Mousammat Akhi Akhter,
14, is pictured in the top left-hand corner of her 6th grade class photo in
Manikganj, Bangladesh. In 2014, when she was only 13, Akhi got married to a
27-year-old man. She had just finished 6th grade and wanted to wait until she
was older, but she says her parents felt social pressure to marry her albeit young
Recently, Human Rights Watch released a damning report about child marriage in Bangladesh. The country has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with 29% of girls marrying before the age of 15, and 65% before they turn 18. Pregnant girls from 15-20 are twice as likely to die in childbirth as those 20 or older, while girls under 15 face five times the risk. Research cites spousal age difference as a significant risk factor for violence and sexual abuse but parents believe that it ‘protects’ girls from sexual assault and harassment
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