Child marriages in Ghana
It is unfortunate that child marriages are increasing at an alarming rate in Ghana.
Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, a former Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, has expressed worry over the high rate of child marriage in Ghana.
Addressing Journalists at Koforidua recently, Dr. Aidoo blamed the situation on “Ghana gender-based cultural practices, poverty, and traditions which placed low values on girl-child development and education.” The three-day Forum was organized by the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to end child marriage in Ghana.
In 2011, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), indicated that the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Regions recorded 36.6 percent 36.1 and 27.6 percentum of child marriages respectively.
According to the Survey, the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Central and Ashanti Regions recorded 29.5, 29.1, 30.5 and 31.5 percentum respectively in child marriage.
The Eastern, Western and the Greater Accra Regions also recorded 27.1, 36.7 and 12.0 percentages each. During the Forum, it came to light that 27 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 24, “were married or were in a union before age 20.” In the words of Dr. Aidoo, “the risk of death among child expectant mothers was five times higher than teenage and adult expectant mothers.”
The Catholic Standard is disappointed that child marriages were increasing in the country and this does not auger well for the growth and development of our future mothers. We therefore advise parents to take full responsibility for the education and development of their female children, bearing in mind that by encouraging girls to go into early marriages, their future would be stunted.
This Paper calls for an immediate stop to early marriages and encourage churches to join in the crusade to put a stop to this phenomenon. We believe that Religious and Moral Education (RME) in our schools, would go a long way in discouraging early child-marriages.
Parents, who out of poverty, force their girls into early marriages because of dowries, are reminded that they are destroying the future of their daughters.
We also call on The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to intensify its education especially in the areas where child marriages are rampant to save these innocent girls from being enslaved into early marriage.
Dr. Agnes Akosua Aidoo, a former Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, has expressed worry over the high rate of child marriage in Ghana.
Addressing Journalists at Koforidua recently, Dr. Aidoo blamed the situation on “Ghana gender-based cultural practices, poverty, and traditions which placed low values on girl-child development and education.” The three-day Forum was organized by the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to end child marriage in Ghana.
In 2011, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), indicated that the Upper East, Upper West and the Northern Regions recorded 36.6 percent 36.1 and 27.6 percentum of child marriages respectively.
According to the Survey, the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Central and Ashanti Regions recorded 29.5, 29.1, 30.5 and 31.5 percentum respectively in child marriage.
The Eastern, Western and the Greater Accra Regions also recorded 27.1, 36.7 and 12.0 percentages each. During the Forum, it came to light that 27 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 24, “were married or were in a union before age 20.” In the words of Dr. Aidoo, “the risk of death among child expectant mothers was five times higher than teenage and adult expectant mothers.”
The Catholic Standard is disappointed that child marriages were increasing in the country and this does not auger well for the growth and development of our future mothers. We therefore advise parents to take full responsibility for the education and development of their female children, bearing in mind that by encouraging girls to go into early marriages, their future would be stunted.
This Paper calls for an immediate stop to early marriages and encourage churches to join in the crusade to put a stop to this phenomenon. We believe that Religious and Moral Education (RME) in our schools, would go a long way in discouraging early child-marriages.
Parents, who out of poverty, force their girls into early marriages because of dowries, are reminded that they are destroying the future of their daughters.
We also call on The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to intensify its education especially in the areas where child marriages are rampant to save these innocent girls from being enslaved into early marriage.
