Peer-reviewed article
The Role of Marriage Brokers on Adolescent Girls’ Early Marriage: Qualitative Evidence-The Case of West Hararghe, Ethiopia
Anene Tesfa ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This paper describes the role of marriage brokers in the marriage of adolescent girls in West Hararghe, Oromia region, Eastern Ethiopia. It uses qualitative data from a baseline study (March to August 2016) and a mid-term study (May to August 2018) of the Abdiboru girls' sexual and reproductive health and empowerment project. The authors report that girls below the legal age of marriage are persuaded by brokers to accept marriage proposals. They conclude that brokers play a significant role in arranging matches and that programmes to end child marriage should include them.
Key points
- Girls below the legal age of marriage are forced to accept marriage proposals after being convinced by intermediaries or marriage brokers.
- Brokers can be peers, relatives, elders or any person skilled in convincing and persuading girls.
- Marriage brokerage is commercialised, and girls then face the burdens of early marriage and early childbearing.
- Marriage brokerage is common in the study area, and brokers play a significant role in arranging matches for adolescent girls.
- Programmes working to end child marriage need to include these influential people when designing interventions.
Limitations
The abstract does not give sample sizes, the qualitative methods used or the exact sites, so the strength of the findings cannot be judged. It is a qualitative study in one area of Ethiopia and says nothing about how common brokerage is or whether any intervention involving brokers works.
Abstract
Marriages below the age of 18 are either forced or by own interest, influenced by different factors. The objective of this paper is to describe the role of marriage brokers in adolescent girls’ marriage in West Hararghe, Oromia region, Eastern Ethiopia. Qualitative data were drawn from a formative baseline (March to August 2016) and consecutive studies including the mid-term (May 2018 to August 2018) studies of Abdiboru, a Girls’ SRH and empowerment project. As findings demonstrate, adolescent girls below the legal age of marriage are forced to accept marriage proposals convinced by intermediaries/marriage brokers. Marriage brokers can be peers, relatives, elders or any skillful people in convincing and persuading girls. Marriage brokerage is commercialized and as a result, girls go through the burdens of early marriage and early child bearing. Marriage brokerage is a common act in the study area resulting in brokers to have a significant role on adolescent girls’ marriage. They play an inevitable role in arranging potential matches for adolescent girls. Programmers working on ending child marriage and related areas need to include these influential people in designing interventions.