Underage girls have a hard time in Saudi Arabia. This is very sad, however, it has been like this for centuries. Driven by poor financial conditions, Saudi families are “offering” their daughters to older rich men from the kingdom. According to a minister from the Saudi Government, Saudi Arabia could soon ban marriage for girls aged below 18 due to international outrage.
Recently, an 8 year old girl has married a man aged more-than-40, a case which has embarrassed Saudi Arabia. However, this could be banned as the minister is working on a plan to help young girls.
“Among the options that are available and excluding the issue of puberty, is to ban marriage for (people) under 18. A girl below 18 is often not fit to take the family responsibility especially if she quickly gives birth (after marriage),” said Justice Minister Mohammed al-Eissa.
It’s simply not possible that a eight-year-old girl to take care of a child. Also it must be a traumatic experience for underage girls to have sexual intercourse with men aged 40 or 50. Actually, the age doesn’t matter as it is not proper for girls that age to have sex.
The problem is that there are many who support underage girls to get married. Saudi chief cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh thinks that this way the men and the girls will not cheat as they will not be tempted to have other relationships, and it’s part of their culture as the fathers are allowed to marry their daughters to whomever they think it’s best for the girls.
It is good that some people feel sorry for what they did – it seems like a 50-year old man from a town called Onaiza was kind enough to divorce a 8-year-old girl.
I hope that soon young girls will not be forced into marriage, although this is very common in many Arab countries, but also in Yemen, a country outside Africa. Poverty is a big problem and the easiest way to solve it, is to marry your daughter to an older man while she’s still at pre-puberty.
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