Ending Child Marriage

Child marriages are widespread throughout Bangladesh. To change this, Women's Hope International has been working with our partner organisation LAMB in the north of the country, in the subdistrict of Parbatipur, since July 2018.

Girls get to decide if, when and whom they marry. Married girls lead healthy, empowered and self-determined lives.

Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child marriages in the world. Despite a legal ban, two out of three girls are married before they are 18 years old. 51% of girls are married off under the age of 18, 15% at younger than 15. Girls from poor backgrounds are particularly affected. Extreme poverty is one of many causes of child marriages. The great inequality between men and women and the associated low social position of girls in society also play a role. For the girls affected, forced marriage usually also means the end of school education. They often become pregnant at an early age and are exposed to greater risks during pregnancy and childbirth due to their young age.
Violence within marriage is widespread and is considered normal and accepted by large sections of society. According to surveys by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), 73% of married women in Bangladesh experience violence at the hands of their partner.

The programme in Bangladesh works on different levels. In order for child marriages in Bangladesh to finally be a thing of the past, a social change has to happen. Since January 2023, the new project phase has been running with the aim of creating an environment for girls and women that free of violence. To this end, at the request of the girls and women, boys and men will now also be more closely involved in the project, as they play a central role in combating child marriages and gender-based violence. Our project in Bangladesh is carrying out the following activities:

The project invests in young girls and women. Child brides usually have to drop out of school and become young mothers. In teenage pregnancies, birth injuries are more common and the risk of dying in childbirth increases. Men need to be made aware of issues such as sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence at a young age. This is the only way to break harmful behavioral norms and pave the way for a more equal society.

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