4.5 Determinants of the pandemic in Tanzania
4.5.2 Socio-cultural determinants
4.5.2.2 Early marriage
Marriage in Tanzania is regulated by the 1971 Marriage Act No. 5 which recognizes marriages contracted in a civil form, in accordance with the rites of religion (Christian or Muslim) to which both parties belong and also marriages that are contracted under customary law.288 The law stipulates that the minimum age of marriage in Tanzania is 18 years. 289 The same law suggests that a girl can be married at the age of 15 with parental consent, and at 14 years with the permission of the court. In this case, a marriage for a girl at the age of 14 and 15 contradicts the national and international definition of a child, which is any individual who is younger than 18 years old.290 It also contradicts the educational policy, which encourages equal access to education for both girls and boys.291 It is this contradiction within the marriage law, which encourages early marriages in Tanzania. Although the age of marriage is clearly stated by the law, girls are married off as young as 11 years.292 The Coast, Morogoro and Zanzibar regions are noted to have a high rate of child marriages between the ages of 11 and 15.293 Zanzibar and the Coast region are predominantly Muslim. The Islamic law (of marriage) which is part of the Marriage Law allows the marriage of individuals who have reached puberty because they are regarded as adults.294 It also seems to endorse the practice of girls being married
288 Center for Reproductive Rights, “Women‟s Reproductive Rights in Tanzania,” p. 11.
289 Kijo-Bisimba, “Major Laws relating to Women‟s lives,” p. 1. See also Center for Reproductive Rights,
“Women‟s Reproductive Rights in Tanzania,” p. 12.
290 Mascarenhas, Gender Profile of Tanzania, p. 58.
291 Center for Reproductive Rights, “Women‟s Reproductive Rights in Tanzania,” p. 13.
292 Shekifu, “Is the Cultural Practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Compatible with Human Rights in Africa?” p. 42. See also Mascarenhas, Gender Profile in Tanzania, p. 58.
293 UNHCR, “Tanzania: Prevalence of forced marriage among Christian and Muslim populations,”
<http://www.unchr.org/home/RSDCOI/3f7d4e2d2a.html>Accessed: 29/05/2007, p. 1.
294 UNHCR, “Tanzania: Prevalence of forced marriage among Christian and Muslim populations,” p. 1.
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before they mature and without their consent. This shows that the future of a girl is dominated by marriage. In other words, she is born to be married off whether she likes it or not.
The extreme of early marriage in the Coast region is described by Tessa Peasgood et al.
who contend that: “A girl could be sent to live with her in-laws even before reaching puberty so that she could get acquainted with the ways of life of his family and kin.”295 This suggests that a girl or a woman has no other value other than marriage and childbearing, a view shared by Martin Luther a mentioned earlier.296 Furthermore, a woman is regarded as property, which can be disposed off at any time a parent (father) wishes to do so. In other words, a young woman has no freedom with regard to her future life as far as marriage is concerned. The statistics for child marriages under 18 years, which were officially registered by 2007, amounted to 42 percent.297 This rate might be higher due to the fact that some of the marriages have not been legalized.
Women activists have highlighted two reasons accounting for early marriages in Tanzania.298 Economic gains on the side of the girl‟s parents in the form of a bride price which is paid by the groom or his parents are one of the reasons. A similar incentive is maintained by other societies in Africa.299 In some cases, these girls are married off to polygamous men who are able to pay the amount of money or possessions required.300 This is where this cultural practice exposes the girls to HIV. Another reason for early marriage is the parents‟ assumption that this will solve the problem of adolescent pregnancies out of wedlock. This reveals how girls and young women are regarded as male‟s property being handed from the father, or brother to the husband since these men are the ones who make decisions about the girls‟ future life. This cultural practice
295 Peasgood, et al. (eds), Gender and Primary Schooling in Tanzania, p. 51.
296 Wiesner, “Luther and Women,” p. 127. See also Karant and Wiesner, Luther on Women, p. 171.
297 Nasra Abdallah, “Serikali yatakiwa kutunga sheria mpya ya ndoa,” Tanzania Daima, 24 September, 2007, p. 4.
298 Peasgood, et al. (eds), Gender and Primary Schooling in Tanzania, p. 51, 52. See also Mascarenhas, Gender Profile in Tanzania, p. 58. Mukangara and Koda, Beyond Inequalities, p. 40.
299 Oke, “Child Marriage: “A Ticket to HIV/AIDS,” p. 38, 39.
300 Mukangara and Koda, Beyond Inequalities, p. 40. See also James, “The Promotion of the „ABC‟ of Sex,” p. 151.
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violates girls‟ dignity and robs them of the right to enjoy their childhood. The payment of bride price has forced many women to live in abusive marriages,301 because their own families would be forced to repay the bride price should these wives leave their abusive husbands. African women theologians critique this cultural practice because it dehumanizes women.302
While early marriage is a national problem in Tanzania, among the Chagga, (who are the focus of this research), my research revealed that early marriage is not an issue because the Church will only officiate marriages for girls older than 18 as per the government law.303 Hence, the HIV and AIDS programmes of the Northern Diocese are silent on this matter. However the ideologies which govern early marriages of girls are still present even in the understanding of marriage of adult women. These ideologies range from regarding women as property, to viewing childbearing as a duty for women. The marriage liturgy of the Lutheran Church in Tanzania has adopted Paul and Peter‟s teachings which demand women to be submissive to their husbands and which accord men power to rule over women:
Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body which is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.304
Such authoritative words which are regarded as the words of God and the subsequent sermons‟ emphases on these instructions clearly do not reflect a partnership in marriage since one partner has power and authority over the other. While I have stated that early marriage is not an issue in Chaggaland, the practice of “unofficial polygamy” is certainly an issue, as we shall see below.
301 Mukangara and Koda, Beyond Inequalities, p. 40.
302 Oke, “Child Marriage: A Ticket to HIV/AIDS,” p. 43.
303 Even though the church will not marry girls younger than 18, this does not mean that girls younger than 18 are not marrying outside the church, and may return to the church to have their marriages blessed after they turn 18. This is an area for further investigation.
304 KKKT, Mwimbieni Bwana, Nairobi: Acme Press, 2000, p. 318, cf. 1 Col. 5:22-24 & 1Pet. 3:1-7.
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