Writing in the Arabic daily Al-Riyadh, Haya Al-Manie calls for government regulation of minimum ages for women (girls) to marry. She argues that marriage isn’t just about sex, it isn’t just about economics, either. It should be the basis for the next generation. Government has a role in assuring the future of a country’s citizens, she says.

The only age Al-Manie uses in her piece is 10. I think most people on the planet can agree that a 10-year-old girl is too young to marry.

But what is the proper minimum age? There’s no universal age limit. Even within the US, the minimum legal age can range from 13 with parental consent in some states to 21 in Puerto Rico. In China, it’s 20, without consent. In Europe, 18 seems the norm, though nearly all permit a girl to marry at 16 with consent. Most Muslim countries have a lower limit, some unstated (as the KSA and Kuwait) others a young as 9 for certain Shi’a in Lebanon. Both Indonesia and Malaysia—Islamic countries—set the minimum age at 21, with exceptions.

Let’s stop child marriages
Haya Al-Manie | Al-Riyadh

For a girl of 10 or less to marry under any circumstances or using any justification cannot be acceptable to anyone who understands the concept of family, the basic unit of society. The family is of special significance in Saudi society in particular as it is the basic social unit for development plans.

Just imagine your 10-year-old daughter marrying a man even if he were somewhere between 20 and 50. How will she behave as a mother who is supposed to bring up children or a woman who is responsible for her husband and his family?

Economic changes have left their imprints on society. The decision makers must take this into consideration. I know that the matter is the sole concern of the family but the human aspect of it makes it imperative upon us to ask the concerned government bodies to enact laws deciding an age of consent for both men and women. We must define an age of sufficient maturity below which girls will not be allowed to marry. We do not use the element of “personal freedom” in this issue because sometimes when the parents are separated, the father will insist on marrying off his young daughter only to taunt his estranged wife. In some cases the father will marry his young daughter to a wealthy man to get rid of his debts. In either case, it is the young girl who is the victim. Marriage is not just a physical relationship between a man and a woman; it is much more than that. It is also not an economic or social investment to gain profits at the expense of an innocent human being. The man can also be the victim in such marriages because the objectives of marriage will not be fulfilled as a result of such unions.
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