Two articles on Child Brides

[Bethella]

Two articles on Child Brides

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/afghan ... 25317.html

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/opinion/c ... =allsearch

From the first article

What families don’t realize,†Sinclair explains through her narration (in a short film about child brides), “is by curtailing a girl’s education, they’re only perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

She added, “As one Afghan police officer told me, girls are routinely seen as family burdens, while their male counterparts are seen as kings.â€

From the second

We need to talk to families about different ways their girls can contribute to their livelihoods, so that marriage is not seen as the only option.

We need to show community leaders examples of girls who have stayed in school, learned skills, and have helped develop their local economies.

I agree with them that educating girls and delaying marriage is good for both the girls and the economy, but I understand that both of these situations are in countries which are still quite patriarchal. However I wonder about the American fundies, who are in a country that is much more egalitarian and who are deliberately in poverty because they won't let the wife work. I would think that they can't argue with these facts, but they do it anyway. Are the just ignorant of the fact that allowing their wives to work would improve their economic conditions? Or is their spiritual well-being of relatively more importance than their economic well-being to them? Or are they deliberately hurting their economic well-being in order to suffer for Christ? I just don't get it.

[MorbidAwe]

Two articles on Child Brides

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/afghan ... 25317.html

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/opinion/c ... =allsearch

From the first article

From the second

I agree with them that educating girls and delaying marriage is good for both the girls and the economy, but I understand that both of these situations are in countries which are still quite patriarchal. However I wonder about the American fundies, who are in a country that is much more egalitarian and who are deliberately in poverty because they won't let the wife work. I would think that they can't argue with these facts, but they do it anyway. Are the just ignorant of the fact that allowing their wives to work would improve their economic conditions? Or is their spiritual well-being of relatively more importance than their economic well-being to them? Or are they deliberately hurting their economic well-being in order to suffer for Christ? I just don't get it.

I read the article and watched the short movie right before checking on FJ, and I had the SAME thought. Where the fundie girls are certainly older than 8 or 9 years old, let's face it, they are still losing out on precious schooling and the joys of just being a teen. It makes me want to weep! It's a self-perpetuating cycle, somewhat similar to what I see here in the south where 30 year old women are grandmothers, and IF someone in the family (usually male) manages to graduate from high school, it's a huge deal.

[uber frau]

. Or is their spiritual well-being of relatively more importance than their economic well-being to them? Or are they deliberately hurting their economic well-being in order to suffer for Christ? I just don't get it.

In a word, yes. To many fundies the idea of a woman (especially a mother) is as anathema as dealing speed. There might be good money to be made but they feel that they would be morally bankrupting themselves to do it.