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Tendayi Gudo Correspondent
Earlier this month, 400 women from various apostolic sects gathered in Gweru to explore ways of ending child marriages. This was as historic as it was significant; for the first time a conference of women in the apostolic sect had been organized in the 31 years of the sect’s existence. With support from DANIDA, UNICEF, Women’s University in Africa, and PLAN and others, the conference came up with an outcome document in which the women committed themselves to being protectors of children in their communities and to sensitise others on child marriages.

The conference is an important first step but we need to build on it with social mobilization and advocacy targeted at specific drivers of child marriages. This action needs to be driven by evidence and analysis of specific challenges facing girls in the sect.

As an apostolic woman, I have seen girls forced into marriage, some as young as 10. Some are taken in as the fifth, sixth, or seventh wife by men old enough to be their fathers. A person under the age of 18 should not be married. Research has shown that girls who marry before the age of 18 have life-long problems that include a higher mortality rate and higher prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. These young mothers are likely to give birth prematurely, or to have still-born babies. Their children are at risk of dying in infancy.

The girls also miss out on opportunities for themselves and their children. Once married, they are typically taken out of school and their lives become dominated by domestic chores and servitude. For every year that a girl is married before adulthood, her literacy reduces dramatically. Daughters of young mothers are also more likely to drop out of school and to be married young. There is also documented evidence that child brides are much more likely to be victims of physical and sexual violence in the marriage.

In Zimbabwe, marriages in which one or both parties are below the age of 18 are rife. The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2014 shows the proportion at 34 percent. Further analysis shows that teen marriages in the apostolic community account for 30 percent of all teen marriages in Zimbabwe, exceeded only by those among people with no religion at 34 percent and those subscribing to traditional religions at 35 percent.

Households headed by an apostolic account for 29 percent of all households with child mothers. We are lagging behind; our young daughters are also lagging behind. This is in no way singling out apostolics but it is to emphasize that broader efforts to reduce teen pregnancies and end child marriages in Zimbabwe have to take into account this significant segment of our population.

I am optimistic that the newly-formed Apostolic Women Empowerment Trust (AWET) is an important platform for promoting dialogue on this issue. AWET is an inter-apostolic sect organisation mandated to advance dialogue and understanding of gender issues in the apostolic community. It is fully cognisant of the fact that apostolic sects have different beliefs, norms and values, and perceptions on key social issues such as child marriages, education, HIV and AIDS and maternal health.

With this in mind, apostolic women seek only to influence their sects to give them the opportunity to make decisions about their social and economic well-being. Our fundamental belief is that women’s rights are human rights and apostolic sects have an obligation to foster their realisation. Apostolics dialoguing among ourselves on these issues is a better way than outsiders coming in to tell us what we should and should not be doing.

As apostolic sect women, we are taking a progressive approach to ending child marriages. We have been fortified by recent Constitutional Court rulings on child marriages, education, gender-based violence and health, including maternal health. We encourage apostolic sect members, both young and old, to go to school up to the highest levels possible and to seek medical advice and treatment in health facilities. We believe that through continuous engagement with men and women in the apostolic community, changes and modifications to apostolic doctrine can be made to ensure that it is sensitive to the rights of young apostolic members and can deal effectively with the contemporary issues they face. In addition, it is critical that women in the apostolic are empowered economically through income generating projects to address poverty which has been pinpointed as a key driver of child marriages. The time to end child marriages is NOW!

The author is AWET National Coordinator. For comments and contributions, please email: [email protected]