Melinda French Gates, the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Michelle Obama - former US First Lady - and Amal Clooney, a human rights lawyer, on Wednesday, March 8, raised the alarm over the increasing number of child marriages in Kenya.
Speaking to Time, a US-based news outlet, the trio highlighted stories of Kenyan women, Kakenya Ntaiya and Miriam, who went through harrowing events to escape getting married off and undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
According to Michelle, Miriam ran away from home at 11 years, after finishing Grade Four, in fear of getting married off.
Michelle detailed that Miriam’s father, who was also the breadwinner, died in an accident, and her family offered her to raise money through a dowry.
She, however, sought refuge at Kakenya Ntaiya's home, which also acts as a school for girls at risk of child marriage.
“Stories like Miriam’s highlight why child marriage remains one of the greatest threats to girls’ education and empowerment worldwide.
“Each year, an estimated 12 million girls around the world are married under the age of 18 years old,” Michelle stated.
The story of Miriam was all too familiar to Kakenya, who, at 12 years old, agreed to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) in exchange for completing her education.
When her father allowed her to attend school, Kakenya started an organisation to protect girls from child marriages and abuse.
Through their foundations, Michelle, Melinda and Amal developed three strategies to encourage governments worldwide and private organisations to help young girls evade similar predicaments.
Take Legal Action
The first strategy suggested was taking legal action to advocate for the right of young girls.
“This can be done by reforming discriminatory laws and ensuring that women and girls can access legal information and services to exercise their rights.
“Often, girls themselves lead efforts to reform these laws and increase their access to education,” the article by Time read in part.
Invest in Education
An alternative was equipping girls and families to prevent child marriage by championing their education.
According to the advocates, keeping girls, especially in secondary school, was one of the surest ways to prevent child marriages for many generations.
“When girls are educated, they succeed. And in turn, we all do,” noted the article.
Support grassroots Organisations.
According to the leaders, grassroots organisations had proven their ability to change the hearts and minds of the people in communities.
“Their approach of these organisations is to coach girls through the process of self-advocacy and help them avoid marrying until they are ready,” they noted.
