The Cycle of Poverty
Since parents most commonly struggle to support themselves and their children, they are anxious to marry their daughters as early and quickly as possible to be relieved from the economic burden the girls put on them and to receive a higher bride price by marrying them to older and educated men. Child marriage is most common in poor, rural communities, and its consequences preserve the cycle of poverty. The parents themselves are poor, and by marrying their daughters at younger ages, and not offering them education opportunities, leads the girls into a life of poverty. The girls face limitations on their access to economic opportunities, and since they don't have any experiences of the real world, they depend on their husbands and go through the cycle of poverty repeatedly because they don't have any skills to improve their way of living.
The girls can't get divorced and return to their families because they were already sold or exchanged as commodities and they don't have anywhere or anyone to go to except their husbands. They have to live up with anything their husbands demand from them, and are pressured of pleasing their husbands in fear of them divorcing them; the husbands have the power to do anything they want since they are skilled and can live independently. If the girls had skills and were educated, they could enter the labor market and have the opportunities to make progress in their lives and make an end to the cycle of poverty that is passed down from generation to generation. Girls should have many economic opportunities to develop skills useful for survival, be easily hired in labors, to be independent and not use their husbands to cover their poverty.
The girls can't get divorced and return to their families because they were already sold or exchanged as commodities and they don't have anywhere or anyone to go to except their husbands. They have to live up with anything their husbands demand from them, and are pressured of pleasing their husbands in fear of them divorcing them; the husbands have the power to do anything they want since they are skilled and can live independently. If the girls had skills and were educated, they could enter the labor market and have the opportunities to make progress in their lives and make an end to the cycle of poverty that is passed down from generation to generation. Girls should have many economic opportunities to develop skills useful for survival, be easily hired in labors, to be independent and not use their husbands to cover their poverty.
Since girls get married at a very young age, they are not experienced and can’t improve the cycle of poverty because they don’t have the skills of working in the real world.
This image sums up poverty and child marriage. The girl, at 14 years old is cradling a baby. The girl is not working, not at school, not able to do anything but watch the child. As a result, she is stuck and poor for life.