EDHS Contemporary World Affairs

Date: Sep 24, 2009

12 year old girls getting married

SaraMouradian · Veteran Member

I think that they should follow their cultural practice and do what they have always done.

Brenna · Veteran Member

there should definitely be an age minimum required for young girls to get married. i think no younger than 16 at least if not older than that.

JosephAmato · Senior Member

I think they should stay with there culture but I also think that they should have some sort of a limit in the age for marriage.

alison abuhamad · Senior Member

I dont think girls should be getting married that young, but its hard to change traditions that have been going on for so long and also change peoples way of thinking. The goverment should gradually start changing the rules on marriage so it doesnt turn into chaos.

meganorr · Senior Member

I forgot to log in, i posted this one. sorry!

KingsFanAshley · Senior Member

Every culture has traditions that are important them that just seem strange or immorally wrong to others. Although this seems inappropriate to us Americans, it is a cultural practice that has gone on for years and should therefore be continuously practiced, as long as the young citizens are not being FORCED into marriage or being "assigned" a partner.

DerChancellorJake · Guru

This is definitely young. While they should stick to their cultural laws, (except the ones stating that they should bomb America) they also should have some sort of limitations on the youngness of brides.

ruby_h · Veteran Member

While I understand that girls getting married young is a cultural practice in this area, there are plenty of horrible cultural practices; that's not an excuse. People in the Southern states of the U.S. defended African slavery as a "cultural practice".

The fact that they are being married so young makes me wonder if they are even consenting to these marriages. It is harmful to the girls' mental and emotional well- being to be married to older men (some of them whom already have multiple wives) at such a young age, and it's especially physically harmful for them to give birth so young.

meganorr · Senior Member

the girls are being forced into marriage by their families, often sold so the family can have money. Its not just a "cultural" thing anymore. It has turned into families' means of getting money. HALF of Yemeni girls are married before they are 18, and often abused. Plus young girls (15 and younger) are 5x more likely to die during pregnancy than women in their 20's. Some some girls as young as 10 are already getting pregnant, and dying.

While they should stick to their cultural laws, (except the ones stating that they should bomb America)"

There are no laws that say that, and by making a comment about that you perpetuate the hate of any foreign culture.

KaileyLemieux · Senior Member

This law stemmed from a 12 year old girl, forced to marry a 24 year old man, who died along with her baby while giving birth. Many young girls who fall victim to this tradition are raped by their much older husbands. This is absolutely wrong and there should definitely be a minimum age, which I believe they attempted to set at 17. These girls should be able to make their own major life decisions.

artferrand · Senior Member

Thats just wrong

YGfamily · Senior Member

it's terrible, but what can we honestly do about how the culture works :( it's really depressing reading these kind of stories. i remember when someone younger than 12 had to get married to someone who could be her grandpa. i hope the parliament can do something about it though.

Kommandant_Karl · Guru

Being that age is just to young too marry. I completely disagree with it but its their country I guess.

Carolanne_Hunt · Senior Member

I think that if the girls are not being forced into marriage then it is ok. It wouldnt be right to change a culturla practice just becuase you think getting married too young is wrong. However, i can definitely see how disgusting it would be for a 12 year old girl to marry some one who is even 10 years older than her. There is a big difference in maturity level there and another HUGE difference is physical maturity. So i think they should maybe put an age limit like 18 on getting married to a person who is 5 + years older than they are. I that way (for the most part) it would solve the problem of girls being forced into marriage.

meganorr · Senior Member

Jake, it also says in the old testament(Deuteronomy) to put to death non beleivers. Its not just a belief Islam. But either way that that has nothing to do with marriage.

meganorr · Senior Member

its not just an Islamic belief*

jallen · Senior Member

"Bombing America", or even "taking up arms against the disbelievers", is not a cultural law. The US is considered to be a "Christian nation" by most, but do you see people following the Bible's commandments word for word?

Just because the Qu'ran gives the aforementioned command does not make it a cultural law.

To answer the question now... I believe that this is too young to be married, personally. However, there are plenty of cultural practices around the world with which I disagree because I am so accustomed to the United States' customs. I would obviously prefer if they had an age limit, even if it were just a custom rather than a law, but if it is considered acceptable there than it is highly unlikely that it will be changed.

jaquelynn16 · Senior Member

getting married is a very big commitment. and if it is an aranged marrige, it makes it all the more harder. i think that the government should try and stop 12 years olds from being married so young, its not healthy and they barly know whats going on in the world. to delay the marrige until at least 16 seems more reasonable.

meganorr · Senior Member

You could say the same thing about christians. If we were truly "real" christians we would be killing all non beleivers; according to what you say. Even though we are much more modern than the middle east, they still have morals. Just because a group of extremists are willing to kill infidels, you cannot even begin to label all muslims as full of hate and violence.

jallen · Senior Member

I think you're mistaking "law" with "practice". You know that the groups who "take up arms" in the name of Allah are extremists who most Muslims are actually ashamed of, for lack of a better term, right?

A religious "law" and a religious "practice" are two entirely different things. And in this case, it is not only NOT a law, but is BARELY practiced by a handful of extremists.

Just like the Christians who preach "God hates gays", this group is very small and does not reflect the views of the entire religion.

alexiis · Veteran Member

I think that they should keeping their law. As long as we don't do it in America.

LegsMcgee · Veteran Member

that sounds way young to be getting married but if thats the way they want to do things i guess thats up to them

artferrand · Senior Member

If it's a tradition over there then let them do whatever they want i guess

Bridget C · Senior Member

I respect that this is a cultural practice in that part of the world. However, I think that some kind of age limit needs to be put on marriages. Twelve is simply much too young for a girl to be emotionally ready to accept the gravity of the situation of marriage.

Kommandant_Karl · Guru

Cultural law or not. Its way to young. They really need a law preventing such actions.

jallen · Senior Member

This is true Karl. As much as I feel that its just a part of their culture, the more I think about it, the less it makes sense. Hopefully the government there will be able to pass and enforce some sort of law increasing the age limit.

Unfortunately, without at least some separation of church and state, its going to be extremely difficult to pass this sort of law.

Kommandant_Karl · Guru

Got to agree with jallen. This isn't going to happen anytime soon so don't hold your breathe.