Persuasive Speech-Problem & Solution Design - Essay Example

Child Marriage Specific Purpose: To acquaint the audience with the practice of child marriage and work to convince them that action should be taken on their part to oppose the further implementation of such a practice around the world. Thesis: Child marriage is an institution that serves to greatly diminish the personal rights and freedoms of cultures that adopt this as part of their tradition. Furthermore, the woman especially in a child marriage foregoes the ability to pursue higher education and develop her own unique dreams and skill sets.

Introduction:Biologically, a child is an individual who is between the age of birth and the stage that is puberty. Marriage is typically defined as the uniting of two people of the age of majority of their own free will and volition. In this way, regardless of culture contractual unions (often referred to as marriage) are recognized by the law of the state in every nation on the face of the planet. Child marriage is a situation where children are subjected to matrimony before they have achieved the legal marriage age.

Point/Evidence YemenIn the Middle East nearly half of Yemeni girls are married before they reach eighteen years of age. In some instances, marriages occur even before the tender age of 8. The law in Yemen set the minimum age at one that is approved for marriage to be 15 years; however, traditional customs more often than not continuously flout this law. 1. This is due in part to the fact that the law was continually interpreted differently by different individuals, the laws was changed in 1999 to allow marriage only after the point in time in which a girl reached the age of puberty.

However, the issue with the change in the law meant that many tribal elders interpreted puberty to be as early as the age of 9. In the actual practice, it can be said that the law in Yemen allows women of any age to be able to wed, but it is forbidden to practice sex with them until they achieve the age where it is now considered suitable to do so.2. The law was later to be raised from the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years after a girl, Nujood Ali, 10 years of age, in April 2008 was able to be granted divorce successfully after being raped under the set circumstances.

Much later in 2008, a council for maternal care and childhood established a proposal for the minimum age to be defined at 18 years and was passed as law in April 2009. However, this law was to be dropped the very next day after maneuvers by parliamentarians opposed to it, and negotiations are still ongoing for the legislation to be re-enacted. Saudi Example and Elsewhere:Similarly, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there are widespread cases of child marriages which have been well documented by Human Rights Movement.

These are oftentimes justified by clerics in Saudi Arabia with some clerics agreeing to performed marriage rituals on girls as young as 9 years of age. Similarly, Saudi Arabian law defines the minimum marriage age to be as young as 8 years of age.1. However, religious leaders themselves are not solely to blame as families often take advantage of such early marriages to win position or economic gain for themselves. In such a way, the families arrange for girls to be married in religious ceremonies, using the tactic of not officially registering it until the girl is of legal age, as a means of escaping reciprocity. 2. This practice disadvantages the girl, leaving her with no legal base to inherent, no alimony or support in case the husband was to pass away prematurely or divorce her.

The statistics is shocking in the Middle East regarding the child marriages. In Yemen, a third of women in the age range of 20–24 are married off when they attain 18 years of age. 3. Elsewhere in Iraq and Palestine, a very significant size of women in similar age bracket will be married before they are even 18 years of age. As such, the future of the respective societies is being sold short due to the fact that these young women are not able to develop their own educational interests or even have a say as to whether they prefer to stay single or to become married or to whom.

Solutions:The solutions that could be effected to rid the world of this practice include the following:1. Establishing stricter laws among nations that practice this form of tradition2. Seeking to document and prohibit the further implementation of such practices3. Requiring further education to be provided among populations and cultures that adhere to such belief systems4. Demanding that the cessation of child marriage be a determinant in the availability of foreign aid5. Encouraging UN participation in seeking to stamp out this inhumane practice the world over6.

Empowering women and girls to realize that they have a voice in the process and should make it heard.Conclusion:The practice of child marriage is not relegated to far off cultures. Instead, child marriage is a pervasive ill that affects nearly every society and works to underscore the need to liberate those involved within its constraints. When a child marriage is performed it necessarily equates to the cessation of education and career outlook for the woman involved. In this way, the practice itself is similar if not comparable to a type of slavery and must end.

Works ConsultedChantler, Khatidja. "Recognition Of And Intervention In Forced Marriage As A Form Of Violence And Abuse." Trauma, Violence & Abuse 13.3 (2012): 176-183. MEDLINE. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.CROSSETTE, BARBARA. "The Elders Against Child Marriage. (Cover Story)." Nation 294.7 (2012): 20-23. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.Holmes, Oliver. "In Yemen, women protest delay on child marriage ban." Christian Science Monitor 23 Mar. 2010: N.PAG. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

"Taken For A Bride." New Internationalist 423 (2009): 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.Vidyasagar, Ishvarcandra. "The Evils Of Child Marriage." Critical Asian Studies 35.3 (2003): 476-484. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.Zahangir, M. S., and M. M. Kamal. "Several Attributes Linked With Child Marriage Of Females In Bangladesh." International Journal Of Statistics & Systems 6.1 (2011): 107-117. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.