Greetings everyone.
Here is the first question for the Midterm.
Check out the following video: http://tooyoungtowed.org/
Now imagine you were a global social worker working for an NGO in a village that had the custom of girl marriage. 1) What kinds of services might you strive to create to help the girls optimize their development in such a context? Consider the goals of your services as well as the kinds of services you would create, using examples from global social work.
2) What kinds of processes would you set up to ensure both your effectiveness and respect for the inhabitants' culture? Use examples from Half the Sky, Vieques and others where change was accomplished by supporting positive community values...
Developing a program to support young girls in a village that practices girl marriage would require a two-pronged approach. First, it would be important to provide education to families, young men and young girls regarding the health consequences of early marriage. Stephanie Sinclair (2011) noted that one of the families she met chose to stop the marriage of their daughter after learning the way young marriage could affect their daughter’s health. A health education approach was also utilized by Tostan to confront female genital cutting in Senegal, which showed efficacy in reducing the frequency of the practice. By offering education, rather than condemning and outlawing female genital cutting, Tostan remained respectful of the culture and upheld the families’ autonomy in making decisions. This also facilitated the formation of partnerships with communities. The approach was recognized by the Senegalese government as the only program with significant success in stopping female genital cutting in Senegal and was adopted nationally (Kristof & WuDunn, 2009, pp.224-229).
ReplyDeleteAs female genital cutting and girl marriage are both culturally sensitive and dynamic human rights issues, I think it would be helpful to adapt the approach used by Tostan to a health education program focused on early marriage. To ensure the health education provided was relevant and respected, local physicians could be employed to conduct workshops and discussion sessions. It would be important to make the information available to families, young girls and men. Working with each of these groups would help to prevent young girls or families of girls from bearing the consequences of going against a traditional practice. Cultivating cooperation within the community, including all of the groups involved, would promote a sustainable solution.
After proving health education, it would be necessary to offer a concrete alternative to early marriage that addresses the various reasons why parents support the practice. Cynthia Gorney (2011) highlighted these reasons, which include a desire to protect young girls from pre-marital rape and a desire to improve living conditions, either economically or in regard to working conditions. Gorney also discussed the danger many girls face when traveling to secondary school, thus encouraging parents to remove their children from school and consider early marriage instead. I propose increasing safe access to secondary schooling as a solution. Education for young women can decrease fertility rates and give women a more respected role in decision-making in the family (Sen, 1999, pp.144-145). This can positively affect the long-term health and living conditions of women, thus fulfilling some of the motivations for parents when considering girl marriage. However, promoting the safety of these girls is a key aspect of the solution. This could be done by building on community strengths and fostering community participation, as illustrated in Vieques, Puerto Rico (Torres, 2005). It would be important to discuss with the community how girls’ safety could be improved. For example, if the village respects male authority and presence, one possible solution could be gathering a group of families with young girls and arranging for one father to travel with them to school each day. Another option could be facilitating transportation to the school utilizing the organization’s staff and resources. These aspects of the solution would be best determined by the individual village, and then supported by the organization and the global social worker.
In conclusion, I propose using health education and improvements in safe access to secondary schooling to confront the practice of girl marriage in a rural village. These methods would better inform community members about the health consequences of early marriage while also providing them an alternative option of safely sending their children to secondary school.
I like your idea of approaching child marriage from the public/community health perspective. It seems as though many families do not understand what happens to their children as a result of early marriage and child birth, and appealing to the parents regarding the well-being of their children seems like one good way to bring about the end of this practice.
DeleteMargaret I love your ideas here in your response what is interesting which nobody has had touch on is the fact that because of this practice some girls feel unloved by their family. Because of the way you structured your argument I believe if we were to put into practice. We would eventually get to the point where these girls can express what they are feeling to the family without being afraid or ashamed
DeleteI really like the approach you are suggesting of focusing on health education. I think I sometimes think too much about general education, or healthcare, and can forget how powerful health education can be. I also appreciated how you specifically said the health education would be for the families, the girls, and also men - I think including the men in the education and discussion is critical in ending child marriage.
Delete1/2 The struggle to end girl marriage around the world will require a culturally sensitive and holistic approach. Stephanie Sinclair’s video Two Young to Wed (2011) shows the stories of many girls (and boys in the case of India) across many cultures, religions, and nationalities who have been subjected to the practice of girl marriage. It is important first to understand the underlying reasons people continue to hold on to such a harmful tradition. Sinclair and Gorney (2011) present some of these reasons: A marriage can create an alliance between families; giving their daughter to her husband’s family can save the daughter’s family money; marrying the daughter off early can prevent her possible future rape and subsequent dishonoring; and if the girl is married off young, she can be raised by the husband’s family to be the ideal wife. As one can see, the reasons for girl marriage are related to economics, safety, and values.
ReplyDeleteThe first two reasons are most easily addressed through education. Education programming would entail the education of the village inhabitants, the individual families of the girls, and the girls themselves of the risks and potential consequences of girl marriage. As was illustrated by the example of Tostan in Half the Sky (2009, pp. 221-229), education of the health risks of female genital cutting often persuaded families not to force their daughters to undergo the procedure. This can be similarly applied to girl marriage and the educator role can be assumed by a global social worker who is knowledgeable of the local customs and public health. True to social work ethics and the model put forth by Tostan, the global social worker must respect the villagers’ self-determination by allowing them to make the choice after receiving the necessary information.
Gorney (2011) explains the importance of discussing with the girls themselves the risks and empowering them to reject the practice. For the most part, girl marriage is illegal around the world but continues to be practiced primarily outside the cities. This is an issue with implementation. Gorney (2011) provides an example of an Indian girl who was empowered to resist marriage by seeking help from the public health worker and threatening to tell the police. The public health worker was then able to educate the family of the health risks and the family ultimately decided not to go through with the marriage. However, health education alone is not enough to put an end to the practice. The girls need a way to stay in school until they finish their studies and reach a more appropriate marriageable age.
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DeleteCharla Trubey, I support your idea on education as the foundation to ending this form of human right violation against the girl child and women, and also a foundation to the liberation of the girl child. All the stake holders need to be educated on the devastating effects of early child and forced marriages not only on the girl child but on the community, given that she is and stands at the center of community growth. Unfortunately in male Chauvinistic societies her importances is still not recognised. And as you said the social worker has much to do in sensitising and educating the villages (men/boys and women/girls). I think the role of a gatekeepers will be influencial in changing mindset towards this practice. I am talking here about community heads or chiefs, whom the social worker could engage in the change process. Villages will yield to the call of their chief more.
Delete2/2 As was previously explained, families remove their daughters from school for various reasons. It is believed that if the girl can be married before she finishes school, she is more likely to remain a virgin. Additionally, safe passage to school after a certain grade is often untenable. Lastly, in some cultures, a lack of female teachers means girls have no one to teach them. This third reason has to do with cultural values but has some short-term solutions that can lead to long-term solutions. Global social workers can arrange to bring in female teachers, if none exist in the village, to teach the young girls. In order to remain culturally sensitive, the teachers should be from the same country the village is in so that they are better able to understand the villagers. If this is not possible, the NGO can work with the village to arrange safe passage for the students to continue their educations in villages that are further away. This could be in the form of a sponsored shuttle or adults who can accompany the girls as they travel. Either of these short-term solutions would result in more educated girls who can in turn become teachers themselves, thus ending part of the justification.
ReplyDeleteAs the girls become more educated, they are less likely to accept a marriage so young and have greater potential to contribute meaningfully to their communities. Education of the girls is the response to the economic reasons for girl marriage. Sen, Kristoff, and WuDunn (2006; 2009) recognized the economic tragedy that occurs when half of the population is barred from contributing. When women lift ourselves up, the whole community is positively impacted. When women are oppressed, the whole community suffers.
The education of the villagers and education of the girls must be done with the community by following the examples of Tostan (Kristof & WuDunn, 2009) and Vieques (Torres, 2005). Both promote an approach that utilizes the strengths of the community and draws upon indigenous leadership. A purely change in policy approach will not work. The community must have the choice to stop girl marriages. That is, the freedom to choose to honor gender equality. This freedom will lead to positive development of societies all over the world (Sen, 1999).
I found your ideas very insightful, I had similar ideas about approaching such a challenging topic. I liked the idea of recruiting teachers who are of the same/similar culture because oftentimes people coming in to teach communities unlike their own are often culturally insensitive without even realizing it. It reminds me of many of the programs here in the U.S. that send the unqualified into under served and under educated communities with no training on cultural sensitivity and ways to navigate one's own biases. No wonder the impact is short-lived!
