Child marriage is a game changer: Christine Hunter

Christine Hunter: If you look at the overall history of Bangladesh, there has been a huge improvement in day-to-day lives of women and girls. The improvements are, for example, in enrollment in educational institutions, maternal health, women's options for how and when to have children, and so on. There are certainly improvements here.

But then again, there are inequalities, where women have less access to certain resources and options. It is true that boys and girls enroll equally in secondary school, but they do not get the same results in terms of exams. When they drop out, boys work in labour, but girls get married. Girls have been given stipends to keep them in school which helps to an extent. On the other hand, once out of school, women have no access to credit.

Christine Hunter: Yes, but who gets the benefit of the credit? And who gets the burden of repayment? Men get the benefit of the loans and it is the women who bear the burden of repayment.

So some of the inequalities involve who gets the resources. But the really more persistent inequality is from the devaluing of women. Women aren't seen equal as men. This is evident in level of violence against women. According to a survey by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), 87% of women face some form of violence from their spouses. Of this, 66% is physical violence. In the last 12 months, one-third of the total number of women faced physical violence, that means 13 million in a year. This couldn't be possible if women were valued equally. The are subject to violence in their homes, at work places, and in the streets. This 87% includes psychological torture too. And the violence is not just a sudden outburst, it is constant.

One of the big issues to be addressed is child marriage. According to the law, a person has no ability to take decisions for themselves before 18. Yet more than half of the girls are married before the age of 18, when they can't take decisions. This means that girls must have a role and value much less than others. This is an example of how girls and women are not valued equally.

Women's contribution to the economy is not recognised. Women also have much less access to skills training. The training programmes that do exist are not practically accessible, so they can't participate. There are too many barriers.

Women are involved to a great extent in domestic work yet domestic is excluded from the Labour Act. A CPD study on unpaid work depicts how a huge amount of women's work, production work, remains unpaid. Someone is making money, but it's not the women, though they are doing the work.

Of the unpaid workers, 90% are women. They may be making handicrafts or other products which are sold for money, but there is no recognition. This can't happen to men. Women are valued less. Somehow, legally, socially and economically, they not given same value.

Women work in agriculture, but again they are not recognised. A farmer defined on the basis of land ownership, but because they don't own the land, women are not officially recognised as farmers. Thus they are deprived of extension training, and other facilities and benefits provided to farmers.

Christine Hunter: I am glad that the government has taken a stand to work towards eliminating child marriage. It is more than rhetorical. There is genuine commitment into the future.

Child marriage is a game changer. It is a critical point to achieving gender equality. It is transformative.

One of the consequences of child marriage is maternal mortality. Over half who die in childbirth are under 18. Adolescent girls are at much more at risk during childbirth. More girls die than women during childbirth. Just by ending child marriage, maternal mortality can be halved.

The rate of violence against young girls is higher. This is a tremendous loss of potential for the country. After marriage some of the 15-16 year old girls continue with schooling unlike some countries in Africa, where they just drop out completely. But then, once they are pregnant, they stop going to school. With no schooling, they are not eligible for work.

When the girls have babies too young, they have underweight babies. Stunting is a huge issue in Bangladesh. The girls do not have equal access to food in the household, they are not physically fit, they do not have access to information on nutrition.

There is need for strong and committed action to end child marriage. If we end up with a law permitting parents to marry off their daughters early, what message does that give out? That it is okay, sometimes? Not that it is NOT okay, ever. If a girl gets into any sort of problem, there is need for alternatives to address the problem, not marriage. The community must be made safer for girls.

The consequences of child marriage hits the poor harder. It is in poor families that women are most harmed by child marriage. It works against poverty reduction, against equitable economic growth. These matters are not discussed.

Christine Hunter: We are doing a lot of work on gender and climate change. Vulnerability is largely a result of inequality. Because of women's unequal position, they become vulnerable. The more we can reduce gender inequality, the more we can reduce vulnerability. Women need to have more say in decision making in their own lives, in the community, in disaster plans and responses. Women need to be paid equally and have equal access to day labour. Men have more options for wage labour. So when disaster strikes, the women don't have anything to fall back to because they haven't been able to accumulate assets.

On the other hand, we need to try to build up their resilience, the ability to bounce back, to develop and thrive. We want to do that for women. This calls for empowering women. But if she has no access to resources, how will women be resilient?

