The number of child marriages in Indonesia remains high, with the seventh-highest prevalence in the world. The campaign to end child marriage launched in the past year has not brought significant change.
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Kompas/Riza Fathoni
Activists stage a rally outside the House of Representatives building in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday (8/3). During the rally to commemorate International Women’s Day, they called on people to fight against gender-based injustice, demanded fair pay for women workers, an end to child marriage and no more violence against women both at home and at the workplace.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The number of child marriages in Indonesia remains high, with the seventh-highest prevalence in the world. The campaign to end child marriage launched in the past year has not brought significant change. This is because the efforts by the government have failed to resolve the root of the problem, namely that of cultural and economic nature.
Globally, according to 2018 Unicef data, every year about 12 million girls get married before 18 years of age. This number was a decrease of 3 million from the previous year.
In Indonesia, data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2016 said the prevalence of child marriage, namely the percentage of women aged 20-24 who married before the age of 18, was above 20 percent. That number only decreased 7 percent in seven years.
According to the Director of Rumah Kita Bersama Foundation (Rumah Kitab), a research institute for advocacy, Lies Marcoes, without targeting the root of the problem, efforts to overcome child marriage will not succeed. There have not been meaningful efforts by the government to overcome gender imbalances and women\'s empowerment.
"Gender inequality is deeply rooted in our culture. In general, our culture places women and adolescents subordinatively within the community structure and in decision-making," Lies said in Jakarta, Friday (9/3).
Child marriage, said Lies, was also linked to poverty. Child marriage in a number of regions, which is related to the land and agrarian crisis, is prevalent, such as in Kalimantan, where 17-22 percent of all child marriages take place, West Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi 18 percent, and West Nusa Tenggara and Jambi 17 percent.
"In those regions, in the last 10 years there has been an ecological crisis that has displaced people from their economic resources, replaced by massive industries that do not absorb many female workers," Lies said.
The same thing was disclosed by a researcher at the Institute of Law, Government, and Development at the Leiden Law School, Mies Grijns, in a discussion entitled "Child, Early, and Forced Marriages in Indonesia: Impact and Counter Measures" at the University of Indonesia (UI), yesterday. There is still a presumption, allowing children to get married at an early age is a step to break free from poverty.
Religious values, said Lies, was also one of the significant factors that had caused child marriage to continue. In the discussion, University of Indonesia sociologist Ida Ruwaida Noor said the results of her research also stated so. From her research in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, and Sukabumi, West Java, in 2016 up to 56 percent of the community married at an early age to abide by religious orders, namely to avoid adultery, and 51.8 percent for economic reasons.
Therefore, Ida said, cultural or structural intervention was needed to overcome child marriage. This intervention should pay attention to the welfare of children, namely physical health, mental health, empowerment, social competence and cognitive competence. If these five dimensions are conducted properly, the children will have a bargaining position in determining their fate.
From a structural aspect, the regulation should support the prevention of child marriage. Law No. 1 of 1974 on marriage, which mentions the minimum age of marriage of 19 years for men and 16 years for women, still "supports" child marriage.
