Marriage

===Child marriage===
{{Main|Child marriage}}
A child marriage is a marriage where one or both spouses are under the age of 18.<ref name="Child Marriage">[http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html Child Marriage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907061839/https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html |date=7 September 2018 }} UNICEF (2011)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights|title=Q & A: Child Marriage and Violations of Girls' Rights – Human Rights Watch|date=14 June 2013|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> It is related to child [[Engagement#Betrothal|betrothal]] and [[teenage pregnancy]].

Child marriage was common throughout history, even up until the 1900s in the United States, where in 1880 CE, in the state of [[Delaware]], the age of consent for marriage was 7 years old.<ref name="gmu-aoc">{{cite web |url=https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/24.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607132514/https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/teaching-modules/230?section=primarysources&source=24 |archive-date=2010-06-07 |url-status=live |title=Age of Consent Laws (Table) |last=Robertson |first=Stephen |website=Children & Youth in History |access-date=February 3, 2023}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Still, in 2017, over half of the 50 United States have no explicit minimum age to marry and several states set the age as low as 14.<ref name="tahirih">{{cite web |title=Understanding State Statutes on Minimum Marriage Age and Exceptions Laws |url=http://www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-State-Marriage-Age-Requirements-Statutory-Compilation-PDF.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215001447/http://www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-State-Marriage-Age-Requirements-Statutory-Compilation-PDF.pdf  |archive-date=15 December 2016 |website=Tahirih Justice Center |access-date=27 May 2017}}</ref> Today it is condemned by international human rights organizations.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art16.shtml |title=I have a right to |publisher= BBC World Service |access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="who.int">{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314073138/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/  |archive-date=14 March 2013 |title= Child marriages: 39,000 every day |publisher=WHO |access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> Child marriages are often arranged between the families of the future bride and groom, sometimes as soon as the girl is born.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> However, in the late 1800s in England and the United States, [[Feminism|feminist]] activists began calling for raised age of consent laws, which was eventually handled in the 1920s, having been raised to 16–18.<ref name="encyclopedia-aoc">{{cite web |last1=Bullough |first1=Vern L. |title=Age of Consent |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/age_of_consent.aspx |website=Encyclopedia |publisher=Gale Group |access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref>

Child marriages can also occur in the context of [[bride kidnapping]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

In the year 1552 CE, John Somerford and Jane Somerford Brereton were both married at the ages of 3 and 2, respectively. Twelve years later, in 1564, John filed for divorce.<ref name="woman-compendium">{{cite book |author=Hermann Heinrich Ploss |author2=Max Bartels |author3=Paul Bartels |title=Woman: An Historical Gynæcological and Anthropological Compendium |date=1935 |publisher=William Heinemann (Medical Books) Ltd. |location=London |isbn=978-1-4831-9419-6 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yW0BQAAQBAJ&q=129&pg=PA129}}</ref>

While child marriage is observed for both boys and girls, the overwhelming majority of child spouses are girls.<ref>[http://www.unicef.org/policyanalysis/files/Note_on_Child_Marriage.pdf A Note on Child Marriage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082235/https://www.unicef.org/policyanalysis/files/Note_on_Child_Marriage.pdf |date=19 August 2018 }} UNICEF (July 2012), p. 3</ref> In many cases, only one marriage-partner is a child, usually the female, due to the importance placed upon female [[virginity]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> Causes of child marriage include [[poverty]], [[bride price]], [[dowry]], laws that allow child marriages, [[Religion|religious]] and [[Peer pressure|social pressures]], regional customs, fear of remaining unmarried, and perceived inability of women to work for money.

Today, child marriages are widespread in parts of the world; being most common in [[South Asia]] and [[sub-Saharan Africa]], with more than half of the girls in some countries in those regions being married before 18.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> The incidence of child marriage has been falling in most parts of the world. In developed countries, child marriage is outlawed or restricted.

Girls who marry before 18 are at greater risk of becoming victims of [[domestic violence]], than those who marry later, especially when they are married to a much older man.<ref name="who.int"/>