Data Stuff: Peeking at Attitudes Data to Explain Girl Marriage

A few weeks ago, Girls Not Brides, a global non-profit devoted to reducing rates of child marriage, asked me to advise on alternate sources of data now that the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) are largely gone. As I was putting together this presentation and looking at the variables that impact child marriage rates, two sets of variables stood out. One set pertained to the economic well-being/development of the country and the second set of variables that impact child marriage rates, unsurprisingly, are social and cultural norms. Attitudes toward women and girls have a big impact on the age when girls are married in many cultures.

In much of the world, boys are still considered the primary breadwinners in their households and the support for parents in their old age. Inheritance, such as land, usually also pass down through male lines. Because of these prevailing norms, boys often are prioritized when it comes to educational and other resources, and often the only option girls have is to marry a “good” boy. Thus, people’s attitudes toward women’s right to work for pay and their right to inherit often determine educational and other resources available to them and the ages at which they are married.

The Afrobarometer tracks public attitude on a variety of issues. In the latest round of data available (the 9th round collected in 2023 from 39 African countries), the survey asked about attitudes toward women in the workforce and their ability to inherit land. Following are the two statements with which respondents were asked to agree or disagree:

1. When jobs are scarce, men should have more rights to a job than women.
2. Women should have the same rights as men to own and inherit land.

To these survey data, I added the data on the percentage of girls married by the age of 18 years in each country in the dataset — girls marriage rates were unavailable for 3 of the 39 countries (Botswana, Mauritius and the Seychelles) and thus these 3 countries were excluded from the analysis.

As the following graph shows, there is significant correlation between girls marriage rate in the country and people’s attitudes to women in the workforce and their right to inherit. In the graph, it can be seen that when higher percent of people agree that men have more rights to a job usually the rate of girls marriage is also higher. Similarly, when the percent of people disagreeing that women have equal rights to land is higher so generally is the rate of girls marriage.

Tracking these and other relevant attitude indicators could potentially provide a way to track the underlying constructs that determine child marriage rates. It should, however, be noted that economic conditions play a big role and it is important to look at changes in these indicators along with changes in the general economy of the country.

The Afrobarometer asks these and other attitude questions on a rotating basis. Users can look at changes over time on key variables of interest to them. These data on attitudes, collected by the various Barometers, are a valuable resource for policymakers, program implementers, civil society organizations and country governments.

Have you used any of these data to inform strategy, implementation, program or policy choices? We would love to hear about how you have done so in the comments.

If you would like to discuss how you can leverage these data more effectively to achieve your mission, please do reach out to us at wellworldsolutions@outlook.com.