‘End child marriage to break cycle of poverty’

Ending child marriages in communities has been cited as a panacea for breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty in the country.
Girls who are educated become more informed and are able to participate more fully in society.

A sports broadcaster, Dr Kweku Ofosu Asare, said this at a forum organised by Time Masters Ghana (TMG) in collaboration with the Gender Development and Resource Centre (GDRSC) of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Accra.

He said empowered and educated girls were also able to nourish and care for their children, which lead to healthier and smaller families.
He, therefore, called for the need to intensify women empowerment to end child marriages in the country.
The forum, dubbed: “Popcorn conversation”, brought together human rights advocates, lecturers and experts on gender to discuss issues on ending child marriage.Women empowerment
Expressing keen interest in education, Dr Asare said when women were educated and empowered, it would go a long way to empower society in order to end some cultural practices including child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) among others.

Dr Asare explained that child marriage contributed to poverty due to inadequate resources to feed children which then continued the cycle of poverty.
“Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights. Many factors interact to place a girl at risk of marriage including poverty, high maternal mortality which must be seriously looked at before it gets worse,” he noted.
Dr Asare mentioned that girls who gets married early often abandon formal education and become pregnant, pointing out that it has a great negative impact on the country’s development.

Effect of child marriage
A Human Resource Lecturer at GIMPA, Dr Ama Morrison, indicated that Africa recorded 70 per cent of early child marriage according to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) 2016 report and, therefore, called on African leaders to come together to end child marriage.

Dr Morrison stressed that child marriage was widespread and could lead to a lifetime of disadvantage and deprivation of the country.
“Child marriage limits opportunities of their career and vocational advancement, as well as places girls at increased risk of domestic violence,” she said.