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Plucking the Flower Just too Early: Some Community Perspectives on Age at Marriage among Adolescent Girls in a Nigerian State
[journal article]
Abstract In northern Nigeria, there are cultural and religious pressures on girls to marry early. Up to 43% of girls in Nigeria are married before 18, rising as high as 87% in the northwest. The study, using a mixed method approach, examines behaviours of community members towards adolescent girls' time of m... view more
In northern Nigeria, there are cultural and religious pressures on girls to marry early. Up to 43% of girls in Nigeria are married before 18, rising as high as 87% in the northwest. The study, using a mixed method approach, examines behaviours of community members towards adolescent girls' time of marriage with perspectives from adolescent girls, faith leaders, and community members. The study found that the practice of early marriage exists in the areas studied: 35% of survey respondents had one or more daughters married before the age of 18, although most community members believed that a girl should be married when she is "mature". Only 9.6% of survey respondents noted that they would never marry off an underage daughter. As major stakeholders in multi-component interventions, the study identifies the crucial roles of faith leaders in efforts to reduce the practice of early marriage in northern Nigeria.... view less
Keywords
Nigeria; girl; underage; wedding; cultural factors; tradition; religion; influence; deprivation; socioeconomic factors; West Africa
Classification
Sociology of Religion
Women's Studies, Feminist Studies, Gender Studies
Free Keywords
early marriage; faith leaders; northern Nigeria
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 1-16
Journal
The Nigerian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 17 (2019) 1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.36108/NJSA/9102/71(0110)
ISSN
0331-4111
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0