Combating child marriage and the intergenerational sexual abuse of girls in South Africa
Résumé
The legal and policy frameworks governing marriage in many African countries often presume gender neutrality, thereby failing to address the deeply gendered nature of child marriage and sexual exploitation and abuse. Data from UNICEF and other sources consistently show that child marriage disproportionately affects girls, with significantly fewer boys involved in the practice. Far from ensuring equal protection and benefit of the law, many existing legal provisions reinforce gender inequality by allowing exceptions to the minimum age of marriage or by setting a lower marriageable age for girls, thereby legitimising harmful practices against girls by virtue of these legal loopholes. Focusing on South Africa, the paper illustrates how current marriage laws violate girls’ rights to equal protection and freedom from sexual exploitation. For example, girls aged 15 or older may marry without ministerial or judicial consent, whereas all boys under 18 require such approval. This legal disparity leaves girls uniquely exposed and under-protected compared to their male peers, reinforcing patriarchal norms through discrimination entrenched in legislation. Adopting a feminist and intersectional lens, the article also explores how customary practices such as lobolo and ukuthwala continue to legitimise child marriage. These practices, when intersecting with gender-discriminatory laws, intensify the vulnerability of girls and exacerbate systemic abuse. The article critically examines international, African regional, and sub-regional child rights instruments to assess their gender sensitivity and responsiveness in protecting children, especially girls, from early and forced marriage. Finally, the article calls for urgent legal and policy reforms, including the removal of gender-discriminatory provisions and the implementation of substantive equality measures, alongside efforts to empower girls through legal, educational, and social interventions. These reforms must be accompanied by the dismantling of patriarchal structures and an acknowledgment of the diverse lived realities of girlhood, both essential to ending the systemic legitimisation of child marriage and achieving equal protection for all children.
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