Mexico's lost generation of young girls robbed of innocence and education

[niyad]

Mexico’s lost generation of young girls robbed of innocence and education

Study reveals rising number of Mexican girls in relationships and marriages with older men and casts fresh light on causes of child marriage in Latin America




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Hundreds of thousands of young girls across Mexico are being driven into relationships and marriages with older men, denying them a childhood and an education, new research reveals. Of the 320,000-plus Mexican girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who are cohabiting, nearly 70% are with a partner who is at least 11 years their senior, according to a report commissioned by the Ford Foundation. The data represents part of a wider trend across Latin America, the only region in the world where child marriage is increasing rather than in decline.

Researchers found that 83% of married girls had left school, with the number rising to 92% among those living informally with a man. In contrast, just 15% of Mexican girls not in such relationships dropped out of school.The findings, due to be published next month by a Mexico City-based research group, also show that 25,000 girls aged between 12 and 14 are living in “early unions”. The report comes weeks after the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, issued a statement pledging to tackle child marriage in Latin America. “With one in five girls married or living in informal unions before the age of 18 we are losing entire generations to poverty, discrimination and violence,” he said. In Mexico, more than 10% of girls are married under the age of 15. Worldwide, the country has the eighth highest number of child marriages (pdf). While many girls are driven into relationships as a means of acquiring status and security – or to attempt to escape poverty and violence at home – early unions often perpetuate a cycle of abuse and deprivation rooted in gender inequality.


A law introduced in Mexico in 2014 set the minimum legal age for marriage at 18 for both men and women, but many states do not comply, or make exceptions. In some areas, civil guidance states the minimum age is 14 for girls and 16 for boys. Neither does legislation address the larger problem of young girls cohabiting with older men in a non-formal context. Across Mexico, 81% of marriages among girls aged 12- to 17-years-old are not recognised legally, according to the report by Investigación en Salud y Demografía (Insad).

. . . . .

Heather Hamilton, deputy executive director for the charity Girls Not Brides, said: “You have a situation where a girl is perhaps choosing to be in a union, but only because she lacks other options. “Perhaps there is a desire to escape poverty or a violent home environment. But we don’t want a world in which girls are forced to make the least bad choice.” Hamilton said cultural factors also contributed to the abuse of young women. “Regionally, there is a strong perception that if you have a younger woman you are more masculine. But it’s also about control – the younger the girl, the more you can control her.” Married girls and those living with an older man are more likely than their single peers to suffer violence, sexually transmitted infections and other health complications.
. . . . .



https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/02/mexico-lost-generation-young-girls-innocence-education

[SunSeeker]

1. K & R for exposure.

[Hortensis]

2. Interesting window on an important trend, but

in an imperfect world, let's not get so lost in the problems of victims that we forget a lot of these girls are actually pretty fortunate. Unlike many others, they have homes and a family support system. Girls who marry mature men are also a lot more likely to be decently supported and cared for than to be beaten and abused.

[niyad]

3. dear goddess, PLEASE tell me you forgot the sarcasm icon. did you even READ the article, because

it clearly states that these young women are in far more danger of abuse.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Instead of relying on your vast knowledge of the world, and humanity, you should have read the info:

Married girls and those living with an older man are more likely than their single peers to suffer violence, sexually transmitted infections and other health complications.

Doesn't really sound as if they are actually advantaged by being at the mercy of another who has no deep sense of responsibility for their well being.

Young girls like this are taken by men who know they have no family support system to help protect them, that's why they feel so uninhibited about beating the bejesus out of them and acting like monsters, knowing precisely the girl wouldn't be in that desperate situation if she did have someone to protect her, which she desperately needs, since she is truly still a ####ing child.

The parents should do everything in their power to keep their children until as adults they have a better chance fending for themselves and a child or 10 some one might thrust into their lives to raise.

[Hortensis]

5. Key word MORE likely to be abused by their husbands.

NOT LIKELY to be abused by their husbands beyond the normal standards of local cultures.

And, very notably, they are far, far, far less likely to be homeless, to be destitute even while working long hours to survive, to become prostitutes, and to suffer untreated serious medical conditions. Some are even able to continue schooling and other training.

Again, I'm suggesting a wider perspective here, not arguing that their nations shouldn't better protect young girls. They should, but it's important to note that making the support systems these marriages offer illegal would have negative as well as positive consequences.

Maybe try to imagine spending even one week living in a cardboard box hidden in shrubbery in a poor, unpoliced neighborhood in nations with widespread poverty.

And I repeat: Many, probably most, of these girls are the lucky ones, considering where most came from. Their husbands may not be great prizes, but in nations where most power is held by men, at least they have one.

[niyad]

6. the way your post seems to be twisting this into something almost noble is more than

a little disheartening.

wow. . . . just . . . .wow

[Hortensis]

7. Pragmatic, not noble. I'm guessing you've never been truly hungry,

with no prospect of another meal? Or pregnant and unable to care for yourself, much less a fragile newborn baby?

Frankly, to me inability to understand the harsh and even lethal realities millions of girls grow up into makes those people sound not just ignorant and unwise but spoiled. And also that refusal to try to understand reality suggests even worse. We're talking about lives here.

Sure, in a better world marriage and resultant motherhood would not be legal when girls are not biologically ready, but then neither would family beatings, rape, enslavement, prostitution and starvation be all too real.

Even in this world it would be desirable to have stable, effective programs that replace the need to marry before the protection of marriage is snatched away from girls at great risk.

Again, I'm not suggesting opposing laws against very young marriage, only recognizing the very real costs of making such marriages illegal and the very real benefits to many girls of the protection of marriage.

[Judi Lynn]

8. I can't imagine anything more soul-crushing than a child being given in marriage to an adult.

Can't and won't ever be able to see a "good side" to it.

It's a crime against the spirit.

Loading her down with another child is even more grotesque. Not a moral solution. Not a compassionate solution.