It’s one of the least known scourges of our times – early and forced marriage. Child marriage for short.
The average American does not know that in the developing world, 1 in 7 girls are forced to marry before their 15th birthday. That’s 10 million per year, with some girl brides as young as eight or nine. Worse? The husbands are often much older --30, 40 and even 50 years old.
In 2011, world leaders like Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, and Desmond Tutu said “Enough!” They formed a global partnership called Girls Not Brides. It’s grown like wildfire to include over 180 organizations working to end child marriage** all over the world.
Now, in conjunction with the first ever International Day of the Girl Child on October 11th, the U.S. members of Girls Not Brides are spearheading an effort to raise awareness and about child marriage and pressure the U.S. administration to increase political and financial investments to end this awful tradition.
Jennifer Redner is a US Policy Consultant at Good Works Group Inc. and Co Chair of Girls Not Brides USA. Jennifer joins host Catherine Bradford to talk about International Day of the Girl Child and the compelling and often shocking issue of child marriage.
Please join me for this important conversation!!! Together we can change what has never been acceptable!
Girls Not Brides: http://girlsnotbrides.org
Day of the Girl: http://dayofthegirl.org