Abstract

Most of the times married girls lack the ability to negotiate freely about the sexual activity, contraceptive uses, birth spacing with their husbands sometimes about using protections also. A woman's forced silence on issues pertaining to childrearing affects the lives of her children before they are even born, because of her lack of voice and agency in reproductive decisions, including the timing, spacing, and number of children. The impacts carry through her children's upbringing and into their adult lives, family formation, and the generation they, in turn, raise. In this way child marriage reinforces inequitable gender norms among the next generation, which can result in reduced community investments in social services and programs that might increase her children's chances of success in the future. In addition to the individual and intergenerational effects of reduced voice and agency, constraining women's and girls' voice and agency contributes to losses in productivity and has long-term effects for development goals. The lack of voice and agency in household decision-making and civic participation that typically accompanies child marriage also limits girls' input into community and national decision-making. Research suggests that women's greater involvement in political decision-making increases the likelihood of greater investment in social services, including those directly related to economic growth, such as education.

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