BRIDES OF MELANCHOLY
Sadness beyond tradition
On her wedding day, 15-year-old Nasoin Akhter looked “melancholic,” according to photographer Allison Joyce, who documented the teenage girl’s wedding to her 32-year-old husband, Mohammad Hasamur Rahman, last week in Manikganj, Bangladesh.
“It’s tradition for the bride to look shy and coy during the wedding,” Joyce said in an email. “But I noticed this sadness and unspoken fear and uncertainty even when she was in her room with her friends before the ceremony or at the parlour with her sister. She was withdrawn and quiet.”
Although Nasoin Akhter’s marriage is technically illegal in Bangladesh, laws against child marriage are rarely enforced.
According to a report published in June by Human Rights Watch, the country has the fourth-highest rate of child marriage in the world, with 29 per cent of Bangladeshi girls married before the age of 15, and 65 per cent before the age of 18.
“Child marriage around the world is associated with many harmful consequences, including health dangers associated with early pregnancy, lower educational achievement for girls who marry earlier, a higher incidence of spousal violence, and an increased likelihood of poverty,” the report states.
Poverty, tradition, the sexual harassment of unmarried girls and limited access to education drives the practice, convincing parents they’re doing what’s best for their daughters, according to the report.
On Instagram, Joyce wrote that Nasoin Akhter was the “saddest bride I have ever seen.” And the photographer said what struck her about Akhter’s wedding was that her family wasn’t poor: “What was surprising to me is that Nasoin is from a very wealthy family. One of the causes cited for child marriage is poverty, but her father is a wealthy businessman with multiple two storey houses.”
Joyce, who is based in Bangladesh, has photographed other child marriages, and compared her most recent subject to another young bride, Mousammat Akhi Akhter.
“Before their weddings they had dreams, they both loved school and had hopes for the future. Akhi’s favourite subject was math and she wanted to be a teacher, before she was married off at 13,” Joyce said.
But it’s not only the desperation of poverty or social pressure that drives child marriage — it’s protection.
“I photographed the wedding of Akhi’s 13-year-old sister last year, and when I asked her mother why she was marrying her daughter off, she described not feeling comfortable to let her walk to the corner store because she would be harassed by men and boys,” Joyce said.
Even though Bangladesh has reduced poverty and maternal mortality, achieved gender parity in primary and secondary school enrolment, and is improving on women’s rights, it struggles to tackle child marriage, the report says.
“The only difference between these girls and me is that I happen to have been born into a country and culture that respects girls and women, and sees a woman’s value in a society beyond the role of a mother or a wife. Seeing their future, their possibilities and potential being ripped away from these girls in the span of one night is equal parts heartbreaking and infuriating for me. I don’t think it will be possible for countries to develop to their full potential until women and men stand on equal footing.”