Marriage is one of the most important life events. But for many Bangladeshi girls, such a life-changing decision was never made out of their own free will. Bangladesh has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world. According to data from the United Nations Population Fund, 50% of girls were married before the age of 18, and 15% of them were even aged under 15. Poverty and the traditional concept of undermining females’ value force girls to drop out of school and become child brides, ruining their lives forever.

Men’s superiority over women is a deep-rooted culture in Bangladesh, causing young and unmarried girls to be treated as a disgrace to the family. Such a norm has also further aggravated the sexual harassment problem in society. “Eve Teasing”, a widespread form of sexual harassment with threats of rape or kidnapping towards unmarried girls alone is commonly found. Tanzila had been verbally abused and threatened by strange men on the way to school since she was 14 years old. She also received unknown phone calls for a marriage proposal with a warning of kidnapping. To protect Tanzila`s reputation and get away from danger, her family had no choice but to arrange a child marriage while she was still at school age. She was forced to drop out of school and become the caretaker of her new family, losing the opportunity to fulfil her dreams.

In Bangladesh, apart from being harassed by men, girls being treated as a burden of the family is another problem caused by gender inequality. To alleviate financial difficulties, many poor families marry off their underage daughters through hasty decision-making. Keya was forced to marry a stranger at the age of 14. It turned out her husband was a drug addict with aggressive behaviour, and she became the victim of domestic abuse once they got married. Keya’s dreams for the future were gone because of child marriage. It also traumatised her physically and mentally.

Though Tanzila and Keya were not allowed to refuse child marriage, they never surrendered and hope to regain control of their lives through education. By joining Plan International’s anti-child marriage projects, they learned about girls’ rights and were no longer afraid to stand up to their families and husbands, to fight for the right to go back to school. As a result, they were able to continue their studies, pursue their dreams, and live out their lives again.