DeleteYour solutions are thorough and well thought out! I loved your approach not only toward long-term answers, but short-term solutions. I find that it is easy to get caught up in how our local or global issues might resolve on a longer time scale, but change is a series of smaller, baby steps and ultimately compose the long-term resolve.
DeleteI also very much support your comment on how destructive it is - not only on a personal level but on a systemic and communal level - to suppress such a grand chunk of the population from contributing their knowledge, skills, and worth for the greater good. Women bring so much intelligence and perspective, that their oppression really does suffocate the entire community.
Addressing and ending child marriage is a very important step towards female equality across the world, however I think it is prudent to first recognize that as a white female from the United States, it is not my place to go into a community and force change. As social worker it would be a long process of getting to know the community and slowly building a rapport within the community before even discussing this problem. The journalist from National Geographic recognized this issue when she noted that villagers would not tell her where a child marriage was taking place, but she happened to find one on a holy day. It was also noted that preventing a marriage on one day does not necessarily mean creating a better life for a child.
ReplyDeleteOne way I would go about addressing child marriage in a certain area is to work on creating a network of individuals who are against child marriage who then serve as community workers to provide alternatives to child marriage. I would work with the community workers to develop ways to discourage parents from seeing marriage as the only option to provide for their children. This would be a many pronged approach that might involve creating affordable education alternatives for girls, providing opportunities for women to generate an income, and other programs and supports aimed at reducing the need for a family to marry off their children at a young age. I would want to make sure that any program instituted to end child marriage addresses the needs of both the parents and the children so the cycle of violence comes to an end.
When creating a program to end child marriage, I would encourage as many ideas to stem from the community itself. If I ended suggested a program or approach, it would be to guide the conversation and see what community members thought of it. Cultural competency is vital to the success of this program and it is not my position to force a community to change something that I do not fully understand. By taking the time to build a network of people who are against the practice and creating a program with their input, any attempts to end child marriage will be more successful.
One example of a successful community-based intervention to end accepted violence is that of Kasturba Nagar in India. One family decided they were going to educate all of their children, regardless of the cost or community norms (Kristof and WuDunn 2010). Usha Narayane was one of these children and she used her education to bring about the end of a violent gangster who was terrorizing her neighborhood. Simply by taking a stand against her neighborhood’s gang, she encouraged others to take a stand. No social worker or westerner came in and told the neighborhood that how they were living was wrong, but it came from the community itself and the community was able to improve itself when one member became particularly vocal and said this is not right. This is the model I would encourage for any successful end to child marriage, because no person from outside the community could understsand why this happens or the family’s reasons for doing this but the community members can and can do something about it.
Hi Emily!
DeleteI think your note on finding a solution which addresses the parents concerns is absolutely neccessary. I agree! I also appreciate your attention to the community members taking leading rolex in finding solutions and instituting change. I think this is the most effective and ethical way to address culturally sensitive topics such as child marriage.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteUpon watching the video and gaining more insight into the custom of child marriage, two types of services come to mind: educational and economic opportunities for women and girls. Before creating services to tackle a challenge of this nature it is important to educate yourself on the values and underlying motivations behind it. Without this step, any programs offered to these communities will likely be inefficient and culturally insensitive.
Sinclair and Gorney (2011) highlight several reasons for child marriage from the communities’ perspective: it helps reduce the risk of premarital rape/dishonoring, it creates a union between families, it helps families who are struggling financially (especially those with multiple children), and it helps when access to education becomes limited, and often dangerous. Any services which seek to decrease and ultimately end the practice of child marriage should consider these various challenges families face.
Many families (in the communities which subscribe to this custom) often have engaged in a cycle where child marriage has been widely accepted and common. While some risks may be apparent, the extent of how detrimental this is to young girls, both mentally and physically, may be overlooked. Through educational services, both parents and young girls can be made aware of the consequences of child marriage. This point is further highlighted by the example provided by Gorney (2011) in which she met a young girl who was able to avoid child marriage through her own advocacy and health education provided by a public health worker in the community. In a culture in which this practice is deeply embedded, this mother was able to go against the grain after having increased knowledge of the costs of child marriage. While the practice is technically illegal, many of these smaller communities still practice, often not recognizing the harm they are inflicting on these young children. Spreading awareness is one step in tackling such a prominent issue.
In addition to providing education about the downfalls of child marriage to families, there should also be efforts to keep young girls in school. As mentioned in the video, schooling is difficult for young girls and their family to maintain due to the lack of female teachers and the safety issues in commuting to school. One plan of action that could be taken by a global social worker is the creation of safe transportation for young girls in the village. As a worker in an NGO, the social worker could use their staff, volunteers, and resources to facilitate a program that would make access to education for these young girls more possible. In addition, social workers in these villages could work at bringing more female teachers into the community to educate these young girls, maybe at an even more accessible location. The cycle must end somewhere, if girls remain uneducated, the chance of more female teachers being in these communities is slim. As more young girls are educated, they will eventually have a stronger presence in the workforce including in education. Both methods could promote education amongst young women thus decreasing child marriage over time.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned before, economic instability is another source of child marriage amongst families. One method of beginning to remedy this is by creating additional economic opportunities in these villages, especially for women. Like the Grameen Bank, it is evident that women with more financial power and entrepreneurial access are often successful. As a social worker at an NGO, one could create means of women contributing to their family’s income. One example that comes to mind is a program for refugee women facilitated by the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement in Chicago. The program, Loom, brings women together to make crafts such as: jewelry, scarves, pillows, etc. to sell and receive a small income. Many of these women have never financially contributed to their households before, so this program gives them the opportunity to develop skills to secure some form of independence. It is important because many of these women never have had formal education and have small children, so regular employment is difficult to obtain in their first years here. Having witnessed this program in action, it is also effective in boosting these women’s self-esteem and security. A program of this nature could be started in these villages, even if it begins small, I believe there is opportunity for growth over time. With increased economic opportunity, less families may feel inclined to participate in child marriage customs.
The overall goal of the services proposed is to increase these families’ knowledge and opportunity so that they feel like they have alternative options to child marriage.
Part 3
ReplyDeleteTo ensure effectiveness and respect when implementing an intervention in a culture unlike your own, it is always important to go in with an open mind and be willing to learn the community values and customs. Not only should you be willing to learn, but it is also necessary as social workers to check your biases and judgements in order most effectively work toward changing patterns so engrained into a culture.
Another key component of attempting to promote change within another culture, is respecting the community’s right to self-determination. As opposed to telling them what to do, it is best to provide the tools that would allow them to make informed decisions. This is best evidenced by a West African group, Tostan, that has worked toward the ending of female genital mutilation. Rather than coming into these communities as experts, condemning the practice, the program’s representatives facilitated conversations on human rights and health issues related to FGM. In this process, villagers were encouraged to make their own choices about this custom. According to Kristof and WuDunn (2009), this approach has been far more effective than more tough and judgmental approaches.
Like the idea of self-determination, it is important that citizens of the community have a say regarding if and how change should be executed. In Vieques, efforts were successful because not only did organizers meet residents where they were, but they also built upon community strengths. Per Torres (2005), “their activities built on the strengths of social relations among the islanders and the other Puerto Ricans residing outside Vieques” (p. 10). This example reinforces how important it is to understand a culture but also the varying dynamics within the culture. This is the only way to begin to effect real change.
Both approaches utilized recognize the important of being culturally sensitive and community leaders. While many things might be outlawed by government/politicians this is not necessarily who villagers will look toward to shift their customs. To be useful in facilitating change in cultures you are unfamiliar with, the first step to engagement in understanding.
I really liked the ideas put forward. I particularly liked the fact that the topic was about the painful problems of physical and mental problems caused by early marriage to small girls. When I watched the video in website "Too Young to Wed - Rajasthan", I saw a woman who had been cut off her nose and ears, a very cruel example of how a girl is physically injured and her soul mentally disturbed. Therefore, it is very important to work not only with the outside problems of the client but also girls strengthen from within. Handcrafted production is a good start for a long journey to help girls rely on themselves, strengthen themselves from within. If it no internal resource inside the person, it is not strong to solve its problems.
