Background

Child marriage (<18 years) is prevalent in Pakistan which is associated with negative health outcomes. Our aim is to describe women’s knowledge and attitude towards child marriage practice who themselves were married as children.

Methods

Women of reproductive age (15–49 years) who were married prior to 18 years, for at least 5 years and had at least one child birth were recruited from most populous slum areas of Lahore, Pakistan. Themes for the interview were developed using published literature and everyday observations of the researchers. Interviews were conducted by trained interviewers in Urdu language and were translated into English. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, analyzed and categorized into themes.

Results

Nineteen of 20 participants who agreed to participate were married between 11–17 years. Most respondents were uneducated, poor and were working as housemaids. The majority participants were unaware of the negative health outcomes of child marriages. They appeared satisfied by the decision of their parents of marrying them before 18 years, and even condemned banning child marriages in Pakistan. Strong influence of culture and community perceptions, varying interpretation of religion, and protecting family honor are some of the reasons that were narrated by the participants, which seems playing a role in continuation of child marriage practice in Pakistan.

Conclusion

Raising awareness of the negative health outcomes of child marriage, implementing and enforcing strict laws against child marriage practice, promoting civil, sexual and reproductive health rights for women, can help eliminate child marriages in Pakistan.

Around 100 million adolescent girls are expected to be married before the age of 18 years, also referred to as child marriage [ 1,  2] in the developing world during the next 10 years [ 3]. South Asia region has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world [ 1], which is a clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 [4]. Regardless of high maternal and child mortality and morbidity because of child marriage [5–9], the practice is highly prevalent in the region. Therefore, the United Nations highlight the need of reducing child marriage and its effect on maternal and child health through the Millennium Development Goals for improving maternal health, reducing child mortality, and promoting gender equality and women empowerment [ 10].