Razia Akhtar’s voice became tearful as she recounted long-passed dreams. She’d had a strong education since a young age. She’d become the top student in her class. Her teachers regularly praised her for her hard work at school. She’d even hoped to continue her studies and become a teacher. Then, when she turned 14 in the eighth grade, her parents married her off to a grown man.
“Child marriage has broken all my life dreams,” she explained. “I went from the reading table to the kitchen. Instead of books, I now have cooking utensils.”
Akhtar comes from Pratapnagar, a village in southwest Bangladesh. She’s one of a growing number of girls whose parents have married them off in parts of the country where the climate crisis has hit especially hard.
As the climate crisis deepens, impoverished and desperate families have felt the pinch. Facing dire financial straits, more and more have turned to marrying off the young girls in their families in order to cut down on living expenses — especially in the wake of climate-caused disasters.
According to the International Rescue Committee, climate catastrophes have led to a 39% spike in child marriages in the country. In a recent report, the Share-Net Bangladesh advocacy group noted that Bangladesh sees some four million girls under the age of 18 forced to marry every year.
“My Hands Were Shaking”
Like many of the girls who fall victim to child marriage, Akhtar comes from an impoverished family. Her father, Farooq Hossain, used to make a living in agricultural work. Yet, when the super cyclone Amphan struck in May 2020, it destroyed more than 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) of crops and vegetables in the region. Hossain’s work dried up and he had no choice but to become a day laborer.
One evening in the winter of 2020, as financial uncertainty took its toll on the family, Akhtar’s mother told her that she’d soon have to get married.
The news “deeply saddened” Akhtar, she said. “At that moment, I could not believe my ears. My hands and feet were shaking,” she recounted, explaining that her father didn’t care that she didn’t want to get married.
Throughout the four years since, Akhtar has had her first child. Now, she’s carrying the weight of a family on her shoulders.
‘‘I did not want to marry my daughter at such a young age,” her father said, adding: “After a hard fight, I was defeated by [climate] hazards.”
Laws Not Working
Bangladeshi law stipulates that a man must be at least 21 years old to marry and a woman must be at least 18. Still, child marriage has been on the rise for years.
According to the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, Bangladesh is home to the highest rate of child marriage in South Asia and the eighth highest in the world. Citing data from 2019, UNICEF says more than half of all young women were married in childhood – 38 million before they turned 18, and 13 million before they turned 15.
“Child marriage has broken all my life dreams.” – Razia Akhtar
In July 2018, then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she hoped the National Action Plan to End Child Marriage would “play a significant role in preventing child marriage.” Created by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, that plan aims to eliminate child marriage in the country by 2041.
“Public Awareness”
Yet, major obstacles remain, including climate hazards and poverty. Ranjit Burman, a teacher at a secondary school in the climate-vulnerable area of Shyamnagar Upazila, explained that young girls who are subjected to child marriage are forced to “drop out of education forever.”
“Child marriage ends girls’ education,” Burman said. “They may never associate with books again in their lives. Girls do not get alternative opportunities to develop their potential.”
Even as the government tries to clamp down on the problem, Burman said it’s doubtful that legal measures alone can prevent child marriage. “Families, schools, and society discourage married girls and adolescent girls from returning to school,” the teacher added. “This requires public awareness.”
For his part, Doctor Mohammad Shaheen, a health officer in a district near Sundarban, said the problem runs even deeper than forced marriage alone. “Adolescents are at greater risk than adult women when become a mother,” he said, adding that giving birth can be “extremely dangerous” for both the mother and the child.
Extreme Weather Worsening
Meanwhile, the extreme weather events that partly fuel child marriage are also increasing, and Bangladesh remains on the frontlines of an ever-worsening climate crisis. In 2021, Bangladesh was the seventh most extreme disaster risk-prone country in the world, according to the UN’s Global Climate Risk Index.
Rising sea levels, frequent cyclones, and other climate hazards have displaced millions of people into urban slums or pushed them to flee abroad. As the climate crisis grows more severe, experts expect the number of displaced people to rise alongside it.
Without effective measures against climate change, according to the World Bank, some 19.9 million people across Bangladesh will become “internal climate migrants” by 2050.
To Mariam Begum, child marriage will only get worse as long as the climate crisis deepens. In 2009, a cyclone hit her remote village in southwest Bangladesh, leaving her family homeless. Eventually, her father married her off. Now, she’s a mother of two and struggling to get by.
Climate-induced hazards “ruined my life,” Begum said. “Maybe if I’d continued my education, my future would have been different. I could have also guided the next generation to a better future. But now I’m in trouble.”