Child Marriage in the Dominican Republic
For one day in 2020, 10-year-old Melany of the Dominican Republic stepped into President Luis Abinader’s office as part of Plan International’s youth empowerment campaign, allowing young girls to voice their concerns and desires in influential spaces. Melany chose to advocate for a more robust response to child marriage in the Dominican Republic, an issue that the country is facing at a high level. Child marriage in the Dominican Republic is even legal with parental and judicial permission.
During her time in office, Melany spent hours with the President, advocating and discussing the prioritization of protecting children and in 2021, a year after Melany’s symbolic “presidency,” the Dominican Republic passed Law 1-21, making it illegal for a person under 18 to marry under any circumstance.
History and Effects of Child Marriage
According to the International Justice Mission (IJM), among all Latin American and Caribbean countries, the Dominican Republic has the highest rates of child marriage, defined as “any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child.” According to UNICEF, approximately 36% of women between ages 20 and 24 were first married before turning 18 in the Dominican Republic, compared to 15% in Haiti, 8% in Jamaica and 26% in Cuba.
The consequences of these unions reach from the individual level to the national level and even worldwide, with profound effects on a country’s economy and living standards. In 2017, the World Bank found that individuals married under the age of 18 are more likely to drop out of school, resulting in a shortened education that disqualifies them from job opportunities and reduces their earnings in the labor market.
It also found that being married during childhood is a likely predictor of pregnancy before the age of 18. The addition of supporting a child adds financial demand on top of the already limiting conditions of shortened education and job disqualification, creating a poverty-vulnerable environment.
Advocacy Efforts and Improvements
To combat the financial consequences and causes of child marriage in the Dominican Republic, Crecer Contenta, a program set up in 2012 by Plan International that Melany is also part of, collaborates with 120 communities around the country to set up an extracurricular class.
The class provides financial education to young girls, covering topics such as money management, entrepreneurial pursuits and life skills to help them overcome social issues within their communities. It also educates parents to promote community solidarity against child marriage and emphasizes the widespread benefits of keeping children in school and out of marriage.
According to Plan International, about 540 young girls have felt the impacts of Crecer Contenta. The program recently completed its nine-month program in five Dominican communities, working with 88 girls to develop their financial skills and instill the importance of completing education.
While child marriage is illegal in the Dominican Republic it continues informally. More than three years after her time in office, Melany continues her fight against these informal unions with the support of Crecer Contenta and Plan International by her side.
– Emily Shapiro
Photo: Unsplash