EFFECT OF EARLY MARRIAGE ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF A GIRL-CHILD IN NIGERIA
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Marriage is the oldest institution in the world it was instituted by God Himself in the Garden of Eden. Marriage was not the idea of any man. It was the original idea of God Almighty. God felt the need for marriage and instituted it “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a help meet for him” Genesis chapter 2 verse 18.
Since then man and women alike have always tried to live in the companion of each other because they are created social beings. Marriage can also be defined as a union between a man and a woman to become husband and wife with the above definition. Marriage is meant for mature men and women and not for boys and girls because they cannot yet cope with the challenges of marital life. Early marriage, therefore, is defined as a union of a boy and a girl and a man to become husband and wife below the age of 18 years.
In the light of this study, when a girl below the age of 18, engages herself in marriage it is referred to as “Early Marriage”. Finally to correct this social problem among this group of people is the reason why this study becomes important.
Statement of the Problem
The incident of early marriage in recent times has been on the increase in Nigeria despite all the enlightenment, campaigns, and awareness through formal and informal education. In Lagos State for instance, where almost all the ethnic groups in Nigeria are represented, it is a common thing to see young girls with their children on their backs hawking different ware in the neighborhood.
Some have become more or fewer baby factories. There are still others who are maltreated and restricted by their husbands from selling or doing any types of work that can fetch them money… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Research Objectives
- To find out what are the perceived causes of early marriage… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Research Significance
It is hoped that this study will enable Nigerian parents to give equal opportunities to the training of their children instead of giving the girls away in marriage prematurely. It is also hoped that the study will enable Nigeria law-makers at all levels of government to enact laws that will make early marriage a punishable offense… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
LITERATURE REVIEW
Characteristics of Early Marriage
UNICEF (2005) holds that the proportion of women aged 20 – 24 married before the age of 18 tends to be higher in rural areas than the urban areas. UNICEF (2005) also gathered that it does not appear to be a trend of urban/rural difference in the proportion of women married at 18 related to the national level of child Marriage, the association varies among countries and across the spectrum of national prevalence.
For example in Chad, where 71% of women aged 20 – 24 were in the union by age of 18, living in an urban area was not a highly predictive factor; 65% of urban women aged 20 – 24 were married by age of 18 compared to 74% of rural women. Similarly, the national rate of women aged 20 – 24 married by age of 18 Namibia, (10%) was significantly lower than in Chad.
The rate of rural to urban early Marriage level for this cohort was the same as that seen in Chad (0.88). High urban/rural differences are seen in Senegal where 15% of urban and 53% of rural women were in the union by age of 18, and in Peru, where 12% of urban women and 35% of rural women aged of 20 – 24 were in the union by age of 18, urban women were more likely than their rural peers to have been married before age of 18 in Rwanda and Turkmenistan.
Six countries (Nambia, Peru, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, and Indonesia) were found to get their girls in union more frequently in rural areas among the poor families than the urban areas (UNICEF, 2005). Iheanacho (2002) discovered that only 19.3% of rural girls completed their secondary education, while the majority 45.61% of the girls in rural did not enroll in secondary education and 4.04% drop out in Borno State, although it is slightly better with urban areas in Lagos. Iheanacho (2002) also discovered that urban areas 10.81% drop out in school and 23.87% completed secondary school.
This is an indication that girl child education is still not encouraging… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study adopted a survey research design and collected information influence of early Marriage on the educational and socio-economic development of students in Yaba Local Government Area of Lagos. According to Lere, Danduhun, and Bulus (2002) survey research is to describe, examine, and establish the present situation or condition of selected people or events.
Moreover, this type of design is interested in some characteristics of the population from which intensive studies were drowned such as age, number of siblings, educational qualification, and the like. These enable the researcher to collect information that helps him analyzed and draw a conclusion on the generalization of the targeted population on the influence of early Marriage on their educational and vocational aspiration.
Population and Sample
The targeted population of this study was all students who attained their first menstrual period and married women in Yaba Local Government Area of Lagos from SSS1 – SSS3. Purposive random sampling technique was used to get the sample population of 50 respondents… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The data collected from the field was presented and the results were discussed in accordance with the four questions raised, in the study in tabular form using descriptive statistics of frequency distribution, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The data were further subjected to a reliability test, using Kuder – Richardson’s Method. The estimate of reliability (K21) was 0.97, and this showed that the instrument is consistent in measurement.
Characteristics of the Respondents who marry Early
- Marital Status
The majority (68%) of the respondents were married. This showed that people in Lagos partake in early Marriage. An only handful number of them were single (10%) and 24%of them were divorcee and widows.
- Age
The age distribution from table 4.1.1 shows that the majority of the respondents (70%) were youth aging between 24 – 29 years, and they were married at the age of 15 – 17 years… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
The majority of the respondents were married women, which married at the age of 15 – 17 years, and the dominant religion was Islam. It can be concluded that the majority of the respondents married early. From the findings of this study, it can also be concluded that early Marriage influenced the educational and socio-economic development of the respondents negatively.
The mean and the standard deviation of the responses were having slight variation and therefore, the data fitted well. Early Marriage in the study area was not devoid of constraints and benefits. Certain constraints and benefits were revealed and the major ones were early Marriage stops women from pursuing their dreams and early Marriage prevents fornication respectively.
Recommendations
Based on the findings, the following were recommended;
- As part of intervention measures, the Government should improve the educational activities by allowing the people in this location to partake in This can be achieved, if the government built schools that are made only for married women in the study… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
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(Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)