Abstract
This article reports fieldwork carried out in 2011 with the aim of investigating the attitudes and reported behavior of young Congolese men and women concerning sexual relationships, including forced marriage. A sample of 56 boys and girls aged 16–20 from two urban and two rural high schools in South Kivu province took part in focus groups and 40 of them were subsequently interviewed individually. Most male and female participants reported that parents would force their daughters to marry their boyfriends if she spent a night with him and came back home because, according, to Bashi tradition, she is ‘no longer a girl’. If their daughter becomes pregnant, most parents would force their daughter to marry the genitor. The onus of preventing sex, pregnancy and rape is on the shoulders of the girl, which is consistent with oppressive patriarchal norms that may perpetuate violence against women.
Highlights
Forced marriage of girls is generally practiced in Africa (Hampton 2010), and is common in Asia where it is practiced in the form of abduction or kidnapping marriage (Kleinbach et al 2005)
While in the past the practice has mostly served a cultural aim in Africa, the context of the present economic depression has led to an increase in forced child marriages for financial gain
We are reporting the views of boys and girls and their opinions about the attitudes and likely behaviour of parents
Summary
Forced marriage of girls is generally practiced in Africa (Hampton 2010), and is common in Asia where it is practiced in the form of abduction or kidnapping marriage (Kleinbach et al 2005). Young girls’ pregnancy and spending the night with her boyfriend are perceived to be one of factors influencing violence against women in South Kivu province It illustrates the male dominant traditional cultural beliefs and practices which impinge on the development of healthy relationships between young men and women, and increase young women’s health and well-being vulnerabilities. Due to the limited nature of previous research on this topic in the DRC, we opted for a more exploratory approach aimed at uncovering the broad range of motivations that influence forced marriage in South Kivu province, and the understanding of the experience of both young boys and girls who undergo such a practice. The examination of power inequalities is important for the understanding of different groups’ capacity to challenge norms (Marcus and Harper 2014)
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