An Assessment Study on the Prevalence and Causes of Early Marriage and its Associated Problems on Socio-Economic and Health of Women in Gozamine Woreda East Gojjame Zone Amhara Region

Early marriage has all rounded problem on women and girls in the world in general and in developing countries in particular. It results on the health, and socio economic aspects of women; mistreatment, marginalization and deny basic human rights of women. Early marriage also limits many women’s mobility, self-esteem, ability to seek profitable employment, household decision making power, and/or increase the vulnerability to violence. Each of these factors has a potent effect on a woman’s ability to access healthcare, compromising not only her own health but that of her children, and not to be competent in economic and social affairs. This paper aimed to examine and investigate the prevalence of early marriage in the study area (gozamine woreda); identify the causal factors of early marriage in the study area, and examine its associated problems which put its impact on the health and socio-economic condition of women. After the list of kebeles obtained from the woreda administration office three kebeles were selected for the sake of this study through area cluster sampling method. Consequently a total of 350 ever married women who were under the age 15-50 years were included in the study selected through random sampling method. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed through SPSS 19. Whereas the qualitative data was collected through FGDs (three FGDs with 30 members totally) and six interviewees were interviewed for the in-depth interview. In gozamin woreda people wed children early due to different reasons. Among the identified factors keeping the tradition, keeping girls’ virginity, premarital sex and pregnancy, parents interest to create affinal relatives, economic, and lack of knowledge are the main causal factores of early marriage in the area. The main consequences of early marriage identified in the study area are girls school dropout, marriage instability, early pregnancy, maternal mortality, fistula and HIV/AIDS infection, and increased number of children. In general early marriage in the study area is remarkably decreasing.