If you never got to see the PBS special on “Child Brides”, you can watch it at your own convenience here. NOW’s production team traveled to Niger, India and Guatemala and put together this powerful documentary about young girls, some mere children, married off because of tradition, convenience, necessity, lack of options or all of the aforementioned.

It is not unusual for girls under the age of fifteen to be married in Guatemala and to have babies even younger than that. Not surprisingly, one in depth study I found while researching the subject showed that the less education young Mayan girls have, the earlier they are married. The median age for the marriage of Mayan girls who have had no formal education is 17.2; for girls with a primary school education it is 18.5; and for girls who go to secondary school or higher, it is 23.0 years old.

Illiteracy among indigenous women is 75%, and indigenous women in Guatemala average only .9 years of schooling! By the age of seven, only 54% of Mayan girls are enrolled in school, compared with 70% of boys and 75% of non-Mayan girls. By the time they reach the age of fifteen, only one-third of the Mayan girls are still in school as opposed to 50% of Mayan boys and non-Mayan girls.

In the documentary, you will see a young Guatemalan girl of thirteen who is pregnant and dropping out of school. Even though she has a boyfriend who appears devoted to her, the chances of her having a life without poverty and multiple children who will probably suffer from chronic malnutrition is small.

Sometimes marriage is the only escape from a crowded one room hovel these girls share with their families and multiple siblings. Tragically, these girls end up creating an identical situation for their own children and perpetuating the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, hunger and hopelessness.

Education is essential to turning around their lives and their futures; without it there are few options. My daughter’s mother, a minor, was illiterate and so was her mother. On the adoption documents they signed with a thumb print.

Ella loves playing with letters and is eagerly learning their names and sounds. One day I will tell her that she may be the first woman in her birth family to have the opportunity to learn to read.

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