* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Efforts to build sustainable, inclusive development must address the pervasive issues of violence against women and child marriage, which continue to obstruct progress
As the world comes together to debate and develop a new set of goals for a post-2015 global development agenda, it is imperative that eradicating both violence against women and child marriage are given the highest of priorities. Time and again it has been proven that issues such as poverty, food security, health, and violent conflict are directly related to the status of women and girls globally.
Therefore, efforts to build sustainable, inclusive development must address the pervasive issues of violence against women and child marriage, which continue to obstruct progress by subordinating half of the world’s population.
Despite global efforts undertaken in the past 15 years, violence against women remains an epidemic worldwide. According to World Bank data, women aged 15-44 face a higher risk of being victims of rape and domestic violence than of being diagnosed with cancer or involved in a car accident.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that nearly half of all women killed in 2012 were killed by intimate partners or family members, and research has found that in the U.S. one in five women will be a victim of attempted or completed rape.
In Afghanistan, one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, 87 percent of women will experience violence in their lifetime. Despite progress across the country, including the establishment of organizations and shelters that support victims of violence, such as Women for Afghan Women (WAW), honor killings, acid attacks, domestic violence, and rape are realities in the everyday lives of Afghan women.
Such issues impede the development of the country as a whole, and are indicative of how, despite billions of dollars of investment in Afghanistan, progress is slow in places where violence is pervasive and gender equality is absent
Child marriage is another issue that warrants significant attention and focus in the Sustainable Development Goals. Every year an estimated 15 million girls around the world will be married before the age of 18, a majority of whom are also forced to forgo their education.
Studies have shown that girls who are able to pursue education, as opposed to being forced into marriage, live healthier lives, have healthier children, contribute to the local economy, and improve the quality of life for their entire families.
Girls forced into marriage are more likely to live in poverty, contract HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases, and face complications in childbirth.
Furthermore, child marriage often sets the stage for a lifetime of violence as illustrated in the cases of Gul Meena and Sahar Gul, WAW clients who were both sold into marriage before hitting puberty. After becoming child brides, Gul Meena and Sahar Gul both faced daily attacks by their husbands and in-laws that nearly killed them.
The past 15 years have proven that we must go beyond the Millennium Development Goals and place a stronger emphasis on ending violence against women and child marriage in the global development agenda. Eradicating violence against women and girls is essential to advancing global development and building the world we want – a world with healthy, peaceful, sustainable, and productive societies.
Manizha Naderi is the Executive Director of Women for Afghan Women, a human rights organization that operates 32 facilities across Afghanistan providing legal aid, shelter, mediation and empowerment services to thousands of women and children every year. WAW also runs a community center for Afghan immigrants and their families in New York, as well as an advocacy office in Washington D.C.