As for the observation about child marriage in relation to disasters and climate change, child marriage is seen as an option in the circumstances. Violence against women increases post disaster. There are many issues to note here. The shelters have no separate space. There is no lighting in the latrines. There is less drinking water and the women have to go far for water, thus being subject to more exposure. There is an increase in child marriage and violence.

Our response should directly address these. Our disaster preparedness should make these less likely. Our planning should look into the social dynamics for women, the shelters should have separate space for women, well-lit latrines and so on. Women organisations can set up support and monitoring systems. When disaster management plans are made, there is awareness about violence, but still no separate toilet facilities for women, no separate rooms or partitions in cyclone shelters.

When it comes to climate change, there is an increased burden of work for women. In coastal communities, men are migrating on a seasonal basis. Women are left behind, with almost no men. Women continue their work, and do whatever is to be done to raise the family income and look after the many tasks for the household. This takes more time, they have to go further for water due to salinity, for instance. The sheer number of hours of work is staggering. If they are given income generating activities, this can just add hours, add to the burden.

Christine Hunter: Very broadly, UN Women is the UN agency for gender equality and empowerment of women. We work in three ways. First, operationally, we work in countries to support governments to act on their commitments to gender equality. The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has been signed by most countries. We help them implement these, to implement their gender commitments.

Then, we support women's movements and civil society to have a voice in policy and programmes. Civil society is active and we help amplify their voice.

We have certain mandates here. We are helping to establish global standards. We are supporting the government of Bangladesh's participation in international arenas.This year the government will prepare its report on the progress it has made in implementing CEDAW. Interestingly, the civil society will have a shadow report. That is positive. The good thing is, the government is sharing its report. So there is a degree of interaction and consultation which is good.

Christine Hunter: It has two reservations. Governments are encouraged globally to remove these reservations.

In Bangladesh we focus more in supporting the government to implement the commitments that they have made. Government had made a commitment to gender equality. There are still a lot of issues to be taken up. So we place more focus on implementation.

Lastly, we support other UN bodies to bring gender interventions to their work.

Christine Hunter: There is much progress in Bangladesh-UN engagement. The biggest credit goes to civil society. That is a big success story. And the changes brought about by the UN have improved the situation for women and girls, as well as boys and men.

There is immunisation which had been remarkable, and it has been equal for boys and girls. The partnership between the UN, government and the community has improved things for women, girls and everybody. UN Women couldn't do everything alone. All UN agencies have that obligation to gender. We support and raise issues.

Unicef deals with children issues, UNFPA with health, UNDP with governance. There is the issue of gender equality in all of these. We can help raise gender equality issues. We are like a lens, bringing the issues into focus. Some issues might not be visible. Our role is to highlight those issues. We have the technical knowhow on gender and how to implement programmes in a gender sensitive way.

Christine Hunter: The conditionalities in the UN are about human rights. The UN is made up of member states. The member states make conditionalities. It is linking our work to achieving human rights. Then there is the matter of government priorities. It's totally the government's choice how to use the resources. We don't have any say or entitlement about that.

There are two challenges for development in general. UN Women is accountable to girls and women for the progress that we make on their rights. We are also accountable to the development partners that give the money, and member states. We must ensure resources contribute to real difference, for real change. The stronger that gets, we more difference its makes to people.

To be accountable requires a process. The process may be heavy, but it's for the sake of transparency, the efficient use of resources. Accountability needs to be comprehensive.

Christine Hunter: It's been a great experience. It's been a privilege and a learning opportunity. Bangladesh has a dynamic civil society working to create real change. Over the years it has become more structured. There are so many people who work for social justice, for gender.

The government of Bangladesh has challenges, but in general it has a long-term national commitment to inclusion and equity.

There is so much to learn, so many enormously wonderful opportunities.

Christine Hunter: The main message is about recognising women as citizens, rights holders, equal partners in development. They are vulnerable, women are victimised by violence, but women are not inherently vulnerable. They take leadership, contribute, the economy wouldn't survive if women were removed.

There needs to be change in how women are valued and viewed, in the law, in the economy and socially.

Yes, we need to change mindsets, but women rights can't wait for people to change. Legally, socially, economically, the value of women must be recongised. Resources are to be invested in women now.

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