https://allafrica.com/stories/202011060411.html
In a village in Chimanimani, locals have been seeing a larger growing number of young girls not go far into their education, only reaching their “ordinary level” instead of the two levels after this. Why is this happening? well, in addition to noticing this statistic, they have also noticed with this has come an increase in child marriage. A big suspicion as to why this is happening is explained by the bordering communities like Manicaland and Mozambique. In Mozambique, there is allowed free movement between people, and as a result older men have been trapping these young girls there by alluring them with food, treats, and other gifts that they don’t have the luxury of having on their own. Sex then follows into the picture and when a young girl gets pregnant she typically drops out of school and marries the husband- resulting in backlash or a divide between the girl and her family. A lot of time the men leave these women with the child to fend for themselves, after they’ve already convinced them to walk away from gaining and education, and they are stuck in this povertish and dangerous circle. Although that situation is still common, the most common thing is that happens if these girls die during childbirth by the refusal of these men to help them or take them to clinics because of fear of being arrested. This leaves numerous babies without families, or results in the death of both. It is also common for their to be gender discrimination, if the girl has a girl and not a boy it could result into domestic violence.
This is definitely an issue- and it’s an issue because of the danger in it. There needs to be a fundamental change in society that doesn’t gives men the ideas or ability to do these things. I think another great opportunity to fix this issues if by flooding it into education from a young age, so these girls understand the danger in it. I think it is important that women everywhere have access to things that could help or prevent this- birth controls, clinics for them to attend that are cheaper. There should be more or a monitored crime rate across these boarders- as this is a publicly known thing that is happening and should be for regulated by law enforcement. This is important because if this doesn’t end, how will the poverty, homelessness, orphan levels ever stand a chance in going down? This cycle prevents women and girls from ever succeeding. It’s dangerous nd unethical, and from an economic standpoint, this is thousands of girls who never get a proper education to succeed and make money and influence the country.
In regards’ to international relations, I think this is something IGO’s could help with. Another thing, I think an issue like this needs to be addressed and acknowledged in every county, and maybe this is more of a healthcare issue than it is anything else.