• if a girl is married off, her right to education is violated, and the trickledown effect is that she will not be able to realise her full potential and attain economic independence.
By MIRIAM ZIMBA
HISTORICALLY, initiation ceremonies that entail the rites of passage of girls into womanhood were largely associated with marriage.
For most traditions in Zambia, this meant when a girl came of age which usually happened during her adolescent years, she would be handed over to a traditional counselor in order to be initiated into womanhood.
This initiation is characterised by teachings which are done in seclusion, and could last between a few days, to about a month or so, depending on the cultural inclination of the girl.
It is during these secluded teachings that the young girl is taught among other teachings; hygiene, respect for elders, lady-like behaviour and many other aspects of related to her gender and age.
In some cultures, the girls are taught marriage etiquette as well as how to sexually appease a husband.
After weeks or days of these secluded sessions, the girl is then brought out in public on a selected day, in order for her to showcase some of the teachings she had learnt whilst in seclusion.
This event is usually characterised by song and dance, and many spectators and family members shower the young girl with both material and monetary gifts.
Because this celebration is open to the public, a lot of families also encourage their sons, some of whom may be well-over adolescence to attend.
The reason behind this is simple-he that seeks a bride to marry, would easily pick from the many adolescent girls who would have recently acquired ‘the rites of passage into womanhood’.
In fact, a lot of the women of the older generation were married off as adolescents (many of them as young as 13 years) after such initiation ceremonies, after being identified as brides by their suitors.
These are practices which span of many generations and are still being practiced in many cultures across the country today.
Traditional leaders are seen to be the custodians of culture and tradition, and it is within their mandate to ensure that as the world evolves, their subjects do not lose touch with their way of life.
On face value, the role they play has many positive effects on society, but some negative vestiges of cultural practices, have necessitated the need to be addressed since they are detrimental to society.
The biggest question that begs an answer therefore remains, ‘do traditional practices such as initiation ceremonies promote the incidence of child marriages? Is it true that when children undergo these traditional initiations they are prompted to get married in order to practice what they learn?’
The unfortunate reality is that child marriages are deeply-rooted and entrenched in many African cultures, which wrongly accept them as normal cultural practices.
To the contrary, child marriage is a social ill, and has received wide condemnation by the international society, human rights activists, the church, governments, and many other institutions and bodies.
According to statistics, it is estimated that about 700 million women and girls across the globe were married off before their 18th birthday.
In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region in particular drivers of child marriages include oppressive and discriminative customary practices that promote the vice.
When girls are turned into wives, and become mothers, several of their rights are violated.
The worst aspect is that they are condemned to a life of poverty and being secondary citizens, while their rights to education and right to protection against all forms of violence are violated for a period of time.
The long term impact of this is not limited to the girl child, when she becomes a woman, but extends to the family and society in which she lives.
For example, if a girl is married off, her right to education is violated, and the trickledown effect is that she will not be able to realise her full potential and attain economic independence.
This makes it difficult for her to leave an abusive relationship for fear of facing hardships, and further, she will not be able to provide for her family instances where the husband is unable or when he dies.
Ultimately, this contributes to increase in poverty levels in those societies.
Because child marriage is being widely recognised as a social ill, which is retrogressive to socio-economic development of children, especially the girl child; traditionalists have also taken a firm approach to calls to end the practice.
Zambia National Traditional Counselors Association (ZNTCA) chairperson Iress Phiri explains that as times change, even the teachings of traditional counselors to initiate girls at puberty should be tailored to ensure that the information and teachings are age-appropriate.
“It is not good to empower young people with knowledge about marriage with the view of marrying them off at a tender age.”
“Our tradition today has changed, this is the era of modern culture where we as traditional counselors are supposed to learn so many things and teach the young people only with knowledge that is age appropriate for them,” she stressed.
Zambia recently hosted a SADC traditional leader’s workshop aimed at mapping the way forward to end child marriage.
During this workshop, 26 traditional leaders from region made their commitment through a jointly signed declaration to end child marriages in their respective countries.
In the preamble of this declaration, the traditional leaders from Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe made the declaration as an embodiment of their commitment to ending child marriages in the four countries.
They resolved to advocate for the increase in the age for marriage from 18 years to 21 years in order to safeguard the physical, psychological and social development of a girl child.
They also resolved to promote behaviour and attitude change that support social transformation to ensure better education for girls.
“We shall advocate for the inclusion of positive cultural values which promote community ownership of children, protect and promote the life and dignity of girls in our respective countries.”
“We shall introduce by-laws in our chiefdoms to abolish negative cultural, traditional and customary practices that promote child marriages,” they decreed.
Speaking during this event, Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II of Chongwe district recognised child marriage as a pertinent issue which requires urgent intervention.
According to the Chieftainess, child marriage deprives children, especially the girl child the opportunity to realise their full potential and exposes them continued poverty and abuses.
She said many child brides are unable to opt out of abusive marriages, while many of them are faced with high poverty levels owing to their low education levels.
“It is our duty as traditional leaders to fight this. Most of the girls who are affected are found in rural areas, since our chiefdoms are vast. Some of the facilities that should help protect our girls from this vice are not present in the chiefdoms.”
“I would like to be one of the traditional leaders here in Zambia and in the SADC region that will contribute towards creating solutions that will end child marriages, and therefore, I want girls in my chiefdom to be girls and not brides,” she adds.
She urged fellow traditional leaders to work closely with government and its partners in finding lasting solutions.
The traditional leaders also affirmed the traditional leaders’ realisation of the importance of protecting girl children.
Many children today are wives and mothers to fellow children, and even if some of the African cultures and traditions may allow such vices as being normal, time has come to turn the situation around.
With commitments such as those being reaffirmed by traditional leaders in the region, it is hoped that culture and tradition will no longer be cited as an excuse to promote negative practices that drive child marriage.
