Covid-19: Pandemic “pushing” Mozambican girls into premature marriage

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Covid-19: Pandemic “pushing” Mozambican girls into premature marriage

3:35 CAT | 13 Oct 2020

File photo: RFI/Cristiana Soares

Mozambican civic organizations warned this Monday that the novel coronavirus was pushing girls into premature marriages to “guarantee food for the family”.

The scourge of premature marriage already affects almost half of girls in the country, even without Covid-19.

“Many families have lost their source of income [with the pandemic] and their daughters are going to be pushed into premature marriages. The longer the girl is at home, the greater her exposure to this danger,” says Santos Simione, representative of the Coalition for the Elimination of Premature Unions (CECAP).

According to community organisations, the novel coronavirus has had a “very big” impact on girls in Mozambique, who suffer “pressure” from their parents and are often forced to marry.

Simione was speaking at a press conference in Maputo on International Girl’s Day, Sunday, celebrated this year under the motto, “My Voice, Our Equal Future”.

“It is she [the girl] who, at some point, has to look for food for the family and sometimes. To get it, her choices are limited, and one of the issues ends up being marriage,” says Santos Simione.

“The pandemic is exacerbating the issue of premature marriages. Many parents have lost income and the solution is to marry their daughters,” programme director at Plan International Rosária Mabica says.

According to CECAP, Mozambique continues to record one of the highest rates of premature marriage, with about 48% of girls getting married before they are 18.

In addition to premature marriage, rape, early pregnancy, mistreatment, forced labour and difficulties in accessing education are other challenges that girls face in Mozambique, and which have also gotten worse with Covid-19.

“Many girls, because they are at home, do not have time to concentrate on their studies, because all household chores fall upon them,” Mabica says. “If our girls face multiple dilemmas even in normal times, imagine the situation with Covid-19. The challenges have only increased.”

Source: Lusa