CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1.0 Introduction
This chapter focuses on the general introduction, statement of the problem, objectives, research questions,

significance of the study, theoretical framework, delimitation, limitation and operational definition of

terms.

1.1 The Problem of Early Marriages World over

The issue of early marriages world over has been in existence for a long time especially in Northern. This

kind of marriage has been a challenge in most countries in the world. Early marriage is the kind of

marriage in which children and adolescents below the age of eighteen years are married off or forced into

marriage by either their parents or guardians. Early or child marriage is defined as any marriage below the

age of 18 years, before the girl is physically and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of

marriage and childbearing (African Journal of Reproductive Health: 2012). A girl-child has no choice

over such marriages. To conform to this, child marriage also referred to as early or forced marriage is

defined as any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years, before the girl is physically,

physiologically and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing.

(The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices: 2003).

Globally 36 per cent of women aged between 20 and 24 were married off or in union before they reached

18 years of age (UNICEF: 2015). In Four out of every ten girls in are married before the age of Eighteen.

This was revealed at the high-level National Dialogue on Ending Child Marriage hosted by the

Government of and supported by UNFPA and UNICEF (UNICEF, 2024) . Early or forced marriage is a

violation of human rights that prevents the girl-child from obtaining an education or expressing herself on

the choice of a life partner. This kind of marriage is a human rights violation that hinders the girl-child

from obtaining an education, enjoying optimal health, bonding with others of the same age group,
maturing and decisively choosing their own life partners. According to Population Council (2002),

Human rights advocates argued that marriage before eighteen years contravenes the United Nations

Convention on the rights of the child, which defines age eighteen as the end of childhood.

Child marriage was further prohibited by the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the major international agreement defining the rights of girls

and women which requires government to condemn all forms of discrimination against girls and women

and pursue all appropriate means to eliminate it (UNICEF: 2014). In accordance with this, the Child

Rights Convention (CRC) and the 1979 CEDAW also provided the foundation for the perspective which

needed a holistic approach to early marriage. However, despite that, the trend has continued.

Croll (2010) asserted that, whether with or without the consent of the child, a girl-child marriage remains

a serious violation of the child’s rights because the young girl is unable to make decisions. It simply

shows that, the girl-child rights are violated as she cannot make informed choices. Early girl-child

marriage can be a violation of children’s basic rights to education as they cannot get good health or make

informed decisions about their lives. Unfortunately, these kinds of marriages are still going on. This

marriage withdraws girls from their respective families and friends, hence leading them into social and

psychological isolation. Globally 36 per cent of women aged between 20 and 24 were married off before

they reached 18 years of age. UNICEF (2017) reports that, the latest international estimates indicate that,

worldwide more than 60 million women aged 20-24 were married before they reached 18. It denotes that,

globally 60 million of women were married off early at a school going age. The assumption on early

marriage is that once a girl is married, she is regarded as a woman even though she is only twelve years

old or below.

Early girl-child marriages have contributed to a lot of problems in the world such as illiteracy and poverty

among others. Nigeria happens to be one of the countries affected by this problem. Most of the girls in

Nigeria enter marriage without any opportunity of exercising their right to choose their spouses or

husbands to be which an infringement of their right is. It has been noted that many people viewed
education as less important for girls than boys because society believed that the girl’s place was in the

kitchen according to the social norms. Hence, the reason for marrying them off at an early age

immediately after they became matured at thirteen years or less. UNICEF (2001) states that, research

shows that, the highest child marriage rates mostly happen in poor countries. It denotes that, UNICEF has

reported that the high rates of child marriages are among the poorest nations or South global.

In Nigeria, some of the girls are married off by their parents or guardians when they are still very young

at school- going age (GRZ: 2018). It implies that, these girls who are forced into early marriage are too

young to make informed decisions about their marriage partners who they hardly know or understand

because they are not allowed to express their own feelings. Normally, these girls are married to older

men. Often, these young girls have little choice over the age at which they marry, much less the partner

they marry, because the marriage is typically arranged by the parents. The young girls are subjected to

such kind of treatment because they are not given chance to choose when or to whom they can get

married to. According to Jensen (2003), marriage is typically a barrier to education, since women are

often expected to leave school in order to devote their time to the care of their new home or to child 4

bearing and childcare. This means the girl-child has no knowledge about the implications of marriage

itself. This early marriage issue deprives the children of school going age their right to education and

leaves them far less able to take advantage of economic chances, their arrangement for adulthood as well

as their competence contribution to the well-being of both their families and society in the future.

Research from around the world proposes that child marriage or early child marriage rather than

safeguarding the girls, frequently has far-reaching negative consequences like denying them their

education rights. Until in the recent past the government started taking girl-child education seriously so as

to improve the literacy levels in Nigeria.