DeleteResponse:1/5
ReplyDeleteAs a social worker employed by an NGO in a village that had the custom of girl marriage. I would institute a health program educating girls and their families about all the health with pre-teen, teen pregnancy. In addition to a trade program making local commodities baskets fabrics quilts etc. as we find in viewing the National Geographic video: Too Young to Wed “girls are sometime married young due to poverty: (not being able to take care of all of their children) or to settle debt.” (Gordy & Sinclair, 2011) By making girls potential breadwinners in the family by producing manufactured good we take this aspect of the issue of poverty or settling a debt away. Then the girl or girls in a family at essentially more value being at home and are less of an economic burden on their family. This then leaves the social worker to deal with the cultural piece of this issue. Social workers have been trained to not let our biases towards other cultures affect the way we deal with people. As such, coming from a Western perspective where it seems wrong to marry off girls between the ages of 9 and 16 social workers cannot go in to a country: India, Afghanistan Sudan, Africa etc. telling the local community this practice or tradition (of marrying off young girls) is wrong and they should not be doing it. Because as foreigners we are impressing our own cultural values onto another group of people, who see what they are doing as what’s best for their child or part of their cultural upbringing. This stops the social worker from communicating properly with the locals making them unwilling to listen thus they cannot address the human rights issue presented to them.
Response: 2/5
ReplyDeleteHaving an ally who disagrees with the current practice but understands the cultural background in which it stems from is important. Since there may be local people are already working to solve this problem which creates a doorway for the social worker to communicate effectively with the locals. The social worker does not have to worry about resistance from the community or its leaders as an outsider. As we learned from our classmate Sophia, in India for a woman to be on her menstrual cycle is an unclean thing and as such they cannot go anywhere. To solve this problem, “the pad man Arunachalam Muruganantham: develop inexpensive sanitary napkins for women in India.” (Jazeera, 2018) another example can be found in the video Too Young to Wed” Stephanie Sinclair was approached by the mother of a young girl who was about to be married and was asked could she stop it. Because she had an ally in one of the local officials they spoke to the parents of the child and the village eventually after some discussion the marriage was stopped.” (Gordy & Sinclair, 2011) My point in referencing these two examples is that an ally understands the culture they have a greater likelihood that the Village or community will listen to them. If social workers can convey the facts to their allies they can then relayed them back to the community in a way that is not judgemental or condemning thus coming up with ideas to address this issue.
Response 3/5
ReplyDeleteAs social workers we understand everyone has a right to self-determination as a professional in the field of social work that individual understands this and can only present facts, so they can make an informed decision. This is the proper way to discuss complex issues such as girl marriage. For example, According the World Health Organization …” Girls married young are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence and sexual abuse than those who marry later…Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged 15–19. Young girls who marry later and delay pregnancy beyond their adolescence have more chances to stay healthier,..”( World Health Organization, 2018) If this information was presented to culture who participated in the practice of marrying off young girls I do not think they would do it as often because despite Western opinions on this topic I think most families generally love their children and would not want them to be harmed or killed because of these things. In effect the issue of girl marriage becomes less of a cultural issue and more of a human health issue.
Response: 4/4
ReplyDeleteAs this maybe a practice that has been going on for centuries I do not believe we can resolve it overnight. However, if we get this type of information out to different communities around the world who practice this particular custom I think we will gradually see a shift in the number of young girls being married and in those people who support it. We see the same process occur in the book Half of The Sky in Senegal a health education program to stop general mutilation was started expressing the adverse health risk associated with the process.” (Kristof & Weduin 2010, p. 224 – 229) The damage a woman can suffer because of this practice is excruciatingly painful and include Such things as…” Obstructed labor… nerve damage, creating incontinence, paralysis, and other problems”. (K. Tyson PowerPoint lecture: Gender-Based Discrimination and Social Work Interventions to Respond 2/22/18) Eventually this movement got the backing of the government and continues to fight this injustice. As we can see educating other cultures about the dangers of some of their traditional practices is the best way to initiate a conversation about possibly eradicating them as long as social workers and their allies worked together to first understand the cultural significance of a practice then present the issue or concern as a potential problem for the person not necessarily focusing on the culture surrounding it. It is only by discussing of these complex issues as human problems and not cultural problem can we hope to come up with solutions to resolve them
As a global social worker in a village where girl marriage, or child marriage (as the video showed that boys are also susceptible to child marriage), I would want to focus on what the community wants and creates, rather than what I want. The reason for this is that unless I am working in the town where I grew up, or in the US in a fairly similar context to the one I was raised in, I am an outsider, and it is not my place to tell others what to do. However, in the case of child marriage which is a human rights abuse, I believe that global social workers have the capacity to support the insiders in their endeavors to make changes, whether that be through helping them secure funding, or getting them other resources, or listening to their ideas and problem-solving with them while not taking it over. The challenge with child marriage is that the underlying reasons are so widespread and there are many intersections of families' lives that may go into their decision to marry their daughter (or son) off as a child.
ReplyDeleteTo achieve the optimal development for these children there needs to be a focus on health and education. Educating the community as a whole, rather than individually is critical, because it decreases the risk of individuals being stigmatized for going against the community as a whole (i.e., if a family decided to stop having their children marry at such a young age and the community then harassed them for this decision). Additionally, coming from a health approach is one way that can seem less threatening and not put the culture down. As Sinclair's (2011) video showed, there are great health risks to young girls who are married as children, from complications in childbirth, to domestic abuse by their husbands. Adopting a community health framework is one strategy that could be used to optimize girls' development while still respecting their culture. This is similar to how the people of Vieques (Torres, 2005) approached ending the military exercises. Kristof and WuDunn's (2009) example of Tostan is another model of how community education on a public health issue as a human rights problem can change communities. Framing the problem in terms of public health removes the blame from individuals and encourages community participation.
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ReplyDeleteEducating girls and providing incentives for their education is another strategy that can be both respectful of the community and benefit the community as a whole. For girls who are living in contexts where child marriage is happening, the most immediate way this can be done is to encourage families to educate their daughters as a way to ultimately create a better economic situation for the families. Education is the number one way to both lift a family out of poverty and empower women (Kristof & WuDunn, 2009). For families who might see child marriage as a way to take care of their daughter because they can no longer afford to do so, providing economic resources may be useful, particularly in woman-led families. This could be done through microcredit loans that empower women and in turn their daughters, such as in the Kashf example (Kristof & WuDunn, 2009), where they explain that women who are in charge of their family's finances are more likely to spend their money on education. Despite laws that may require girls to attend school and not be married as children, it continues to happen. Using the Tostan example of community empowerment, education as a means to economic freedom can also be utilized to encourage community involvement.
Focusing on both health and education is one strategy that can be used to engage community members in making changes that benefit their children and women. Ultimately the solutions that will work are not ones that will come from outsiders, but ones that the community members have ownership of and empowers them. As an outsider social worker it would be possible to help facilitate and find resources when they are asked for, but a community will not change its practices for an outsider - it must come from the inside. Encouraging education of girls through economic benefits and the idea that educating a woman means she is less likely to live in poverty is one way, but it must also be coupled with a focus on community health to be both effective and respectful.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, most studies have revealed that the girls, who marry early, according to custom, felt a physical and sexual violence. According to Lamichhane, Tamang, Puri and Dulal (2011), intervention, education, communication may help to prevent violence. Studies show that women’s are expected to play a subordinate, submissive and more conservative gender role in marital relationships especially in rural areas. Moreover, low status and low decision-making power of women, lack of access to resources, and information and shame in exposing certain abuses can put women at further risk of experiencing violence. This is reflected in the poor health and social indicators of women in the country. Many Demographic and Health Survey reported that only slightly more than half women were literate as compared to four-fifths of men. A study on gender, caste and ethnic exclusion conducted in Nepal stated that health outcomes are directly affected by the subordinate status of women in the family. Likewise, according to a Nepal Human Development Report, despite a declining trend in gender inequality, women's participation in political, economic and professional spheres remained lower than that of men.
ReplyDeleteSo, if I will work in a small village, which is dominated by the custom of early marriages of girls, especially girls' education as a social worker, I 'm seeing the young girls, also has the opportunity to educate themselves and to develop. I would assess the opportunities available to get girls, would be convenient to develop their thought of combating marriage in early age through education. According to Lamichhane, Tamang, Puri and Dulal (2011), an education company designed to redefine the role of women in the family and in society. Education can improve the position of women in society.
As set out in the said Article States that women are usually low status, are illiterate, because they are uneducated and getting education is the only source through which they could be empowered to voice up for the right entitlement in their respective society.
On the other hand, being a social worker, I would be extending my efforts to help out those women who already married in the early age, by their advocacy on how to maintain good health especially pregnant women. They will be exposed to various precaution measurements for taking a balance diet and keep themselves healthy. Also the already married will be educated on the first Aid medical treatment to avoid any uncertain situation by ensuring the involvement of medical specialist in my team. Awareness will be created among the communities to avoid early marriage of their girls which detrimental for their good health and subsequently resulted to mortality of both child and mother. According to Lamichhane, Tamang, Puri and Dulal (2011), of the health research shows that there is a huge problem. Mutual communication and increase women's autonomy and opportunities for women in pregnancy.
