DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION AND SUMMARY
5.1 Discussion of the findings
Gender bias promotes early marriage. Gender refers to
the sum of cultural values, attitudes, roles, practice and characteristics
based on sex. Gender also reflects and perpetuates power relation between men
and women. Gender is the state of being male or female but it is more than
that. It refers to the social interpretation of one’s biological sex. It is the
cultural response to the biologically determined state. It is the social
interpretation of what it means to be female or male. Gender is the condition
of being masculine or feminine through one’s behaviour. One is born and labeled
male or female biologically but one learns how to be masculine or feminine.
(Action Health incorporated 2003).
Stanrock (2003) refers gender to the social and
psychological dimension of being male or female. He noted that gender role to
be a set of expectation that prescribes how female or male should think, act
and feel.
Gender role expectation affects their behaviours in
relationship, leisure activities and careers. Gender role regarded women as the
“weaker” sex. Even in their educational career they are some course of study
which women are not expected to make career in. Gender role kills initiative,
perpetuate stigma, encourage unnecessary rivalry, kills talents and discourage
creativity. There is need for us to promote equality because it is a
fundamental human right law. Both men and women have right which include:
freedom of association, freedom of choice or opinion, freedom of movement,
freedom of expression etc (Action Health incorporated 2003).
ILLITERACY AMONG PARENTS
Marriage takes
place for economic, culture, religious, social and emotional reason. In many
countries, especially among poor, migrants or displaced communities, marriage
at a young age is common. Usually it is girls who marry early (though it can
happen to boys as well). The gender inequality present in all aspects of
society, including education, leads to girls often lacking life skills and
negotiating power. Therefore, while most boys have a say in when and who they
marry and what they do once they are married many girls do not get chance to
make these decisions.
When girls drop out of school to get married, there is
a knock-on effect for the community as a whole, and to future generations,
girls who marry young, inevitably have children early, and have many children,
because their knowledge of contraception is poor and their power to negotiate
its use is weak. Evidence suggests that children of young uneducated mothers
are less likely to have a good start to their education, do well in class or
continue beyond the minimum schooling. Their daughters especially are likely to
drop out, marry young and begin the cycle again. Early marriage can therefore
be a significant barrier for communities seeking to raise education level and
break the cycle of poverty (Lewis 2008).
Enlightment campaign through media: Mass media means
of communication with the general public e.g. Radio, television, movies, gong,
drum, town criers, telephone, telegram, fax, magazines and newspapers. Media is
a good source of messages to individuals. In other hand seminar, conference and
workshop, when well organized and appropriate resource person used will go
along way to enlighten the rural populace on the danger and harmful effect of
early marriage to the individual and community in general.
Although early marriage is a matter of great concern,
there is far too little concrete information on its prevalence or its impacts.
Consequently, the first requirement in addressing early marriage must be more
research and more understanding. More effective advocacy and programming will
follow. One important strategy must be to improve data collection. Action must
be informed by knowledge, and for this reason, an essential first step is to
ensure the existing data collection programmes – be they run by national
governments, international organization, or NGOs are sensitized to the issue of
early marriage. They should be encouraged to provide full information on the
marital status of children and young people, disaggregated by age and gender.
Comprehensive data such as these are essential for making significant progress
in understanding the risk associated with the dynamics of early marriages
(Innocent Digest 2001).
5.2 Implication
of the study
The findings of the study will be
useful to the community because it will be an eye opener to understand the
danger of embarking on early marriage.
When parent train their girls in
education, poverty can be easily fight through education than through early
marriage. The study will help to bridge the gap between the female and their
male counterpart. The government in general will benefit because when gender
barriers is broken workforce will increase and the case of poverty will become
a forgotten issue.
5.3 Recommendations
The following recommendations were
made based on the findings of the study;
i. Campaign
against early marriage should be incorporated in the curriculum by the
educational planners.
ii. Health
workers should carry out a sensitization campaign through seminar, workshop and
conferences to enlighten illiterate parent in the rural area the danger of
early marriage to health, social and economic development of an individual.
iii. Government
and non-governmental organization should intensify their effort to see that
conflict and violence is reduced. Since the study noted that conflict and violence
encourages early marriage to enable individuals seek for protection.
5.4 Limitation
of the study
Time limit of this study is the major limitation
because if enough is given experimental design can be used for this type of
study.
Some of the respondents were not
willing to fill the questionnaire, while some fill it anything they feel like,
thereby making it difficult to get authentic information from such respondents.
5.5 Suggestion
for further studies
The following areas are recommended
for further investigation/research.
- Further
research should be carried out using another area/community.
- Early
marriage and school environment its effects on individuals performance.
- Early
marriage and education.
5.6 Summary
The research study was on
investigation of the influence of early marriage on girls education achievement
in Ikwo Local Government Area.
A total of 400 respondent were
selected as the sample size for the study by using Yaro Yamen Formula. Data was
collected from the sampled respondent using structured questionnaire. The data
collected was analyzed using statistic mean and frequency. The result of the
study shows that early marriage is caused by illiteracy, poverty, culture and
religious practices. It was also reviewed that early marriage endangers the
life of mother and the child.
5.7 Conclusion
Early marriage of girls and boys
impairs the realization and enjoyment of virtually everyone of their right. The
imposition of a marriage partner on children or adolescents who are in no way
ready for marriage life and whose marriage will deprive them of freedom,
opportunity for personal development and other opportunity for personal
development and other rights including health and well-being, education and
participation in civic life. Unless measures are taken to address early
marriage, it will continue to be a major stumbling block to the achievement of
human rights.
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