Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Occurrence and Links to Sexual Harrassment

This memorandum examines the occurrence of child marriage in Bangladesh and explores its link with sexual harassment. Bangladesh has one of the highest occurrences of child marriage in the world. This high rate of marriage of girls below the age of 18 is due to a variety of causes, including patriarchal social mores, parental desire to safeguard girls against premarital sex and out-of-wedlock pregnancies (and the associated social stigma associated with these), and poverty, linked with the perception of girls as an economic burden. In addition to these more widely known causes of early marriage, the widespread prevalence of severe and public sexual harassment in Bangladesh is gaining attention as an important, albeit lesser-studied cause of child marriage.

Topics

• Forced and early marriage
• Gender discrimination

Geographical location

• Asia
• Bangladesh

Keywords

• child marriage
• early marriage
• bangladesh
• south asia
• asia
• avon
• avon global center
• women and justice
• women's rights
• human rights
• divorce and dissolution of marriage
• Dowry-related violence

Year

• 2013

External URL

• Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Occurrence and Links to Sexual Harrassment

Type

• Memoranda