2) In order to ensure an effective solution to ending early and child marriages, I will advise a social service works with volunteers or social workers who understand the culture and tradition of that community so that they can easily penetrate dialogue get feedback from community representatives. These community volunteers should be conversance with the culture tradition religion and way of life of the people of the community. Working with this community is no to denounce their culture or tradition but to expose them to some of those harmful practices that violate the fundamental rights of their children.
ReplyDeleteBearing in mind that you have volunteers from these communities, it is very important to engage the community in this humanitarian endeavor. This can be successfully achieved by passing through community leaders like chiefs and council heads who have a direct influence on the people. Once these leaders receive the education from you the social worker and accept to collaborate, it lays a foundation towards implementing an educational policy to empower the women and girls and helping them out of early and forced marriages.
The videos on the "Too Young to Wed" website show the harsh realities of millions of people. It was interesting to hear the multiple reasons as to why families ultimately decide to sell or trade their children into sex trafficking and child bride marriages. I found it interesting that some families do so because they cannot afford to feed the rest of the family. I also found it disturbing that females are seen as a burden where as males are seen as kings in some families and cultures.
ReplyDeleteOne of the statistics that gave me hope was that education is the single largest factor in preventing young girls from becoming child brides. Although there is not one single answer that will "fix" the problem of child brides and sex trafficking, I believe it would be important for a NGO to first understand the reason girls are being bought to be child brides and think of ways to alleviate any reason to do so. Whether it be education, basic human needs such as water, shelter and food, etc.. Understanding the cultural context and having cultural humility would be the first requirement for any NGO who entered such society that practices child marriages and trafficking young girls.
The services I would strive to promote in villages include but are not limited to providing young girls with an education and providing families with basic human needs. Promoting sex education and basic education that can further enhance successful working woman would be the main focus of the education that is provided. It would be of utmost importance to gain support from local community officials or stake holders, in order to ask for support from the local government and other officials.
The main goal of my services as a NGO would be to reduce the numbers of young girls that are sold or trafficked into child marriages. Another goal is to empower and provide resources for families so all of their basic needs are met.
As mentioned previously, I would work to insure that I do not commit any micro aggressions as I interact with community members. I would also make sure I presented myself with utmost cultural humility. I would also ensure that I asked community members, specifically young girls and older adolescents who experienced marriage as a young girl what they feel the community would benefit from. Although I think I know what the community needs, completing a needs assessment would also be something I enacted as a NGO.
I think your idea of educating girls is really important in combatting child marriage. I also thought your thoughtfulness in thinking about your position as the NGO/outsider is critical. I think we can so often see something like child marriage and react without really understanding, and your response made me think that you were approaching it through a curiosity of wanting to understand, rather than judge and react. I also liked your idea about sex education, as I had been thinking mostly about general school education, and had completely forgotten how helpful sex education can and should be!
DeleteBefore coming in the village and establishing services to help the girls optimize their overall development in the context of the custom of girl marriage, I would want to make sure that I live in the village for a while and really get to know the culture of this village. As a social worker, I cannot come in telling right from wrong and trying to enact change in a place I am not familiar with nor understand the foundation of a problem. It is easy to see and know about issues more than they are to understand the “why” and “how” they came about. In addition, living and being in the village, will also allow the locals to know me as an individual and build that sense of trust. Sometimes, when foreigners come in trying to help locals, it can be overwhelming and they might resist against your proposals or feel that you are trying to conquer, as that is the common portrayal of America as a whole. With that being said, relationship building would be my first priority.
ReplyDeleteAfter having watched the video and short personal stories and analyzing class readings and discussions, I’ve come to the conclusion that education is the foundation for remediating global scale issues. As part of this NGO, I would want to create educational facilities for these young girls so that they can learn and have a sense of autonomy for their future. Educational programs will help the parents of the young brides see why early marriage can be detrimental to their future in terms of social mobility, dignity, and choice. After watching the video, it’s unfortunate to see that many of these child brides were striped of their freedom of choice, to marry or not to marry, their rights to an education, since many of their husbands forbid them from having one and would rather have them be stay at home mothers. Providing these young girls with educational resources will help them realize their potential and bring a sense of hope for a better future.
As a compliment to education, I feel that an important thing to establish is a mentoring programs and trainings, similarly to the article by Stevenson (2005) on preventing trafficking in Eastern Europe. It’s great to have an education, but if you don’t know where to go or what to do with it, then you’re basically stuck. Mentoring programs will help support the girls step by step through their life goals and know that they are not alone. Speaking from my own experience, over the summer, I volunteered at a summer camp at my local church. Originally, I was only going to teach a Character Development class. However, the camp coordinator realized that I was a rising college senior studying psychology and social work and wanted me to work with the children if they ever felt emotionally unstable. She knew that I was still in school and that I wasn’t a professional, but the church had no resources/funds to hire professionals. I noticed that after the children were told that I could be their camp counselor, they opened up to me and saw me as a mentor as well. Since, my local community has a relatively high high school dropout rate, these kids were shocked that I was in college, wasn’t married, or had children. They asked me about college all the time and how did I get in and what I had to do. These children never had that kind of guidance and it was what they needed so that they can be something in life an not be forced to work minimum wage jobs for the rest of their lives.
Another service I would want to establish as part of this NGO is access to healthcare services. Since many of these girls are living in poverty, they can’t afford proper healthcare for them and their children. They will have access to learning about their sexual health and prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
Dear Iliana,
DeleteI think your idea about looking at the “child marriage“ as a complex social crisis and finding difficult situation to accept not making revolutionary change, but see it as a community crisis. I also appreciate sharing your experience on mentoring children in church camp. Reading your comment I was thinking that in our societies people are looking for deprived communities somewhere far away, in a different continent. But when person looks closer to the surrounding he/she living, they can find that suffering and misery can be very close to our communities.
PT. 2
ReplyDeleteOfcourse, one needs to ensure that programs that are implemented are effective and respectful for the inhabitants’ culture. The kind of process that will work really well is through having the girls voluntarily participate in any of the services provided. I wouldn’t want to obligate anyone or feel pressured into being in our facility that way we are respecting their freedom of choice as well as being sensitive to their cultural values. In addition, in order for a movement to successfully take place, collectiveness is key in part of the victims; this can be seen in the example provided by Torres (2005) and how the locals of Vieques, Puerto Rico advocated and asserted that health was a human right after the military experiments that took place and resulted in major public issues. One of the things that made this movement so unique was that the locals stayed true to their culture. They wanted their campaign to be fun and festive so they incorporated the arts in order to increase public awareness. It would be a great idea to incorporate some of the arts and culture into the educational programs for the brides and their families so that it gains more interest and makes it easier to build strong networks with the people in their communities since they share a common heritage. Adding on, the program would focus on empowering the girls. In return, as mentioned in the book, Half the Sky, by Kristof and Wudunn empowering these girls will can benefit their society in various ways. Men tend to not achieve as much when women aren’t competitive in the workforce. Therefore, if women are given the opportunity to educate themselves and obtain a career, it can motivate men to work hard as well.
The overall mission of the program would be to educate the young brides all while raising public interest through cultural advocacy so that the brides can have a say in what they want for themselves.
I'm trying to imagine being a global social worker working in a non-governmental organization in a village where girls were married. I could create these scenes for girls: i think it would be advisable to create long-term programs that would allow young women to receive money, public support. Monetary assistance is provided only when young women have a certain level of education and are still not married. Poverty plays a central role in perpetuating child marriage. Parents want to ensure their daughters' financial security; however, daughters are considered as economic burdens. Feeding, clothing, and educating girls is costly, and girls will eventually leave the household. A family's only way to recover her investment in a daughter may be to have her married in return for a dowry. In some countries, the dowry decreases as the girl gets older, which can tempt parents to have their daughters married in younger ages. These are not necessarily heartless parents but rather parents who survive under heartless conditions. Additionally, child marriages form new alliances between tribes, clans, and villages; strengthen social relations; and stabilize vital social status. To break the cycle of poverty, programs are needed to educate and empower women. It would be appropriate educate all children through primary school. This directly affect child marriage. giving families financial incentives to keep their daughters in school, or feeding children during school to decrease families' expenses. Keeping girls in school or vocational training not only helps protect them from HIV infection, pregnancy, illness, and death but also enhances their earning potential and socioeconomic status. Educated girls can contribute to the health and welfare of their family and marry men of their own choosing and age.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne practice that violates human rights of adolescents is that of “child marriage” which has a grave impact on their health, education, sexual and reproductive health rights in addition to their overall development. The effect of child marriage has intergenerational implications. Therefore there is need to tackle this social crisis which affects directly and indirectly not only the future of the girl child but the entire community where she belongs. Root Causes of early Child and forced marriages are; Poor knowledge of legal rights, Poor social and economic status of girls/women, Girls have little access to information and choices, Deep-rooted cultural beliefs related to age of marriage, Girls not provided education at par with boys, and Girls perceived as social and economic burden. The government of Rajasthan, (2017). As a form of violence against women and girls, the practice is extremely harmful to the socio-economic status, sexual and reproductive health, and psychological wellbeing of young girls and women. The International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) website, https://iwhc.org/resources/child-early-and-forced-marriage-in-cameroon-research-findings/.
