�鶹APP

Jo Griffin is a freelance journalist for the Guardian, Observer, BBC and Al-Jazeera. She has also worked as a journalist in Mexico, Central America and Brazil.

A lack of job opportunities, teenage pregnancy and violence at home push girls in Brazil to marry older husbands, according to research.

The  lifts the lid on child marriage in the country that ranks fourth in global numbers for the practice but where it is rarely tackled or discussed.

�鶹APP�Child marriage is widely accepted in Brazil,�鶹APP� said Alice Taylor, lead author of the report that is the first study of the practice in a society where, unlike in other child marriage �鶹APP�hotspots�鶹APP� such as Asia or Africa, girls are not forced to marry.

The report �鶹APP� titled She Goes with Me in My Boat �鶹APP� also takes the first close look at the intersection of child marriage and education.

�鶹APP�In Brazil, there is a type of �鶹APP�agency�鶹APP� in the marriages of girls,�鶹APP� said Taylor, in a phone interview. �鶹APP�They are not forced into marriages in the same way [as in other regions]. There is the agency of girls who want to leave behind the family home and become more independent. Then, there is disappointment.�鶹APP�

In Brazil, marrying as an adolescent increases the risk of a girl experiencing domestic violence and leaving education, with girls either leaving school after they marry or marrying after dropping out of school.

According to , in 2010, just over 88,000 girls and boys (aged 10-14) were in unions categorised as consensual, civil or religious.

Around 877,000 women between 20-24 reported having been married by age 15, which would make Brazil fourth in the world in terms of numbers of girls who are married or co-habiting by age 15.

The law permits Brazilians to marry at 16 if their parents agree and earlier in the case of pregnancy.

Researchers from , and the University of Pará interviewed married girls �鶹APP� and men �鶹APP� in the states where rates are highest �鶹APP� Para, in the north, and Maranhao, in the Northeast, to build a picture of what drives girls into marriage �鶹APP� and what are its consequences.

Source:

They found that in Brazil unions involving girls under 18 have several distinct characteristics

• They are informal and consensual in nature
• Girls usually marry in their early teens rather than as young as at 10 or 12
• Age gaps tend to be smaller, with the husband typically nine years older
• Girls may choose to marry because they believe marriage offers security

Her family may pressure a girl into marriage if she is pregnant and early marriage exacerbates the risk of teenage pregnancy.

complications in pregnancy and childbirth are the second highest cause of death for 15-19-year-old girls globally.

Many girls interviewed for the report expressed disappointment that marriage had curtailed their freedom, and conveyed a sense of �鶹APP�captivity�鶹APP�, as well as regrets at having left education.

For one girl in Belém, who had married her 21-year-old partner at 15 after falling pregnant, marriage meant isolation. She said: �鶹APP�Are married women really meant to stay at home all day staring at the walls?�鶹APP�

Another girl aged 15 said: �鶹APP�If I wasn�鶹APP�t married, I�鶹APP�d be in school. Life would be much better �鶹APP� In that sense, not having a husband, not having married, not getting pregnant, I think my life would be a little easier, much better �鶹APP� I should have taken more advantage of my life.�鶹APP�

A body of research has shown earlier that in Brazil the main reason for interrupting studies is pregnancy or children, and that early pregnancy and marriage lead to poor educational outcomes.

In many areas of Brazil, rural and urban, educational provision is so poor that it leads to low expectations of girls getting a good education, and offers girls little motivation to stay in school.

Marriage to an older man may even be seen as an alternative education �鶹APP� a type of training for life.

Source:

Taylor said: �鶹APP�There is also an element whereby marriage is seen as a form of substitute education �鶹APP� that the girls will learn from their husbands; how to cook or run a house, for example. Marriage is equated with education.�鶹APP�

Luca Sinesi, programme director of Plan International Brazil, said from Maranhao: �鶹APP�We need to shows girls and boys marriage is a possibility but it is not the only one �鶹APP� if we had more opportunities for education, for learning, there would be fewer marriages in adolescence because girls would understand clearly what marriage is. Lack of information is often the reason for a wrong choice.�鶹APP�

Since it was published in July, the report has prompted fresh debate in Brazil about its National Education Plan, (PNE) which bans discussion at school of sexuality and the inequitable gender norms that underpin child marriage.

Proposals to bring these topics into the classroom have met resistance from religious groups and politicians. �鶹APP�Prohibiting these discussions doesn�鶹APP�t just harm people, it limits their possibilities,�鶹APP� said Sinesi.

Taylor added: �鶹APP�Until we can talk about gender norms and sexuality in the classroom [in Brazil], we will never be able to address child marriage.�鶹APP�

These norms include the pervasive objectivising of adolescent girls and assuming control of their sexuality, said Sinasi, adding that teenage girls�鶹APP� bodies are objectified in music and the media across all social classes.

There is a notion that men are owners of young girls and the expectation that girls are ready for sexual relationships as soon as they enter puberty.

Linked to this, he said, are high rates of sexual violence against girls and women in Brazil; the recorded 42,000 cases of rape in 2014, conceding that the true figure was likely to be 10 times higher. addresses sexual violence.

In addition, Promundo and Plan focus on teaching girls and boys about gender equality and running workshops with men that tackle the question, as Taylor puts it�鶹APP� �鶹APP�Why do you want to marry a young girl?�鶹APP�

A found that 700 million women today were married before their 18th birthday, and that progress on reducing child marriage is not happening fast enough. Ending child marriage is one of the new global .

Until recently, child marriage in Latin America has been overlooked. For those working to reduce it in Brazil, said Sinesi, a first step is for society to �鶹APP�stop closing its eyes�鶹APP� to an issue that has become normalised.