1st.International World Women Conference: The Book of Full Text

Early marriage is a universal problem related to a variety of social consequences for teenage girls such as gender inequality, tradition, poverty, social behavior of families, and insecurity. Forced early marriage is a life-changing reality for many of the world’s girls. Some as young as 8 or 9 are forced to trade their childhoods for a life that can be defined by isolation, violence and illness. This phenomena ends a girl’s childhood, curtails her education, minimizes her economic opportunities, increases her risk of domestic violence, and puts her at risk for early, frequent, and very high-risk pregnancies. The aim of the paper is to show the close relation of early marriage with customs, traditions, and social behavior of families in the capital city of Erbil/ Kurdistan Region/ North of Iraq. It also highlights the causes and effects of early marriage (Child marriage) in the selected society. The method of the investigation is done through a study of the 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey MICS6 prepared by UNICEF and a number of interviews to show the causes and effects of early marriage. One of the conclusions arrived at is related to the traditions of the region, for example, young girls should get married at this early age in order to keep her honor and the honor of the family