Recognising and responding to complex dilemmas : child marriage in South Africa
| dc.contributor.author | Le Roux, Elisabet | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-03-24T09:24:22Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-03-24T09:24:22Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2020 | |
| dc.description | CITATION: Le Roux, E. 2020. Recognising and responding to complex dilemmas : child marriage in South Africa, in Grobbelaar, J. & Jones, C. (eds) 2020. Childhood vulnerabilities in South Africa : some ethical perspectives. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480952/07. | |
| dc.description | The original publication is available at https://africansunmedia.store.it.si/za | |
| dc.description.abstract | In a June 2019 exposé on child marriage in South Africa, the investigative journalism television show Carte Blanche drew renewed attention to the more than 90 000 girls in South Africa who entered marriages as child brides. The show focused on a “polluted ukuthwala” as a major driver of child marriage, unpacking how traditional cultural practices have become warped to the extent that it leads to young girls being forced to marry older men against their will (Forced child marriages 2019). Nevertheless, South Africa remains a country with one of the lowest rates of child marriage in Africa. Compared to countries,such as Niger, where 76% of women aged 20-24 years were first married or in a union before they were 18 years old, and the Central African Republic, where it is 68% of girls, South Africa’s rates are low: the last available data, collected in 2003, showed that only 6% of girls in South Africa are married before the age of 18 years (Institut National de la Statistique 2013; ICASEES 2010; Department of Health 2007). However, these statistics paint a misleading picture of the fate of thousands of girl children1 in South Africa. This chapter will briefly unpack the nature, drivers and consequences of child marriage, followed by a focus on South African legislation and cultural practices relevant to child marriage. This is a prelude to an in-depth discussion of three key dilemmas relating to the phenomenon, namely the inadequacy of a legislative response, the clash between the primacy of human rights versus cultural rights, and the reality of transactional intergenerational sex in relationships other than marriages. Recognition of these dilemmas leads to acknowledgement that current responses to child marriage are not merely woefully inadequate, but also fail to grasp the full scale of the problem. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Publisher's version | |
| dc.format.extent | 22 pages | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Le Roux, E. 2020. Recognising and responding to complex dilemmas : child marriage in South Africa, in Grobbelaar, J. & Jones, C. (eds) 2020. Childhood vulnerabilities in South Africa : some ethical perspectives. Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS, doi:10.18820/9781928480952/07. | |
| dc.identifier.isbn | 978-1-928480-94-5 (print) | |
| dc.identifier.isbn | 978-1-928480-95-2 (online) | |
| dc.identifier.other | doi:10.18820/9781928480952/07 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/109700 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | African Sun Media | |
| dc.rights.holder | African Sun Media | |
| dc.rights.holder | Editors retain copyright | |
| dc.subject | Children -- South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Child Marriage -- South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Recognising and responding to complex dilemmas : child marriage in South Africa | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Chapters in Books | en_ZA |