In some circumstances when a girl is married off at an early age, her right to education is denied which

means when she becomes a mother, chances of educating her own children become low. This is because

she may be unable to afford the costs of schooling for her children leading to high illiteracy levels in the
country. It becomes easier when she is educated as she will make an effort of educating her own children

especially that she will have understood the importance of education herself and contribute to the

economic development of the nation and high girl’s participation in various fields. UNESCO (2019)

reports that, education plays a key role as a catalyst for human development as it helps the human being’s

mind to be developed and also opens one’s progression in nutrition, health and poverty alleviation. It

means that, education plays an important part in the development of the human being as it opens the

human mind and later reduces poverty levels. Female play a major role in the development of the country

because when the nation educates a girl child, then it educates a nation. As a result, a girl child needs to

be educated in order to bridge the gap between the educated males and females by stopping early

marriages. Most countries now believe that education is a basic human right and not a privilege for only a

few and hence must be designed to meet the needs of every citizen and individual. Population Council

(2012) observes that, early marriage undermines other rights guaranteed by the Child Rights Convention,

including the right to be protected from physical abuse and sexual exploitation and the right not to be

separated from parents against one’s will.

In some society’s girls are engaged when the mother is pregnant or immediately, they are born. Bruce

(2013) argued that, some marriages even happen at birth, in such circumstances the girl is sent to her

husband ‘s home at the age of seven. Hence, leading into acts of physical and psychological abuse. This

further results into gender-based violence. More than 700 million women alive today were married off

before their eighteenth birthday and that is the equivalent of 10% of the worlds’ population. (WHO:

2015). It shows how this trend has affected the population of women. Moreover, the children of the young

brides suffer from health complications and also are more likely to be illiterate and this would affect the

attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Child marriage remains a critical issue affecting the development and well-being of adolescent girls

globally, with ranking third in the prevalence of child brides. Child marriage prevalence remains high in
the country, with 44% of girls married before the age of 18, totaling over 24 million child brides and

ranking third globally. Although recent data suggests a decline in national prevalence from 44% to 30%,

progress has been slow and uneven, particularly affecting the poorest households, rural areas, and girls

with little or no education.

The fight against early girl-child marriage has often been thrown to traditional leaders and parents

ignoring, very often, the school managers. The research aims at bringing school managers into the fight

against early girl-child marriage. Therefore, this study sought to establish factors that lead to early

marriages among school going girls in from the perspective of school managers and to assess the viability

of possible remedies.

1.3 Objectives of the study

To ascertain what role school managers can play in addressing early girl-child marriages in Abaji Area

council, Abuja, Nigeria.

The Specific Objectives are:

1. To establish the extent of the problem of early girl-child marriage in the selected schools Abaji

Area council, Abuja, Nigeria.

2. To ascertain the main causal factors responsible for early marriages from the perspective of

school managers Abaji Area council, Abuja, Nigeria.

3. To explore solutions offered by school managers to address the problem of early girl-child

marriage Abaji Area council, Abuja, Nigeria.

1.4 Research Question

The proposed study attempted to answer the following questions in relation to the objectives stated above.

(i) What is the extent of the problem of early girl-child marriage in selected schools in Abaji Area

council, Abuja, Nigeria?

(ii) What factors cause early girl-child marriages from the school manager’s perception in Abaji Area

council, Abuja, Nigeria?

(iii) What solutions should school managers come up with to address the problem of early girl-child

marriage in Abaji Area council, Abuja, Nigeria?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study lies in providing information to key stakeholders in education to recognize

the pivotal role that, school managers could play in preventing early girl-child marriages.

1.6 Theoretical Framework

A theoretical framework accounts for or expounds phenomena. It tries to explain why things are the way

they are based on theories. Kombo (2005: 56) states that, “A theoretical framework is a general set of

assumptions about the nature of phenomena.” The theory is important in the research because it guides

the research. The study was enlightened by the theoretical framework governing females. Thus, the theory

that was used in this research was liberal feminism. The proponent of this theory was the British

philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft who was regarded as a pioneer. Falco (1996) asserted that, liberal

feminism is an individualistic form of feminist theory which focuses on women’s ability to maintain their

equality through their own actions and choices. This theory is based on the assumption that school is

positive and improves women’s welfare. It further states that, it enforces the idea that schooling is

meritocratic and that success in it relies primarily on the initiative and intellectual ability of the

individual. Yokozeki (1998) stated that, liberal Feminism stems from the idea that women must obtain

equal opportunities and equal rights in society.

Therefore, liberal feminism argues for better allocation of resources so that women can obtain a fair share

of educational opportunities. Brink (2017) further expounded that John Stuart Mills another proponent

argued that, three major parts of women’s lives underlying them included society and gender

construction, education and marriage. This meant that, these proponents looked at the women’s welfare
by 8 promoting autonomous self-fulfillment through equal rationality of the sexes and stresses the

significance of structuring social, familial and sexual roles. Liberal feminism theory was applicable in

addressing the problem of early marriages as it emphasised on equal opportunities and equal rights in

society of females by becoming educated as a way of obtaining their fair share of educational

opportunities.

1.7 Delimitation/Scope of the Study

This was carried out in five selected schools of Abaji Area council, Abuja, Nigeria.

1.8 Limitation
The major challenge that was faced by this research included school managers being too busy. However,

every effort was made to persuade the school managers to accord the researcher time so that the research

would not be compromised.

1.9 Operational definition of Terms

Early girl-child marriage- Marriage of a girl-child carried out below the age of

Marriage- The formal union of a man and woman, typically s recognised by law, by which they become

husband and wife Poverty- condition of lacking basic needs and financial resources.

Illiteracy - Inability to read and write.

Teenager - Ranging from 13-17 years of age.

Culture – It the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different

for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next.

Re-entry policy - Re-admission of girls in school after delivery.