Why Do Cambodians Marry So Young ?
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:50 am
Why teenage marriages are rampant in Cambodia
Tara Todras-Whitehill 4 hours ago
Mobile phone access across the country has brought young boys and girls closer to each other, and due to social pressures the underage dating quickly translates into teenage marriage and pregnancy.
SANGKUM THEM, Cambodia — Teenage pregnancy in Cambodia has increased by 50 percent in the past four years, according to a report by Save the Children. Although this increase parallels a rise in child marriages, surprisingly, the spouses are of more or less the same age group, and the families and the couples say they love marriage. Some attribute this rise to the availability of mobile technology, which allows teenagers to start their romance via texting and avoid parents having a say in choosing the spouse.
Theary Pov, 15, is the mother of a one-year-old daughter. She works in her family's grocery shop in the Chamroreun village of Sangkum Them district in northern Cambodia. I met Theary on July 23, 2017. She had been married to her husband for two years and was three months pregnant with her second child. She was 13 and her husband was 20 when they married. They started their romance on social media and once their parents found out they felt like they had no choice but to let them be together or else face shaming from their community. The legal age for marriage for girls in Cambodia is 18, but minors between 16-18 can marry with their parents' approval. Theary went ahead with a wedding ceremony.
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/why-t ... odia-22005
Tara Todras-Whitehill 4 hours ago
Mobile phone access across the country has brought young boys and girls closer to each other, and due to social pressures the underage dating quickly translates into teenage marriage and pregnancy.
SANGKUM THEM, Cambodia — Teenage pregnancy in Cambodia has increased by 50 percent in the past four years, according to a report by Save the Children. Although this increase parallels a rise in child marriages, surprisingly, the spouses are of more or less the same age group, and the families and the couples say they love marriage. Some attribute this rise to the availability of mobile technology, which allows teenagers to start their romance via texting and avoid parents having a say in choosing the spouse.
Theary Pov, 15, is the mother of a one-year-old daughter. She works in her family's grocery shop in the Chamroreun village of Sangkum Them district in northern Cambodia. I met Theary on July 23, 2017. She had been married to her husband for two years and was three months pregnant with her second child. She was 13 and her husband was 20 when they married. They started their romance on social media and once their parents found out they felt like they had no choice but to let them be together or else face shaming from their community. The legal age for marriage for girls in Cambodia is 18, but minors between 16-18 can marry with their parents' approval. Theary went ahead with a wedding ceremony.
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/why-t ... odia-22005