ReplyDeleteIn her article on Organizing Education and Advocating for Health and Human Rights in Vieques, Peurto Rico, Maria I.T. reveals the peaceful advocacy processes that were taken to obtain social rights of Viequenses. Social developers carried out fact finding public awareness campaigns and petitions, organized large demonstrations affirming the importance of every person. Formed a coalition of civil society faith organizations, community groups labor unions academic institutions and individuals, and the use of public education to have teach-ins, lectures etc. Maria. T. (2004)
In order to help girls in this village community optimize their development, I will create an education and empowerment service, to end early and forced child marriages. What will this be all about? This service will have as goal to sensitize, educate and ensure the economic empowerment of girls and women through training.
Child marriage does not occur in isolation and is perpetuated by a multiplicity of complex factors. A range of social and economic factors sustain this practice. The commonly identified factors include patriarchal structures, norms and expectations, socio-cultural and religious customs and practices, poverty and economic factors, notions of safety and security, and lack of awareness; The government of Rajasthan, (2017).
As a social worker, this developmental process will start first by immersing myself in the community, create a working and friendly relationship with the authorities and people of the village. Learn and understand their way of life, cultures traditions sources of income or main economic activities etc. The immersion process will help in identifying these causes of early forced child marriages in the village and ways of including the villagers in the solution.
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ReplyDeleteIt is important to note that every community is governed by an authority, meaning there are guiding laws or rules that bind the people in this community. In Cameroon for instance, child and early forced marriages are prevalent in the northern part of the country. It should be noted here that the northern part of Cameroon is dominantly the Muslim community. In a study that was carried out by the Institut Supérieur du Sahel at the University of Maroua (Cameroon), in partnership with Association de Lutte Contre Les Violences Faites Aux Femmes (ALVF-EN), supported by IWHC, published on the website of IWHC, it was found out that traditional and cultural norms were key drivers of this social ill. Same study revealed that Cameroon has ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child setting the minimum age of marriage at 18. But this international agreement is in direct conflict with Cameroon’s legal age of marriage set at 15 for girls with parental permission, and 18 for boys. Also there is a lack of political will for change, and government and law enforcement officials often ignore the problem, cases dismissed at the court and judges even accept bribe from men who seek to marry under age or parents who give their children out into marriage.
In such a community, there is therefore need for effective sensitization and education about child rights, and the effects of early and forced marriages on the girl child and the community. This education should start with the leaders such as the Imam or the Lamido/traditional ruler. I will educate and counsel the leaders on the significant consequences of early and forced child marriage on the girl and the community.
Worthy of note here is that the silence of survivors makes it difficult to uncover cases of early and forced child marriage. Thus, I will initiate community-based denunciation “brigades,” which educate communities about girls’ rights and the harmful effects of child marriage, which according to LVF-EN, will help break the silence among victims. This will be peer educators on the harmful effects of early and forced child marriage. This level will be successful after the education at the leadership level and after obtaining the permission of the leaders to meet with the women, men and girls of their communities. I will visit women’s group made of either mothers or young wives, to educate them on the ills of early and forced marriage. I will make them share their experiences to better their understanding. Then peer groups will be created to facility the sensitization process. These peer educators are young girls women and even men who shall be empowered to mediate among their colleagues. Their main purpose will be to educate adolescent girls and boys on the risks or disadvantages of early child and forced marriage on their lives, and giving them some comprehensive and appropriate life skills, while the women and men who are parents will educate their peers on the devastating effects of forced marriage on their children. It should be noted that most parents in this village community are ignorant. They were married under the same custom, and are not even aware of the negative impact they as women are facing and thus see and accept it as a way of life for their generation. There is thus an urgent need to have a concrete and consolidated response of various stakeholders to prevent child marriage. Engage with community level stakeholders that include opinion makers and gatekeepers to adopt a stand against child marriage and provide rehabilitative support for those affected by it.
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ReplyDeleteThe stakeholders here include parents, traditional and local authorities, other national and international child rights organizations, and the government. Investing in adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, accelerates the process of empowering them with the knowledge, skills and assets necessary to help them fulfill their dreams and maximize their potential. The government of Rajasthan, (2017.
Copying from the experience in Rajasthan, India, I will organize the village community to advocate for a change in community norms, patriarchal mindsets and social norms that drive child marriage. This could be done through joint campaigns from the grass roots by mobilizing the community through the medium of folk songs, skits and art. The goal is to push the legal and state laws on marriage that disfavor the girl child to be adjusted, Improve legal and policy environment (with focus on rights) to protect adolescents from child marriage and increased access to services, to increase access to safe and quality education especially for the girl child, Multi-sectoral approach and partnership building to leverage resources and mainstream programs for prevention of child marriage. Create empowerment centers for women to learn some vocational trade, Provide access to quality health, nutrition and reproductive health services, provoke the attention of religious bodies and trade associations to influence the mindset of communities and authorities to act against child marriage. More on the government of Rajasthan fighting against child marriage could be read on https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/SSAP-Child-Marriage.pdf
I agree that empowering girls and educating them is a critical part of preventing child marriage. I really liked your idea about using peer educators to help prevent it as well. I think that really gets to the idea of using local knowledge and having the people we work with be the experts. I also appreciate your idea of increasing access to services, as I think the lack of access is one piece of the puzzle that can contribute to children being entered into marriages.
DeleteChild marriage is a truly global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Child brides can be found in every region in the world, from the Middle East to Latin America, South Asia to Europe. Child marriage is a complex issue. Poverty, lack of education, cultural practices, and insecurity fuel and sustain the practice. Child marriage is a traditional practice that in many places happens simply because it has happened for generations. In some communities, when girls start to menstruate, they become women in the eyes of the community. Marriage is therefore the next step towards giving a girl her status as a wife and mother. “Harmful traditional practices can be linked to each other. In southern Ethiopia for instance, child marriage usually follows the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting, which is considered a rite of passage to womanhood. Traditional practices often go unquestioned because they have been part of a community’s life and identity for a very long time. But as Graça Machel, widow of Nelson Mandela, says, traditions are made by people – and people can unmake them”. (Young Lives, Child Marriage and Female Circumcisions (FGM/C): Evidence from Ethiopia, Policy brief 21, July 2014).
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I like a social worker I will start talking about this problem with all community and all the adults, because to solve this problem of early marriage with young girl’s only adults, parents of young girls can help to stop it. I believe that a social worker in early-matrimonial communities should take preventive measures for early marriage, education for young girls, education for the whole community on this topic, promotion of education, specialization, and graduation. A social worker in small communities should set up young girls' clubs to share their existing experiences with girls, educate girls about their health, sexual life, and sexual abuse. Girls' social workers are being consulted to help girls cope with the life crisis they face.
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ReplyDeletePresentation have to be about young girl’s healthy problems for their future, and do not have any education as if after they lose their husbands no one wants a girl without education and with healthy and psychological problems as well. And it will be a big problem for their future life. After this presentation for all community members, for all family of young girls and all the adults should help understood that if they give their young girls for early marriage they are going to lose a young girl like a person, because in coming future she’s going to be without education and with healthy and psychological problems that means if something happens to her much more older husband that girl live will be finished as well. The aim of this presentation and giving more information for all the adults should help to at least start thinking about their young daughters, about their health and future live. Second step for early marriage stopping is me like social worker start working with all young girls. One of my aims is to help girls understand that they have to talk loud about their problems and feelings, that there are people who can help them.
To plan seminars for young girls about their health problems and do not have education in their life is going to be hard to survive in their future. My plan is to show and help understand for all the girls that they are still children as they have to go to school and learn new things about coming live and that it helps them to survive in every situation. And if they will have education they will not have any problems for start their new life. Education builds knowledge, opens new opportunities and can help to shift norms around the value of girls in the community. The very act of girls attending school can reinforce to the community that girls of school – going are still children. To have education for all the girls staying together can stop early marriage in small villages and at least safe some young girls for their future.
