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‘We’re talking 12 and younger’: one in 20 teen girls in Argentina lives with a partner

32 0
08.03.2024

The girl was in a pastel-pink jumper under the tree, twirling her pen. She was pondering the question: what would you tell a girl of your age who’s in a relationship?

“To be careful with her husband,” she said, hesitating, perhaps because the question made her uncomfortable. Then, decisively, she continued: “And even if he mistreats her, she has to look after herself.”

She was 12 — but in her Indigenous Wichí community, 15 hours’ Jeep drive from the city of Formosa, she was already familiar with the prospect of her friends going to live with older men.

The girl’s words were part of a study by the nonprofit Foundation for Studies and Research on Women (FEIM, by its Spanish acronym) which found that in Argentina, 4.7% of girls between the ages of 14 and 18 are either married or living with a partner.

Internationally, child marriage is considered a form of gender-based violence: it goes hand in hand with sexual abuse and unwanted pregnancy and interrupts girls’ right to an education.

It is closely linked with poverty, and FEIM researchers fear it could worsen as the number of families living below the breadline soars. But the issue, which is most prevalent in remote, rural areas, is rarely debated in Argentina’s urban social and political mainstream, and the government does not collect data on how many girls are in this situation.

It is most common in northeastern Argentina, affecting 7.2% of girls aged 14-18 in Misiones province, 6.9% in Chaco, and 6.4% in Formosa, the study found. However, the figure is also above 5% — more than one in 20 — in Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Corrientes, and Santiago del Estero provinces.

The study was based on data from the 2010........

© Buenos Aires Herald


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