Md. Firoj Alam
WASH Officer, UNICEF Bangladesh
There are 33.9 million
adolescents, representing 30% of the total Bangladesh population[1].
It is a big challenge for the country to ensure adolescent development and
build them as agent of change to contribute for the country. Sex and gender
differences emerge most sharply with the onset of puberty, affecting the life
trajectories of girls and boys in profoundly different ways. History shows
that, adolescent girls and young women have less opportunity and fewer
resources than young men: less food, schooling and medical attention, less
access to paid employment and less free time, along with a strong possibility
to be married off before the age of eighteen. When puberty signals their
potential for motherhood, girls may have to drop out of schools to marry and
begin childbearing (USAID Youth Policy, 2012).
In Bangladesh, 62.8%
of women age 20-49 yrs. married before the age of 18 while 61.45% in Dhaka
division and 81.9 % in Jamalpur. A UNICEF study, “The State of the World’s Children
2011: Adolescents – An age of Opportunity (February, 2011)” indicates that in
adolescence, the generally-defined transition period between puberty and legal
adulthood (ages 10-19), female school drop-out rates are strongly related to
not allowing girls leave their home unaccompanied, being subject to sexual
harassment, physical and psychological violence (e.g. stalking) and child
marriage. In this patriarchal society, gender inequality is prevalent,
disparity in rights and responsibilities between boys and girls are enormous.[2]
The dropout rate for girls in secondary level is much higher than that of boys
which 16% and 10% respectively. Furthermore, adolescents with disabilities are
often subject to greater inequalities and less access to services than their
peers without disabilities; and for adolescent girls with disabilities this
discrimination is often exacerbated and the risks of sexual abuse heightened.
According to the International
Center for Research on Women (ICRW), 100 million girls will be married before
the age of 18 in the coming decade. Most will be in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asian Subcontinent (Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). In Niger, for example, 77% of women in
their early 20s were married as children. In Bangladesh, it is 65%. Child marriage also occurs in parts of the Middle East, including Yemen and the rural Maghreb.
Globally, according to UNICEF, 36%
of women aged 20-24 were married or in a union, forced or consensual, before
they'd reached 18. An estimated 14 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19
give birth each year. They are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or
childbirth as women in their 20s. Girls who marry between the ages of 10 and 14
are five times as likely to die during pregnancy6 or childbirth as women in
their early 20s.
The effect of the child marriage is enormous. I assume most of us
are aware of it. What is still unclear
is all of the causes that fosters the child marriage in Bangladesh. There are
some prominent causes recognized by all like poverty, lack of education, dowry,
religious inspiration, social insecurities etc. Again, there are some causes
which are really existing but not recognized in Bangladesh as a cause.
The
psycho-physical aspects like biological need, emotional aspects etc. falls in
this category. There are, also some causes which is neither recognized, nor
unrecognized but influences the issue silently. WASH is such an issue that has
a great impact on the child marriage in Bangladesh. Let me elaborate the issue
here under.
In Bangladesh, the rate of child marriage is higher among
the poorest section of the population. Insecurity is the cause of all causes
here. Insecurities appear to the poor people in many form. First they are
worried about the basic physical need like food, shelter, cloth treatment etc.
Secondly, they are similarly concerned about their dignity and respect in the
society. When, they are the parents of a girl-child their feeling of insecurity
increases in many folds. On the one hand there is a very less scope for income
generation for women in the country, on the other there is a fear to be abused
everywhere. The fear of abusing is very high and sensitive for the girls. And,
the lack of WASH facilities open another window of fear. Let me shade on this
point.
Due to the lack of toilets and bathing facilities women
choose to go out for defecation and bathing at night and often faces the rape,
abuse and sexual harassment. So far I know, no research has been conducted to
know exactly how many women and adolescent girls are sexually abused when they
go to respond the natural call or go outside of the house for having a bath.
The anecdotal evidences and reports of the newspapers give an indication that
the number is huge.
Recently a report from India published in a Bangla
newspaper has caught sight of my eyes. The report says that 32% women in West
Bengal are abused sexually when they go
out for defecation. Culturally and geographically West Bangal and Bangladesh
are not staying far. I assume, the similar situation is prevailing in
Bangladesh.
May be, the results are manifesting in different shape: a
huge incidents of child marriage in Bangladesh.
The incidents sexual harassments, abuse and rape are
really perilous when it happens to the girl child of any ages. On the one hand
it traumatizes the parents and the victim, on the other hand the fear of losing
social status grippes the both. The social and religious psychology of the
people of Bangladesh are to keep a girl protected from the touch of others, at
least up to the time of marriage.
The
WASH interventions can directly and indirectly contribute to prevent the child
marriage. As I mentioned earlier,
dignity to life, privacy and security are some of the prominent causes for
child marriage. And, WASH can play a good role to eliminate these causes.
WASH Interventions
should have to be taken in two levels, i,e, in community and schools. In community, priority should be
given to the families who are hardcore poor and having girls. For the school
level interventions the secondary schools should be targeted. Compared to the
primary schools, the WASH situation is worst in the secondary schools. As the students in the secondary school
belong to the age group 11-16, they need menstrual hygiene management facilities
in the schools/toilets. It is evident that the better coverage of WASH
facilities in the schools reduces the drop-out rate. It is also a fact that the
girls who continue their education have the less likelihood to get married
early.
Incidents of rape and abuse often occur when
the girls go out for defecation and bathing. It creates a feeling of insecurity
among the parents of the girl child in Bangladesh (anecdotal information). This
fear of insecurity compels parents; especially the poor parents to give marry
their girl child as soon as possible. The lack of toilets adjacent to the house
and distanced bathing place (pond/canal/ tube well) hinder the privacy of the
girls. It also affects their dignity to life and parents seek a solution of
that in a marriage. The arrangement of bathing space, toilet facilities and
water supply adjacent/attached to the house of the families, therefore will
have direct impact in reducing the child marriage.