Aida you raised an interesting point here. Most of the girls forced into early marriages end up as widow or caregivers to the already invalid husband. In such a situation she has no opportunity to pursue any activity that can empower her. As you said the girls are at the center of the change so much needed in their lives. Like in the video you see the girls express the desire to go to school, but are limited by such customs. The really need to speak out but only enough education on the human rights and how such rights have been violated by their customs.
DeleteTake into account of the issues raised during the lecture “Half the Sky”, it is important to mention the still existing painful women's experience in the world. The attitude towards to the women like simple thing, health, education inaccessibility, poverty, enabling violence against them.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Grodofsky (2007), inequalities prevailing in society are favorable to the development of social exclusion and the fragmentation of its members, which essentially weakens society as the basis of the state. A weak state can’t adequately guarantee the rights of citizens, especially vulnerable groups, and therefore all problems are going rotated by the same circle.
The "Too Young to Wed" website informs about the issue of the formation of young girls marriages and attempts to resolve this problem.
I, as a social worker, working in a non-governmental organization in the countryside, trying to solve the problem of an early marriage of girls, first of all relies on successful examples provided by the “Too Young to Wed” Website.
One of the social roles of the employee is the creation of positive relationships in the community (Grodofsky 2007). In order to help young girls avoid early marriage, it is especially important for me to involve local families who can share their best practices in dealing with this problem. Involving indigenous peoples would strengthen confidence-based aid, and a good and successful example of avoiding early-marriage girls inspire the community to rely on their own efforts to address this issue. Organize the community as sharing and providing support to each other, starting with the simplest and most straightforward issues, such as increasing the chances of satisfying the needs of family members.
A social worker, as a person in the community, can use volunteers' help, charity organizations, community groups to set up support groups to enable family members to avoid a tragic choice to get married a young daughter. A support organization founded with the involvement of local residents and other specialists was established to help find the most optimal solutions to this problem.
It is also important for me, as social workers, to use other effective practices that I can apply in a particular case. For example, based on the The Childhood Marriages in India (An Insight into Law and Policy, 2013), to address the vulnerability of girls in the context of a child's marriage: providing non-formal education; provision of vocational training; Livelihoods; organization of education and information on sexual and reproductive health issues; The old proverb, saying goes: "one in the field is not a warrior", so I tried to look for so-called stakeholders, group representatives at the institutional level first, then in community through discussions and various events highlighting children's marriage serious damage. An important role in solving the problem of young girls, remains a boring play an important role in the development of their education, health care and the implementation of economic and social well-being, it is particularly important for us to have a holistic approach in the work of the social worker 's professional, solving customer problems.
The aim of social work is to promote change. I understand that as a woman I cannot work as social worker in the community, as women are not respected as individuals, but more as a gender role – wife-mother-household keeper. Gradofsky (2007,49) suggests, that “on community level occurs when communities are fragmented and unable to organize to ensure their entitlements. Fragmented community often lack social, economic and political power necessary to influence decisions that affect their collective welfare”. I suggest that there is lack of knowledge and understanding how to change current situation because of long lasting absolute poverty, which do not allow community to find ways to solve situation in other way as they are accustomed. In the local area there is dominating the values of misogyny, which can be defined as hatred of, prejudice against women or girl, as I understand, are culturally acceptable. Therefore, I would look for team of volunteers, considering gender of future worker. Also thinking about these girls and creating services I should consider, that all situation is based not on individual level, but on interests of community. As example of activities presented by Gradovsky (2007), where interdisciplinary teams helped communities to warrant basic needs of community members like water, housing, and whole process promoted transformation of social relations. Also, within community there is need for debates and civic education to promote religious literacy that would foster informed respect and diversity. Seipel (2003) points, that education is long-term effective investment into creation wealth for individuals and societies. So, I would create primary school for the community boys, presenting to community as tool to overcome poverty and increase possibilities for community. Also, with education would come knowing and accepting diversity, understanding and justify another lifestyle as traditional. At the same time there would be school for the women as there would be teaching household issues like solving water issues at household, gardening, as water issue and deprivation is the community issues, and there can be some kind interest. At the same time, I would like to increase also literacy of these women. Maybe this investment does not make big change for these girls, but with introducing possibilities to know more about diversity, the future community situation can be changed tremendously.
ReplyDelete1.Engaging directly with individuals and groups within communities who are working to halt the practice of child marriage. Ensuring children are registered at birth. Without registration, children can’t prove their legal age or claim protection under any legislation that exists in their country specifying a minimum age for marriage. Supporting youth-led groups that raise awareness about children's rights, including the right to not be forced into marriage at an early age. Supporting children's groups that work with community volunteers, legal systems, women's groups, community-based organizations and local governments to promote the rights of children.
ReplyDelete2.(1)..Consistent communication (2)..Celebrate success (3)..Be transparent (4)..Respect everyone's contribution (5)..Continually benchmark your performance…
Working with men and boys is a critical part of our efforts to end child marriage. In many communities it is the men who hold the power and make the decisions. Interventions targeting fathers, brothers, husbands and future husbands are important in helping men and boys reflect on the status quo and see the benefits of a community which values and supports girls and women to fulfil their potential. Religious and traditional leaders, too, have the potential to play a key role in speaking out against child marriage and changing community attitudes. In communities where religious and traditional leaders play a prominent role in decision-making or influencing the prevailing norms, targeted interventions can support them to become positive advocates for change who fully understand the implications of child marriage for girls and their families. Community level change underpins all of our efforts in preventing child marriage and mitigating the harmful effects for married girls. Without change at this level, the day-to-day reality for girls all over the world will remain the same. At the grassroots, organizations are driving change by campaigning, holding community conversations and using a variety of creative techniques such as street theatre and art to reflect on the practice of child marriage and communicate its harmful impacts for girls and their communities. Changing norms at scale is integral to the process of change and a growing number of organizations are using mass media campaigns and other innovative methods such as radio, TV and digital media to raise awareness of girls’ rights and the impact of child marriage. Messages that promote new norms, role models and positive deviants show positive signs of being an effective way to change attitudes and behaviors around the value of girls and women. Many families and communities see child marriage as a deeply rooted practice which has been
part of their culture for generations. Whether the practice is cited as cultural or religious, it is often driven by inequitable gender norms such as an emphasis on protecting a girls’ (or her family’s) honor by controlling her sexuality. For change to happen, the values and norms which support the practice of child marriage need to shift. Working with families and the wider community to raise awareness of the harmful consequences of child marriage can change attitudes and reduce the acceptance among those who make the decision to marry girls as children. Supporting young people to be agents of change can be an effective and empowering process in and of itself. Many organizations work with young people so they can advocate for change as well as helping to inform the design of programmers that directly benefit their peers. Youth groups, encouraging dialogue between youth and community leaders, and building the capacity of young people are all ways of supporting young people to be champions of change in their own communities.
ReplyDeleteAnother force behind early marriage is the desire to protect young girls from sexual harassment, abuse, and unintended pregnancy. Schools and other community centers can be seen as an unsafe and inappropriate place for a single young girl to be present. Betrothal is seen as a way to protect a girl’s purity by legitimizing her sexuality and providing her with the protection of a husband.
1/1. Stephanie Sinclair's video Two Young to Wed (2011) reveals that juvenile girls, and sometimes boys, are predominantly married in different parts of the world even today. Such traditions are propagated by people of different nationalities, religions or cultures. It is a very old tradition, which often reminds not marriage, but business deals when giving birth to girls for debt or marrying them to resolve a tribal dispute or other financial family problems. Often a strong marriage in these cases is perceived not as a union between two people but a family. This type of marriage is causing economic difficulties. Not only parents, but the entire community also ignore the laws on juvenile marriage prohibition. In many cultures it is considered that education isn`t important for girls. There is a deep conviction that being tattered is the best way for an emerging girl to grow up and become an ideal wife for her husband and his family. Another reason why such a painful tradition is still very significant is that in some cultures, the family hopes to protect its daughter from rape, marital relations and shame.
ReplyDeleteHowever, no matter how old the tradition of juvenile marriage is, it is not justified. Watching Stephanie Sinclair's video Two Young to Wed (2011) clearly shows that all these young girls are very sad. I can say that it is being violated not only as a human being, but also as a child's right to free and safe life. Children marriages for teenage girls are disastrous. Young girls often die when trying to give birth. Often in unequal marriages (when a girl is rushed for an older man) they are exploited and harmed for the slightest misconduct. Often, young girls without seeing the other way out, comes to a decision of suicide. Girls who are victims of such marriages also faces risk of sexual abuse. Although forced child marriages are legally banned in many countries, traditions are so old and profound, that in many regions such marriages are still massive. I understand, that you can`t stop the traditions sharply, so I think this should be a coherent process which might ban young children's marriages. One way to reduce forced child marriages is to educate the public. People living in rural areas should be regularly informed about the consequences of the marriage of minors. Education should go hand in hand with the people of the same culture as they are much more aware of their culture, their values, their way of life, and their needs. People living in rural areas are more trusted by members of their community than people whose cultures, traditions and lifestyle are completely different.
