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‘Climate Brides’ – Media claims ‘Pakistan’s Climate Crisis of Child Marriage’ Due to Floods – ‘Patriarchal power structures impose disproportionate climate-related harms on women & girls’

https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/20230328-pakistan-child-brides-shell-nigerian-pollution-eia-2022

Climate Nexus: Floods Drive Increase In Number Of Pakistani Girls Sold Into Marriage – Floods Drive Increase In Number Of Pakistani Girls Sold Into Marriage: The catastrophic flooding that submerged one-third of Pakistan last year is driving an increase in the number of girls sold off as child brides there, Atmos reports. The increase, after child marriages had been declining in recent years, illustrates how patriarchal power structures impose disproportionate climate-related harms on women and girls and also mirrors increases in the number of child brides in other regions hit by the impacts of climate change. 

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https://atmos.earth/pakistan-floods-child-marriage/

Pakistan’s Climate Crisis of Child Marriage

As Pakistan suffered from historic rains last year—likely worsened by climate change—the initial shock and floods wore off to more long-term and disturbing issues like child marriage. The financial and emotional stresses of displacement and disaster have affected Pakistani women due to the patriarchal structures that often put their lives, which are valued less than men’s, under the control of someone else.  … Climate change is pushing more families to make such decisions. Last year’s floods in Pakistan washed away much of the upcoming harvest, along with entire homes, livestock, and health facilities. In Sindh alone, 80% of the rice crop and 88% of the cotton crop for the year were lost. Six months later, more than 10 million people were still without safe drinking water.

Reetika Subramanian, a journalist and researcher who runs the podcast project Climate Brides, focuses her work on exploring the connection between climate change and early marriages, particularly in India where she completed her doctorate degree.

“We need to look at how these floods play into existing inequalities because they haven’t created brand-new experiences,” Subramanian said. “Rather, they’ve only escalated existing issues, such as school dropouts.” …

Floods Drive Increase In Number Of Pakistani Girls Sold Into Marriage: The catastrophic flooding that submerged one-third of Pakistan last year is driving an increase in the number of girls sold off as child brides there, Atmos reports. The increase, after child marriages had been declining in recent years, illustrates how patriarchal power structures impose disproportionate climate-related harms on women and girls and also mirrors increases in the number of child brides in other regions hit by the impacts of climate change.

Child marriage is among one of the many issues that disproportionately affect women and girls in the aftermath of extreme weather. Pakistan has the sixth-highest number of girls under 18 married in the world. Other countries experiencing this crisis include Bangladesh and Niger. The Horn of Africa’s ongoing drought (fueled by climate change) is also resulting in more children being sold as brides.

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