The Journal of Adolescent Health (JAH) with GreeneWorks and partners launched a research volume highlighting the manifestations of child, early, forced marriage globally.
Shared Roots, Different Branches invites activists, practitioners, researchers to reframe child marriage, reconsider what it’ll take to end the harmful practice, and reinforce girls’ and boys’ rights worldwide.
An advocacy summary explores how: parental and community influence, vague laws, and unintended pregnancy can push girls (and sometimes boys) into early marriage; factors shape girls’ experiences within marriage; and address the root cause of child marriage: patriarchal control of girls’ sexuality.
In Mapping the Field of Child Marriage: Evidence, Gaps and Future Directions from a Large-scale Systematic Scoping Review, 2000-2019, Manahil Siddiqi and Margaret E. Greene show that child marriage has received more attention in recent years. Yet important gaps remain. In some places, the practice is underexplored. Greater focus on interventions to prevent child marriage and respond to those married as children are needed. Finally, research in languages other than English is required to support local solutions.