2. Girls' education and the promotion of their education is another strategy that can benefit not pupils but also the general public. Education is one of the best ways of raising a family from poverty and giving women more opportunities. One of the most effective ways to fight poverty and developing disadvantaged communities is to invest in education, especially in girls education. Education is not only a predecessor for women and girls to forget the injustice they have suffered, but, can also help to promote economic growth and stability for the entire community.
ReplyDeleteThe situation of girls in rural areas is very poor. Mostly girls are misgiven an opportunity to educate. There are many reasons why this exclusion is one of the things, that families want to get help from girls by doing chores at home. Another reason is the economic situation of the family. Families don`t have enough money for educational expenses. But education is vital. Although it is difficult to statistically demonstrate the impact of girls' education, but it has been shown that these investments can have an impact on affecting generations. Primary and secondary education programs can increase employability. Girls who seek secondary education also have a significantly lower risk of committing crimes or becoming victims of trafficking. It has also been shown that educated women lead later and have fewer children.
A social worker working in a community, where the minor child is going to have to organize the provision of social services, such as: information; counseling; mediation and representation. It is necessary to carry out preventive social activities, which, in joint activities, involve other professionals and the community. In this activity, the social worker must actively cooperate with employees of education and health care, law enforcement, employment and other fields, other social workers, organizations protecting human rights and interests, representatives, community members, volunteers.
1.1. First of all, I would like to help girls to solve problems in the current situation where they are. In this case there would be girls who are already married. I would try to find out what problems they encounter and where they get the least support from the community or family. In this case, I would offer training services. School for girls with children to continue or start the school. The goal is for young married girls to acquire education and general skills about themselves and their child as a person. The goal would be to change their habits and parenting of boys or girls as mothers or expectant mothers. Because they are the continuers of customs. The school would carry out it‘s educational functions, but also would focus on women's day care centers, where they could come with children during the day.
ReplyDelete1.2. I should get more familiar with their culture. Respect and respectfully and cautiously try to establish a good relationship with the community. Also with the local authorities, to get their support and so the community would look at me more seriously.
It's good idea about girls families helpness and community. I think your idea about women's day care centers is very actual and good.
DeleteTo establish a myriad of workshops within the NGO would be my main focus as a social worker. My first step would be to provide the girls (and boys) with individual mentors within the education realm as emphasized in Half the Sky. For example, I would install workshops on women’s rights around the globe, finances, health and nutrition, women’s health (including sexual health and pregnancy), and job skills. The mentors would always be in contact, with meeting to cover progress, setbacks, goals, and concerns.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of goals or missions for my services, they would include 1) providing the girls with reliable, efficient, and up-to-date resources on all aforementioned topics to assist them in any situation they may find themselves in, 2) providing empathetic, personable, knowledgeable, and professional mentors to ensure that each girl feels as if she has an ally that will help her ultimately learn to advocate for herself, and 3) providing a variety of informative sessions that include hands-on activities and group work as well as essential academic programs and health checkups.
Being that I am an outsider coming in, the village residents are of greater awareness of what is of necessity. The culture and values of the village may stray from my own personally or even on an organizational level, but it is of utmost importance to not impose our beliefs upon an existing culture. We may bring the resources we have to offer, but respect and cultural humility is what I believe to be the most important within our work, and will ultimately help the NGO establish rapport, trust, and real relationships with the community. Moreover, it is vital to understand the reasons as to why this practice/tradition is still followed/implemented/supported within these communities. It would be my goal as a social worker to allow the residents to voice their opinions and suggestions and have a part in this change.
I would strive to help girls and women have access to comprehensive health care and sexual education. Access to those two things will hopefully give them more support in a tricky cultural situation. Following the establishment of these two resources, I would then turn to education on a larger scale, so the whole community can learn more about the biological risks associated with child marriages. And then, of course, I would like to set up a shelter system for girls that wish to no longer be married but have no place to go.
ReplyDeleteOn top of this, I would rather look to the community for help instead of assume I knew how to best help. As a white woman born and raised in America I recognize that my knowledge of other countries is limited at best. I would rather help someone in the community spearhead these advancements than try and head them myself due to the fact that I don't have the context for these problems.
Dear Sofia B,
DeleteI like your opinion about shelters system but no need forget how many people live in that countries. I think government never give a help. So it is NVO work. With peoples must work the same countries social workers. Less stress. And education, never forget education.
Cultural customs such as girl marriage is so complex not only to grasp and understand but also to fight against. It is extremely difficult to completely put yourself into another culture’s position no matter how culturally aware you are. As someone from the US I think truly understanding this custom is really difficult because we know how wrong it is, and it is so unaccepted in our society. I would do my best to research and understand these customs before attempting to establish any type of assistance in the community.
ReplyDeleteThis is a situation where I think the power of education is so important. I think I would primarily focus on educating the girls in every way, from sex education to just regular schooling. I would want a program that makes sure these girls know they are safe there and it is an outlet for them. I would want to serve their immediate needs such as mental health. Girls in these situations have gone through some trauma that they might need help with. I would also want to find a way to help these girls get out of these bad situations. Once again, having their immediate needs met before trying to change any customs.
Another strong point also seen in Vieques, Puerto Rico (Torres, 2005) is the idea of using the communities’ strengths to work in favor of the change we want to make. If these people are very family-oriented, we can educate them on how this custom is hurting their family members. Instead of trying to change thes people we need to understand them and their culture and incorporate that into our work. We need to look at their culture through a positive lens and see what we can work with to bring about change, not just looking directly at what we want to change.
As an MSW student we are taught to “meet people where they are at”. This is especially true for when we are working with individuals who may not share the same cultural norms or beliefs as we do. Because social workers follow this “rule”, I think it is important to utilize Minkler’s (1994) “ten commitments for community health education” when brainstorming what kinds of services and type of engagement a social worker might bring to a village that had the custom of child marriage. The ten commitments include: starting where people are, recognize and build on community strengths, honor thy community but do not make it holy, foster high level community participation, “think globally, act locally”, foster individual and community empowerment, and work for social justice. Each of these “commitments” build off of one another to create the rules that social workers live, work and are bound by in our code of ethics. In order to implement services that would optimize development in this context, one must first begin with the community itself and understand the cultural norms and beliefs and the background behind them.
ReplyDeleteIn a systematic review of the literature surrounding interventions to prevent child marriage, researchers found a significant effect with conditional and unconditional “cash transfers” in reducing the proportion of children married. They found decreases with other interventions as well, but the effect was not as significant(Kalamar et. al. 2016). While life skills and school support is necessary to support these children as they are forced into these practices and lifestyles, there seems to be promising evidence of giving people money to keep their children in school and/or based on the sole presence of keeping your child in their originating home to decrease child marriage and increase the overall age of individuals who are married. However, I have concerns about “throwing money” at people to change a deeply entrenched cultural value. Is this overlooking the other reasons why child marriage occurs? In the video, it does seem that many families use child marriage as a way to get another person in the household to help with the work. In this case, monetary compensation for having your child go through school and remain in the home may compensate for that. Either way, any processes to set up these services or monetary compensations must look at these factors to ensure that it doesn't cause other issues for the community or the people, presently or in the future.
Kalamar, A. M., Lee-Rife, S., & Hindin, M. J. (2016). Interventions to prevent child marriage among young people in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review of the published and gray literature. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(3), S16-S21.
Minkler, M. (1994). Ten commitments for community health education. Health education research, 9(4), 527-534.
I wanted to answer this question a little out of order, as I believe it is imperative to look to the community in order to gain an understanding of programs and services that may best fit in this area. Through communication with the community, especially those that are oppressed by the child marriages, can help identify areas that would be effective in providing services for first. In Half the Sky, they discuss unleashing a women’s potential. This potential through conversations of community members can more easily be unlocked through conversation.
ReplyDeleteThrough these conversations, services that may be provided can range from education to more physical items. The education services that I would like to see provided is health and sex education for not only the women, but the men in the community as well. This education may not come all at once, and through informed collaboration with the community can be initiated over an appropriate amount of time. Physical items that come to mind are items for safe sex practices all the way to documents that can be used as a safety plan for the girls within the community who wish to escape certain situations. These safety plans need to come with certain safety’s such as a shelter that they are able to go to, safe transportation, and other available resources, so when they leave they have a safe place to go.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteThe website, Too Young to Wed, illuminates the grave and sad reality of millions of girls who are victims of the practice of child marriage. In fact, according to Unicef, worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. More than one in three (about 250 million) entered into union before age 15.
