The Stream

Protecting girls’ futures by ending child marriage

Women who rejected their roles as child brides discuss how early marriage practices impacted their lives.

Child marriage can take away a girl’s opportunity to choose her own future. Around the world, an estimated 700 million girls are in child marriages and 250 million of them were brides before the age of 15, the UN reports. Consequently, many girls stop going to school, face threats of domestic abuse and risk complications from early pregnancy. We’ll speak to women who escaped their child marriages at 19:30 GMT.

On today’s episode of The Stream, we speak to:

Mehvish Shafique
Bedari campaign for women’s rights in Pakistan
bedari.org.pk

Isatou Jeng @IsatouJeng1
The Girls’ Agenda
thegirlsagenda.org

Gabriella Gillespie @2young2wed
Child marriage survivor, author ‘A Father’s Betrayal’
tooyoungtowed.org

Qamar Naseem @BlueVeinsPak
Programme coordinator, Blue Veins women’s rights organisation
blueveins.org

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