Review of the Secret World of Child Brides

Sexism Around the World |

Too Young to Wed

|

The Secret World of Child Brides |

|

National Geographic, June 2011

Too Young to Wed, The Secret World of Child Brides

Written By: Cynthia Gorney

In the article Too Young to Wed, The Secret World of Child Brides the author examines the lives of young girls in India who were forced to marry at an early age, some as early as five years old. The author begins by talking of her witnessing a secret, illegal marriage ceremony where two sisters age 15 and 13 are about to married off to older men they have never met. The wedding will take place late at night on a quiet mountain where there is little risk of being discovered by the police. Almost as a quiet afterthought the family incorporates the wedding of the two brides’ five year old niece without announcing it to anyone before the ceremony. Although the grandfather had arranged this marriage in advance no one would risk putting the name of a five year old bride on a wedding invitation. The youngest girl, who has to be woken up for the ceremony, is married off to a boy of ten but she will remain living with her grandparents until she reaches puberty. The child is seemingly unaware and certainly unable to comprehend that her entire life has just been arranged for her by her grandfather. The other two young brides will be handed over to their new husbands, who are complete strangers to them, like cattle. The villagers would agree that the grandfather had done well by this five year old girl by making sure she would be placed with her aunt when the time came and by marking her as married he was protecting her from the possibility of being raped, since once her virginity was gone she would be damaged goods and no man would have her. The article describes the grandfather as a man who loves these girls and is truly doing what he feels is best for them based on their culture and tradition. He feels a need to protect these girls and the only way he knows how...