatric Epidemiology Group (GPEG), her research takes a life-course perspective, focusing on risk for and persistence of psychopathology, including needs assessment and longitudinal sequelae of exposure to violence and disaster. Professor Hoven frequently speaks to the fact that globally, girls and women carry a disproportionate, often devastating burden of discrimination.

Competing interest: None

Handling Editor: Neha Faruqui

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