In poor communities, all over the world, where a girl is often a burden to poor parents who are barely able to make ends meet, child marriage is not an option but a necessity for survival. Even though young boys are also married as childern, girls are affected disproportionately, and are often married off to considerably older men.
The vignettes on the website offter a glimpse of the atrocities suffered by the young girls who are forced to marry at an age when they should be freely playing and going to school. As the photo journalist, Stephanie Sinclair explains, these early marriages “often result in abusive and even deadly consequences.” However, families in places such as India, Afghanistan and Ethiopia still consider this practice a better option for their young girls, who, they fear, will otherwise be raped and then marred for life. Child marriage also may mean new and profiting family alliances for poor parents and a way to ensure that their other children can be fed and kept alive.
A unifying and prevailing them in each of the stories highlighted in the National Geographic special “Too Young to Wed”, is that of education – both the denial of education (by parents, the future husbands and in-laws and entire communities) and the desire to be educated (by the young girls). As a social worker in one of these villages, I would work to ensure that girls are being educated and help families find ways to send their daughters to school. Often, poor families cite the cost and lack of accessibility to nearby schools as reasons for their inability to continue sending their girl children to school. They also seem to undervalue girls’ education, seeing it only as a luxury that more wealthy people can afford, and as unnecessary, since their daughters are simply to be married off one day.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteGiven the above, education in these villages have to be on all levels. Educating parents about the benefits of education for their girls is as essential as educating the girls. Parents have to be taught that when girls are allowed to be girls, everybody wins. That empowered and educated girls are better able to nourish and care for their children, when they do get married and have families of their own. They also have to be taught about the dangers of child marriage and that ending child marriage will help disrupt the intergenerational cycle of poverty by allowing girls and women to participate more fully, in society.
In addition to educating girls and parents about their rights and ensure that every girl child receives proper education of a certain level, it is also important, in this context, to provide sexual and reproductive health education to girls and women. To prevent unwanted pregnancies or complications or death while giving birth and to help those girls who have abusive or difficult sexual and birth experiences, sexual and reproductive health should be mandatory and incorporated early into a girl’s education.
Finally, another very important service should be that of medical outreach to families with young brides. The inevitability that a girl child will get married at an inappropriate and medically unhealthy age in these places cannot be ignored. By understanding that this result may be possible, it is imperative that medical care be available and accessible to these girls and young women. One such example, in “Half the Sky” is HEAL Africa, an organization that covers expenses for travel and medical care for women who were physically damaged from rape.
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Graca Machel note, “child marriage happens because adults believe they have the right to impose marriage upon a child. This denies children, particularly girls, their dignity and the opportunity to make choices that are central to their lives, such as when and whom to marry or when to have children. Choices define us and allow us to realise our potential. Child marriage robs girls of this chance.” In creating education opportunities for girl children and women in such villages, we, as social workers, have to remember that we, too, can often impose our thinking and behaviors upon those we are trying to help. By doing that, we, too, become perpetrators of denying people their human rights and self-determination.
Part 3
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, by only seeing the practice of child marriage as inhume and “wrong” without understanding the entire cultural context of and reasons for the ritual, we cannot provide effective and relevant solutions to these families and girls. In any service that we, as social workers, provide, we have to be inclusive of the very people we are hoping to help; and allow them to be a part of the process and solution. As witnessed in Tostan (Kristof & WuDunn, 2009) by enlisting the help village leaders and others from the community and allowing them to make their own choices, they were successful in discarding the practice of female, genital mutilation. In Vieques (Torres, 2005), it was the convergence of a coalition of civil society faith organizations, community groups, labor unions, academic institutions and individuals that allowed for the creation of lasting changes for women.
In both of the examples, above, it is the multi-dimensional cooperation for peace-building, that social work can organize, that brought positive peace to these communities. What I have taken from these examples is that for campaigns to be successful, in the very least, a true, bi-directional dialogue has to be sought between those advocating for the oppressed (i.e. social workers) and the oppressed (the girls and women being forced into child marriage). And, for changes to last, social workers have to fully understand the context in which they are working and, if necessary, eschew their own beliefs and embrace other realities. It is in this abandonment of one’s learned ideas and the openness to someone else’s truth, that one can become truly effective in bringing meaningful and lasting change.
Thanking you for sharing great post on social worker work. I am a social worker providing social service to the women and children.
ReplyDeleteSorry, what kind social service to the women and children?
Delete1/2Some parts of the video Too Young to Wed were extremely hard to watch. However, by watching those videos, I not only expanded my knowledge about the topic of child marriage, but also developed some understanding on ways to implement services when working to help young girls and women on a global level. Learning more about the struggles millions of girls and women face each day, the lack of educational and economic opportunities for growth, and the frequency of physical and sexual violent incidents young women encounter regularly demonstrated the need for global social workers' involvement.
ReplyDeleteWhile working to identify services I would create when working as an NGO social worker in a village that has the custom of child marriage, I initially would focus on spending time in the village, learning more about culture, traditions, values, and beliefs. In addition to the need of having comprehensive knowledge about the topic of child marriage, prior to developing and implementing programs and services to help girls and women who are and have been affected by child marriage, it is crucial for NGO workers to spend time in various communities and villages, learning about traditions, customs, and beliefs, listening to community members and their needs, providing opportunities for people to express their opinions, and seeking to understand the issue through the eyes of the people who reside in those villages.
However, for the purpose of this assignment and thinking about ways to expand girls' development, the services I would strive to create would involve working with young girls, parents, and married women. The main goal of these services would be to empower and educate. The general services would include providing education to women and girls on the importance of continuing education, ways to protect themselves, and negative consequences of child marriage. Osakinle (2015) describes lack of educational opportunities as "one of the most cruel injustices" young girls experience (p. 18). Lack of education leads to financial dependence and powerlessness. Furthermore, since young girls are forced to drop out of schools, the chance for living in poverty increases (Osakinle, E. O., et al, 2015). Education can act as a protective factor in expanding young girls' development.
2/2First, the services would focus on providing general education to girls and increasing their knowledge about ways to utilize their education for personal and professional growth. Furthermore, as an NGO worker, I would strive to create opportunities for education after young girls reach middle school. One of the videos, mentioned lack of opportunities for education after middle school and challenges associated with trying to receive further education. Moreover, long commutes and possible encounters with physical and sexual violence act as barriers in furthering education. Osakinle (2015) emphasizes the importance of the secondary schooling with girls in reducing child marriage. Creating more opportunities for further education close to villages the girls live in would not only decrease chances of violence and traumatic experiences but would also empower girls by providing opportunities for employment and financial independence in the future.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, as an NGO worker I would strive to educate parents and families on topics that might help them protect their girls. The services would include education on negative physical and emotional harms of child marriage, effective ways to protect their children, the role of education in increasing chances for employment and decreasing financial dependence on their husbands. In my opinion, services involving educating not only young girls, but also their parents and families could play an important role in reducing parents' fears regarding the need for their children to marry and expanding young girls' development by having the support of their families.
Additionally, I would strive to focus on creating services to assist girls who are already married. For example, one of the videos showed a married 14 year- old pregnant girl, who appeared very confused when asked if she thinks she will be receiving any help. Even though these services would not directly affect young girls before getting married, creating services for married girls would create more opportunities for support and education. Thus, might indirectly impact young girls' and their families' views on child marriage. Education services would include information about pregnancy, possible pregnancy complications, child baring, and reproductive health. Promoting positive mother children relationship might positive affect children.
2. When establishing services and programs to assist girls and women of child marriage, it is crucial to set processes not only to evaluate those services, but also to continue ensuring the effectiveness of those services. Additionally, in order to ensure the effectiveness of services, it is important to implement processes that support communities by respecting inhabitants' thoughts, behaviors, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and traditions. By establishing evaluation processes, NGO workers could ensure the effectiveness and positive results.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, in order to have effective services, as an NGO worker, I would work to focus on individual and community relationships and strengths. Torres (2005) suggests that "building and recognizing community strengths" plays a vital role in maintaining effective services (p. 10). Since every village and community has strengths, NGO workers can utilize activities to raise awareness of those strengths. Furthermore, Torres (2005) emphasizes the importance of empowerment when implementing effective services. When working as an NGO worker, to build effective and culturally sensitive and respectful services, raising awareness of strengths and empowering inhabitants is essential.