{
  "id": 13600707,
  "title": "Too young to choose, old enough to be chosen",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/too-young-to-choose-old-enough-to-be-chosen",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-11T01:06:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Gulf News",
    "slug": "gulf-news",
    "url": "https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/too-young-to-choose-old-enough-to-be-chosen-1.500704860"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Every year, an estimated 12 million girls are married before their eighteenth birthday. This statistic reveals a troubling contradiction in child protection: while girls are considered too young to make decisions about their own futures, they are considered old enough to be chosen as wives. Child marriage is often framed as an issue that begins with a wedding ceremony, but the reality is that a series of protections have often already failed her. Factors such as poverty, conflict, displacement, and disrupted education can push a girl out of school and render her more vulnerable to early marriage. The systems designed to identify and protect at-risk children may be weak or inaccessible, and harmful practices may become so normalized that those around her no longer question them. The wedding often marks the visible end of a chain of failures that began much earlier. For example, consider a 12-year-old girl who dreams of attending school, only to have her education abruptly halted as she is informed she will soon become a bride. Her seat in the classroom remains empty, representing not just her marriage, but the failure of numerous systems that allowed her childhood to pass her by. UNICEF estimates that around 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood, highlighting the scale of this crisis. To address this issue, we must examine not only the harm caused by child marriage but also the underlying reasons for its persistence. Financial pressures, poverty, conflict, and displacement often drive families to view marriage as a means of securing their daughter's future. Meanwhile, harmful social norms can perpetuate these practices, particularly when families lack viable alternatives and accurate information. Understanding these pressures is crucial, but it does not justify the decision to marry a child. Instead, it highlights where prevention efforts must begin. Prevention strategies must focus on keeping girls in school, enhancing family economic security, and empowering communities to recognize and intervene in risky situations before they become irreversible. This requires building systems that connect child protection with education, social support, and economic opportunity. Success should be measured by whether we can reach the family, school, or community before harm occurs. Achieving this requires long-term partnerships involving governments, humanitarian organizations, schools, communities, and local institutions. The goal is not just to stop a wedding, but to ensure that no girl ever reaches a point where marriage seems to be her only future. By investing in education, family security, and social protection, we can create environments where girls have the agency to shape their own futures, rather than being forced into early marriage. Ultimately, ending child marriage is about more than ending weddings; it's about ensuring that no girl is ever taken out of childhood before we have a chance to act.",
  "summary": "Every year, an estimated 12 million girls are married before their eighteenth birthday. Behind that figure lies one of the most troubling contradictions in child protection: a girl can be considered too young to determine her own future, yet old enough for others to decide that she should become a wife. Child marriage is often discussed as though the harm begins with a wedding. It does not. By…",
  "key_points": [
    "12 million girls married before 18th birthday annually",
    "Child marriage often preceded by poverty, conflict, displacement",
    "Prevention requires education, economic security, social protection"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Ending child marriage requires shifting focus from stopping weddings to building systems that connect education, social support, and economic opportunity to prevent girls being forced into early marriage.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}