How Guatemala is trying to keep girls from 'growing up too fast'
How Guatemala is trying to keep girls from 'growing up too fast'
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With pressure from NGOs, the government has improved monitoring of child pregnancies and is considering a bill to raise the minimum age for marriage.
By Nicholas Phillips, Contributor May 26, 2015
ALMOLONGA, GUATEMALA Last January, a national scandal flared up in this small mountain town over the wedding of a young girl.
Adolescent marriage is common in Guatemala, where roughly 40 percent of the population self-identifies with native indigenous cultures, rooted in tradition. But by law, girls must be at least 14 to marry. The girl from Almolonga was only 12. What drew national attention was the fact that the wedding was officiated by the town's elected official, Mayor Edgar Leonel López de León.
Guatemalan authorities say this is the first time a mayor has fallen under official scrutiny for such a violation. But the way the case was discovered after the young bride gave birth at the age of 13 is the result of a growing effort among private and public actors here to protect girls from growing up too fast. With pressure and support from nongovernmental organizations, the government has improved monitoring of child pregnancies and is considering a bill to raise the minimum age for marriage.
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The push reflects a gradual shift in attitudes toward young girls in this Central American country, where a conservative, patriarchal society has long relegated women to housekeeping and child rearing from an early age.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2015/0526/How-Guatemala-is-trying-to-keep-girls-from-growing-up-too-fast