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Child Marriage

A pregnant woman wearing a face mask and gloves holds her belly as she waits in line for groceries at St. Mary's Church in Waltham, Mass.

Discussion: The pandemic, women’s health and pregnancy

Coronavirus Conversations

The coronavirus has affected women in various ways, including physically and socially. As part of The World’s regular series of conversations about the pandemic, reporter Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with Ana Langer, Professor of the Practice of Public Health and Director of the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health about the pandemic-related challenges affecting women in particular.

Brides sit together during a mass wedding ceremony in Peshawar, Pakistan, April 25, 2014.

Pakistan cracks down on men trading young daughters to settle debts and disputes

Justice
Safia Mahjebin

Child brides are a little-known, but very real, problem in America today

Culture
Irina Bedavi is an activist who works with migrant women escaping abusive and violent relationships in Germany. She is standing at a bus stop where she has met girls who left their abusive husbands. She asked that her identity be hidden for her own safet

Germany is taking a harder look at child marriage

Justice
happy refugee girl

The best and worst countries to be a girl

Justice
Amira, who married at 16, says she faced severe abuse at the hands of her husband and found it difficult to escape.

The refugee crisis is turning more girls into child brides

Justice

For many parents, it is a desperate measure sought in extreme circumstances.

Sonita

Outside of class, this Afghan teen rapper travels the world to end child marriage

Culture

Sonita Alizadeh escaped a teen marriage in Afghanistan by writing a rap song about it. She now goes high school in Utah, and travels the world campaigning against child marriage.

The church of Eclaron (France) prepared for a wedding

The US has a forced child marriage problem, too

Justice

Thousands of children have been married in the US in recent years, and tracking the number can be difficult. One boy, in New Jersey, was legally married at age 10.

A silhouetted bride and groom

Saved or exploited? Dutch alarm rises over child brides from Syria.

Belief

At 14 years old, one woman tells authorities she has a son. Others, pregnant, have gone missing from refugee centers.

Mabel van Oranje

Mabel van Oranje of Girls Not Brides wants to end child marriage in one generation

Culture

A global issue like child marriage takes a global effort to change it, and that ‘s the idea behind Girls Not Brides, an organization founded in 2011 with this mission: end child marriage in one generation. Our host, Madeleine Brand spoke to the chair and founder of Girls Not Brides, Mabel van Oranje, about how she plans to meet her goal.

Latest Episode

Saving Innocence: The Global Fight to End Child Marriage