Yemen Child Marriage (2009): Is the practice of child marriage on the way out in Yemen, or will conservative religious pressure ensure it stays legal?

For similar stories, see:
The Heartbreaking Truth About Yemen's Child Brides
   • Video  
Why Yemen Won't Ban Child Marriage and Rape
   • Why Yemen Won't Ban Child Marriage an...  
Meet the Women Fighting Against Rampant Misogyny in Afghanistan
   • Meet the Women Fighting Against Rampa...  

Subscribe to journeyman for daily uploads:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c...
For downloads and more information visit:
http://www.journeyman.tv/film/4595

Like us on Facebook:
  / journeymanpictures  
Follow us on Twitter:
  / journeymanvod  
  / journeymannews  
Follow us on Instagram:
  / journeymanpictures  

At ten years old, Arwa has already been married and divorced. In Yemen, where a quarter of women marry before they' re fifteen, her case has sparked a nationwide debate about child marriage.

" He would ask me to bring him something and if it wasn' t there, he would beat me ," Arwa recalls. Her husband offered a generous dowry but before long, he became violent and abusive. Encouraged by her father, she ran away. " We cannot find a good balance between the husband and the girl. It is not marriage, it is only rape!" says her lawyer, who successfully campaigned for a new law to make seventeen the legal minimum age of marriage. Before Arwa's divorce, there was no protection for child brides, with the country' s influential religious conservatives opposed to change. " Islam determines the age of marriage to be when the girl is ready for intercourse, not a specific age. " Until the President ratifies the new law, it could still be reversed, leaving many Yemenite girls to suffer the same fate as Arwa.

Ghostbox TV – Ref. 4595

Journeyman Pictures is your independent source for the world's most powerful films, exploring the burning issues of today. We represent stories from the world's top producers, with brand new content coming in all the time. On our channel you'll find outstanding and controversial journalism covering any global subject you can imagine wanting to know about.