NEXT UP! 3 52 to lead the life that she chooses”, not the one she is forced to lead. Education plays a huge role in the overall wellbeing of a country. When girls are better educated, they usually have fewer children, work more, earn more, marry later, and can support the children they do have. All this helps reduce poverty in developing countries. Thankfully, there are charities like Girls Not Brides working to stop child marriage and keep girls in education. Mexico In Mexico many teenagers get married. Itzel fell in love and at 14 married her 17-year-old boyfriend, Jesús. Marriage is the reason Itzel dropped out of school, and it is a lonely life. “I often eat alone […] I feel sad when I start to think that, if my mum were here, we would eat well … If I had the chance to go back to school, I would.” Bangladesh Rupa was fourteen when her parents arranged her marriage. Luckily, her parents were approached by a local organisation working to undo gender prejudices in their community. Rupa’s family was told about the negative effects of early marriage and her parents agreed to cancel the wedding. Rupa was very relieved: “I’m happy to be able to continue my studies. I don’t want to be a child bride.” a charity – hér: góðgerðarsamtök overall – almennur wellbeing – hér: velferð gender prejudice – kynjamisrétti Zali Idy (12) was married off to a twenty-three-year-old man and taken to his home in the remote village of Hawkantaki, Niger. According to a UN survey, one out of three girls in Niger marries before her fifteenth birthday.
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