Child marriage poses a huge problem for young women in many developing countries. When girls do not have the automatic right to education (or do not have the means to go), their only remaining role is that of a wife and mother. Before a young girl becomes an economic burden to her family, she is married off, sometimes at ages as young as 12 and 13---and oftentimes to much older men.
The UN Foundation and related UN organizations are working in places like Ethiopia to help educate women and give them an alternative to getting married. Usually, the issue is either that there is no school for girls to attend, or there is no economic incentive to go. The UN program in Ethiopia is fixing both these problems by providing the girls with a school and also a $25 economic incentive for every year a girl stays in school.
Think about it, $25. That is all it takes to keep a young girl in school and change the course of her life. For more information about the child marriage issue and the program in Ethiopia, watch the video below.
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