Women do not deserve to be marginalized and oppressed but deserve the freedom of expression and opportunity.
WHAT IS A FORCED MARRIAGE?
''Forced marriage is a practice in which a marriage takes place without the free consent of the individuals getting married, where pressure or abuse is used to ‘force’ one or both people to marry against their will'' (It's a Choice, 2010)
Force is a form of violence: ''This violence may take emotional, mental or physical forms where, an individual may be ‘forced’ by: using threats, beating them, isolating them, using restrictions on them, inducing guilt, and, many such forms of coercion'' (It's a Choice, 2010)
Percentage of girls who were forced to marry before a certain age:
South Asia before age 18 48 % Bangladesh before age 15 27.3 % Africa before age 18 42 % Niger before age 15 26 % Kyrgyzstan before age 18 21.2 % Kazakhstan before age 18 14.4 % (Seth Harden, n.d.)
***The United Kingdom intervenes in over 300 forced marriage cases a year In some countries, a rapist is not punished if he agrees to marry his victim*** (professional issues handout)