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A model of women’s educational factors related to delaying girls’ marriage

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Abstract

Delaying girls’ early marriage is a critical public health and education goal in developing countries, in which their own or their mothers’ education may play an important role. This paper reviews the existing evidence of any relationship between girls’ schooling or women’s literacy education and delayed marriage for themselves or their daughters. The majority of research reports focus on the correlation between girls’ schooling and brides’ age at first marriage. But it is conceivable that adult women’s/mothers’ literacy education also has considerable influence on the age at which their daughters are married. Since this aspect has hitherto not been explicitly investigated, the authors propose a model – based on relevant research about the outcomes of girls’ schooling and women’s literacy education – of the mechanisms that mediate between women’s education and delayed marriage for their daughters. The authors argue for research that will inform policy makers interested in helping girls complete secondary schooling about the potential contributions of adult women’s literacy education to this goal.

Résumé

Un modèle de facteurs éducatifs pour les femmes, en mesure de retarder l’âge de mariage des filles – Retarder le mariage précoce des filles est un objectif décisif de santé publique et d’enseignement public dans les pays en développement, où l’éducation des filles et de leurs mères pourrait jouer un rôle important. Le présent article recense les données qui révèlent les liens éventuels entre d’une part la scolarité des filles et l’alphabétisation des femmes adultes, et d’autre part un mariage plus tardif pour ces dernières ou pour leurs filles. La plupart des rapports de recherche se concentrent sur la corrélation entre la scolarité des filles et leur âge lors d’un premier mariage. Mais il est concevable que le niveau d’alphabétisme des femmes adultes et des mères exerce également une influence notable sur l’âge de mariage des filles. Cet aspect n’ayant jusqu’ici pas été explicitement examiné, les auteures proposent un modèle – fondé sur les études relatives aux niveaux scolaires des filles et d’alphabétisation des femmes – de mécanismes permettant de faire le lien entre l’éducation des femmes et le retardement du mariage de leurs filles. Les auteures préconisent un travail de recherche susceptible à l’avenir d’informer les décideurs souhaitant aider les filles à achever le cycle secondaire, sur la contribution éventuelle à cet objectif de l’alphabétisation des femmes adultes.

Zusammenfassung

Ein Modell zum Einfluss der Bildungssituation von Frauen auf ein höheres Heiratsalter von Mädchen – Zu den zentralen Problemen der Gesundheits- und Bildungspolitik in Entwicklungsländern zählt die Frühverheiratung von Mädchen. Ein Schlüssel zur Erhöhung des Heiratsalters könnte die Verbesserung der Bildungssituation der Mädchen und ihrer Mütter sein. Dieser Beitrag betrachtet bestehende Hinweise auf Zusammenhänge zwischen der Schulbildung von Mädchen bzw. der Alphabetisierung von Frauen und einem höheren Heiratsalter bei Müttern wie Töchtern. Ein Großteil der vorliegenden Studien konzentriert sich auf den Zusammenhang zwischen der schulischen Ausbildung von Mädchen und dem Heiratsalter. Es erscheint aber naheliegend, dass auch die Alphabetisierung von erwachsenen Frauen bzw. Müttern einen beträchtlichen Einfluss auf das Heiratsalter der Töchter hat. Da dieser Aspekt bislang noch nicht ausführlich untersucht wurde, schlagen die Autorinnen ein aus der einschlägigen Forschung entwickeltes Modell vor, das die Mechanismen im Wirkungsfeld zwischen Frauenbildung und einem späteren Heiratsalter beschreibt. Die Autorinnen plädieren dafür, die Politik durch weitere Forschung in die Lage zu versetzen, Mädchen beim Erwerb einer weiterführenden Schulbildung zu unterstützen, indem sie auf den möglichen Beitrag der Alphabetisierung von Frauen hingewiesen wird.

Resumen

Un modelo de factores educativos de las mujeres, relacionado con la postergación del matrimonio de niñas y jóvenes – Para los países en desarrollo, retrasar el matrimonio prematuro es un objetivo de crucial importancia en el área de la salud pública y de la educación. En este sentido, puede jugar un papel importante la educación de las niñas o la de sus madres. Este trabajo se ocupa de analizar si existe alguna relación entre la instrucción escolar de las niñas o la alfabetización de las mujeres y la postergación del enlace matrimonial, para ellas o sus hijas. La mayoría de los informes de la investigación se enfocan en la correlación entre instrucción escolar y edad de las novias cuando contraen matrimonio por primera vez. Sin embargo, también es concebible que el grado de alfabetización de la mujer adulta/madre pueda tener una influencia considerable sobre la edad en la que sus hijas contraigan matrimonio. Si bien este aspecto no ha sido investigado explícitamente hasta ahora, los autores proponen un modelo – basado en investigaciones relevantes sobre los resultados de la instrucción escolar de las niñas y el grado de alfabetización de las mujeres – de los mecanismos que intervienen entre la educación de las mujeres y un enlace matrimonial retrasado para sus hijas. Los autores abogan por un estudio que informe a los responsables de las políticas, interesados en apoyar a las niñas para que completen la escuela secundaria, sobre la potencial contribución que puede tener la alfabetización de las mujeres adultas para alcanzar estos objetivos.

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Notes

  1. Education for All (EFA) is an international initiative by national governments, civil society groups and development agencies such as UNESCO and the World Bank to provide access to education for “every citizen in every society”. They have set themselves six specific goals to achieve by 2015, one of which is a 50 per cent improvement in adult literacy, with a special focus on women.

  2. The eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were formulated at the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York in 2000. All 192 United Nations Member States and at least 23 international organisations agreed to make efforts to achieve them by the year 2015. They include (1) eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieving universal primary education; (3) promoting gender equality and empowering women; (4) reducing child mortality rates; (5) improving maternal health; (6) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (7) ensuring environmental sustainability; and (8) developing a global partnership for development.

  3. Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury that results from an especially difficult childbirth and leaves women unable to control urine and faeces. It is especially common in girls who give birth at a very young age before their bodies are prepared for the demands of childbirth.

  4. A dowry is a payment made by the bride’s family to the groom’s family; a bride price is paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s family. Both practices are discussed in more detail later on in this article.

  5. Opportunity cost is an economic concept which applies in a situation of choice between several mutually exclusive options. In this particular context, the term refers to the loss of the amount by which the bride price is lowered if the girl continues her education instead of marrying early with a higher bride price being paid to her family by the groom’s family.

  6. Socioeconomic status (SES) measures combine information about a person’s work experience and their individual (or their family’s) economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education and occupation.

  7. The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade, often also referred to as the Sandinista Literacy Campaign, was launched in 1980 and ran from March to August of that year in an effort to alleviate illiteracy in Nicaragua. An evaluation of the outcome showed impressive results and in September 1980 the campaign was awarded the UNESCO Literacy Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Hills South, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

    Cristine A. Smith, Rebecca Paulson Stone & Sarah Kahando

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  1. Cristine A. Smith
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  2. Rebecca Paulson Stone
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  3. Sarah Kahando
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Correspondence to Cristine A. Smith.

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Smith, C.A., Paulson Stone, R. & Kahando, S. A model of women’s educational factors related to delaying girls’ marriage. Int Rev Educ 58, 533–555 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-012-9309-1

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