2. Underage Marriage
Laila was an example of girls who lived in a big city, had education and modern parents’ thought. His father asked her to get education than to get married
soon. He didn’t choose a suitor for Laila, like what Hasina’s father did to his daughter. The different thought of parents who are educated and uneducated was
so clear. Hakim, Laila’s father, was an example of educated parents that will not send their children into underaged marriage because he thought that education
could not wait. It was the most important thing. But, Hasina’s father, who was a bad-temper taxi driver, asked her to get married soon. He chose the suitor for his
daughter. One day, Laila was walking home from school with Giti and Hasina, her
school friends. Hasina said she had a suitor. Her father, a taxi driver, decided that she had to marry a first cousin. Hasina was about elementary student and the
suitor was twenty years older than her. It is stated, “… it had already been decided that she would marry a first cousin who was twenty years older than her
and owned an auto shop in Lahore…” 104 Another friend of her, Giti, was about getting married by the age of
fourteen. There was a small party in Laila’s house to celebrate the fall of Mujahedeen when Laila and Giti were in the kitchen having conversation about
marriage. Giti told Laila about the boy who would marry her. He was Sabir, an eighteen-year-old boy. He was a goalkeeper on Giti’s older brother’s soccer team.
They would get married soon. She said, “He’s going to ask for my hand, Laila
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Maybe as early as this summer. Can you believe it? I swear I can’t stop thinking about him.” 149
She was happy of her marriage plan. Then Laila asked her about school, but she just tilted her heat and gave her a ‘we both know better’ look 149. It
seems that Giti was not interesting to continue her education. She preferred to get married by her early age. It was not because of her thought about school was not
important, but her parents wanted her to get married and she did too. The tradition also brought a custom of underage marriage.
Hasina and giti were Laila’s best friends. They went to school together, but when they became teenagers their parents asked them to get married soon.
Hasina had ever said, “By the time we’re twenty, Giti and I, we’ll have pushed out four, five
kids each. But you, Laila, you make us two dummies proud. You’re going to be somebody. I know one day I’ll pick up a newspaper and find your
picture on the front page.” 149. Laila’s friends knew that she was a smart girl. She had great opportunity
and support to have higher education. Laila was lucky having a father that had modern thought. His father thought that marriage could wait, in other words, she
didn’t need to get marriage soon. Her father emphasized that she had to study and get higher education. They were more important than marriage. She remembered
what her father said. Laila was happy about his father’s thought. She felt lucky that she should not get married soon like her friends, Hasina and Giti. Her father
said, “I know you’re still young, but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot …” 103
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Years had passed, the situation in Kabul was no longer safe. Then, Laila’s parents decided to move to Pakistan. Unfortunately, a rocket hit their house and it
killed Laila’s parents. Laila’s hope to go from Kabul was ended. Finally, this worse situation made Laila decide to get married with Rasheed. He had found her
alive after the rocket hit her house. He took care of her and let Laila stay at his house. Laila was fourteen when she was going to married Rasheed. She found
herself pregnant Tariq’s child. Tariq had moved to Pakistan and a man, Abdul Syarif, came to her told that Tariq had passed away. Her hope had gone. She did
not have any other choices. She had no one and nothing. She could imagine the situation outside. She might be killed, or raped, or died of suffering hunger.
“Before Abdul Syarif’s visit, Laila had decided to leave for Pakistan. Even after Abdul Syarif came bearing his news, Laila thought now, she might
have left and gone somewhere far from here. Detached herself from this city where every street corner was a trap, where every alley hid a ghost
sprang at her like a jack-in-the-box. She might have taken the risk. But, suddenly, leaving was no longer an option. Not with this daily retching.
This fullness of her breasts. Laila pictured herself in a refugee camp, a stark field with thousands of sheets of plastic strung to makeshift poles
flapping in the cold, stinging wind. Beneath one of these makeshift tents, she saw her baby, Tariq’s baby, its temples wated, its jaws slack, its skin
mottled, bluish gray. She pictured its tiny body washed by strangers, wrapped in a tawny shroud, lowered into a hole dug in a patch of
windswept land under the disappointed gaze of vultures. How could she run now?” 195-196
Getting marriage is a right for everyone. Laila tried to picture herself and
imagined what would happen if she left Rasheed’s house. The situation outside was truly terrible. She had not got any other choices. She decided to get married
by the age of 14 years old. Mariam was forced to get married by the age of 15 years old.
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The right to marry or not to marry is a basic human right. It is legally defined by a series of conditions such as the requirement of the spouses consent
for the marriage to be valid, the existence of a minimum required age of marriage and the obligation to officially register the marriage. The Afghan Civil Law sets
the minimum age for marriage at sixteen for girls and at eighteen for boys, but a lot of people, particularly in rural areas, either ignore the law or claim they are not
aware of it. Tradition and an improper interpretation of religious rules lie behind the many and varied abuses of womens rights in the country, particularly
concerns to marriages, Baryalai Sabir Barya, a legal adviser with the United Nations Development Fund for Women UNIFEM, told IRIN, adding that
illiteracy and a lack of education were also contributing to the problem http:www.afghan-web.comwomanforcedmarriges.html.
Mariam was fifteen when she got married with Rasheed who was forty years old. Moreover, Rasheed was fifty years older than Laila. The far age
difference with the husband is also a common thing happened in Afghanistan. Based on the research conducted by Flora Family Foundation, such an age
difference between husband and wife creates many problems. In the Afghan society, age is a factor authority and power within a family. It is showed in the
novel that Rasheed had strong authority and power in the family. The Supreme Court of Afghanistan has approved a new marriage contract
which is expected to help stop under-age and forced marriages in the country. The new fifteen pages of formal marriage contract, the ‘Nikah Nama’, has been
welcomed by women’s rights NGOs in a country where 60 to 80 percent of
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marriages are forced, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission AIHRC. “The new marriage contract is a strong legal instrument
that will end under-age marriages and will empower women’s legal status after marriage,” said Nibila Wafiq, a women’s rights program officer for German NGO
Medica Mondiale. In Afghanistan, the legal age for marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys,
but human rights groups say every year thousands of Afghan girls are forced to marry at a younger age. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund
UNICEF, 57 percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the legal age of 16. The new marriage document stipulates that if a man wants to marry, he
should make sure that his partner is at least 16 years old. Marriage certificates will not be issued for under-age brides. Gender activists see the new marriage contract
as a courageous reform in a society where only six years ago women were deprived of education, work and political participation. However, officials note
that only one to three couples apply for formal marriage registration per day in a country of about 25 million people. This would suggest that the vast majority of
Afghans are not officially registering their marriages. To counter this, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has launched a marriage registration awareness
campaign to boost the number of legally registered couples. Officials say that one of the messages they will be trying to get across is that an Afghan man will not
compromise his traditionally dominant position in the family by officially registering his marriage.
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A variety of factors may lead to under-age marriage. Among these are poverty, parent’s illiteracy, poor economic situation and the fact that these
families live in rural areas. Economic difficulties are one of the main causes in that families may marry their daughters to get some financial relief. Illiteracy is
also one of the main problems of the Afghan society: parent’s education also plays an effective role in children’s marriage as illiterate parents are more likely
to marry their young daughters. The place of residence and the difference between the urban and rural life play a major role in the marriage of children. Under-age
marriages are more frequent in rural areas.
3. Polygamy
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