Moral Basis for opposing child marriage Sample Clauses

Moral Basis for opposing child marriage. The Sacred Child Although instrumentalist justifications against child marriage gained prominence after 2008, the moral basis has hardly disappeared. Moral justifications against child marriage are derived from a general human rights agenda. The fact that children are involved makes a strong case for the movement, for children are seen as having special moral status. In this regard, the movement emphasizes the fact that marriage happens to children and robs them from a normal childhood. Another basis of moral justification is the presentation of the issue as an apolitical one. The movement, emphasizing helping children, seeks to present the issue as above and beyond political divides. Below, I first discuss how a specific conception of childhood is the key to moral justifications of the movement. Then I discuss how the movement constructs itself as an apolitical one to gain more moral authority. The development community frames child marriage as an agency-depriving practice which “robs girls of their ability to reach their full potential” (Mathur et al, 2005: 4). Not only can girls not resist their families’ decisions since they are not autonomous, but because they get married when they are children, they experience further difficulties in becoming autonomous individuals. Because of child marriage, girls are “isolated, often with their freedom curtailed, frequently feel disempowered.” (“What is the Impact?” 2017). On the other hand, child marriage itself is a problem that originates from the fact that girls/children are not regarded as autonomous individuals in the first place. Their decisions, dreams, and aspirations are not respected. By contrast, for the development community, girls’ dreams and aspirations should be validated. As mentioned above, girls/children are constructed as inherently knowing what is good for them. If left to themselves, they will make the right choices for their lives. Most of the time what they wish to do is to continue their education, be involved in the arts, or just be able to play. The anti-child marriage movement’s representation of ideal childhood most certainly involves being in school. The “girl’ in Girls Not Brides almost always refer to a girl with a school uniform. Although education is often seen as a means to an end, i.e., higher earnings, a better job, or being a healthier mother, it also implies a stage in life when one’s job is simply “learning.” Here learning is construed as valuable for its own sake: Child marr...