In West Africa, many girls will be missing when the new school term begins because they will have been married during the holidays.
Child marriage can be both a cause and a consequence of girls’ lack of access to education. They may drop out of school because they are forced to marry, or they may be married off because they do not have the opportunity to attend school.
According to UNICEF, West and Central Africa have the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. In this region, four out of 10 girls are married before the age of 18.
Absétou* from Côte d’Ivoire and Bibata from Burkina Faso all dreamt of continuing their education. Through resistance, activism, and resilience, they tell their stories.
“From the moment I refused to get married, I was beaten everyday”
Absétou*, from Côte d’Ivoire, resisted the marriage her father tried to force upon her when she was still just a teenager. Now aged 29, she wants to marry a man of her own choosing.
“When I was 14, my father wanted to marry me off to a cousin who was in his thirties. He’d started making arrangements for the wedding behind my back; I realized he’d already bought the fabric to have the wedding clothes made.
I refused to go through with the marriage, telling my father that I wanted to continue my studies. I knew my rights because we were taught about them at school. At 14, I already had plans to become a midwife. From the moment I refused to get married, my father would send people to find me on my way to school, beat me, and drag me back home by force. I was beaten every day, and sometimes I wasn’t given anything to eat.
At the start of the following school year, my father didn’t pay my school fees. My mother said she couldn’t afford to help me; she was desperate. In our family, the mother has no say. I was suffering and crying every day.
My father can no longer stand in my way.
Survivor of early and forced marriage Absétou*
I went to see my English teacher to explain my situation, and he put me in touch with the people at Amnesty. I went to ask them for help. When they came to see my father, he refused to see them. In the end, my father threw me out of the house. Thanks to the support of Amnesty and the Ministry of Education, I was able to attend secondary school and, after my final examination, I went to live with a mentor and I trained as a midwife.
Even today, my relationship with my father is not good. When I visit him, we say hello but we don’t speak beyond that. I’m going to choose my own husband and organize my own wedding; that’s what I want, and my father can no longer stand in my way.
My little sister also refused the marriage our father wanted to force upon her, and he kicked her out of the house too, so she came to live with me. I ran a small business to pay for her school fees. My father no longer speaks to her at all.
I have been working as a state-registered midwife for three years now, and I am proud of my profession. As part of my work, I meet women who have been victims of violence. Some have been forced into marriage, others have undergone female genital mutilation; they tell me about their problems. I take the time to listen to these women and give them advice. Sometimes, when I think about them and what I’ve been through, I cry.
Early marriage is not a good thing. We need to raise awareness amongst parents and ask young girls what they want for their future. I encourage them to fight for themselves.”
*Name has been changed
‘I won’t let that happen again’
Believing that she could continue her studies, Bibata got married when she was 22 and left her home country, Burkina Faso, to go and live in Côte d’Ivoire with her husband. Now aged 27, the Burkinabè woman has had to return to her home country.
“When I was at secondary school, my parents told me they could no longer afford to pay for my education. A young man told me he would pay for it if I agreed to marry him. I accepted his proposal because it would allow me to go back to school, and that was very important to me!
When I left with my husband for Côte d’Ivoire, I took all my schoolbooks with me. But once we’d settled in, he never mentioned school again. I realized he’d lied to me.
He didn’t look after me, even when I was ill. For two years, I spent my days doing housework and at night I couldn’t sleep because my legs hurt so much. I was very ill, I lost a lot of weight… I decided to leave before I lost my life there.
I didn’t have any money to get back to Burkina Faso, but one of my former classmates who’d settled in Abidjan helped me out, and I was finally able to return to my parents’ home.
Now I know that, in a relationship, you need communication and honesty right from the start; each person needs to understand the other’s expectations. My husband may have had problems, but he didn’t talk about them and made me pay the price. After what I’ve been through, I won’t let that happen again.
I haven’t been able to go back to my studies yet. For the time being, I’m helping my parents in the fields. What I’d like to see is women being helped to set up businesses so they can earn an income. When women work, they can get by even without their husbands’ support. Women need to take matters into their own hands.”
Amnesty International is working with partner organizations and communities to put an end to early and forced marriage in West Africa. Through a human rights education programme implemented since 2017 in Burkina Faso, Senegal and Sierra Leone, the organization is working to combat gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage. In Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, the human rights organization campaigns to advance girls’ rights and carries out awareness-raising and educational activities about early and forced marriage at community level.