Child marriage event CANCELLED

This event has been cancelled

Child Brides: Stolen Lives, a one-hour PBS special report about child marriage, will be presented at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, in Emerson Auditorium of Palamountain Hall.

A discussion after the film will be led by senior producer, Lesley Norman '79. Also present will be award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, senior correspondent on the PBS series "NOW" that aired the film, and the film's producer, Amy Bucher. The event will be free and open to the public.

Premiered in October 2007, Child Brides takes an unprecedented inside look at a global custom that devastates the lives of girls in developing countries around the world. According to the "NOW" web site, more than 100 million girls under the age of 18 will be married during the next 10 years in Niger, Chad, India, Ethiopia, Zambia, and a dozen more countries. Child brides are more likely than their unmarried peers to die younger, suffer from health problems, and remain poor and illiterate. The problems they face include high rates of infant and maternal mortality and more frequent incidence of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, domestic abuse, depression, and abandonment. Although the practice has decreased globally over the last 30 years, child marriage remains common in rural areas and among the very poor.

The film asks why child marriage persists and suggests strategies for helping girls at risk, including more widespread access to education and employment.

The film's presentation is sponsored by the departments of Government and Women's Studies and the College's office of Alumni Affairs and College Events.