Do you want to join the only organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and advocacy?
As we continue to grow, we are looking to hire an Advocacy & Administrative Associate who will help lead the growing national movement to eliminate marriage before 18 in every U.S. state. You might be a good fit if you:
NOTE: An internal study at HP found women applied for a promotion only if they met 100 percent of the qualifications, while men applied if they met 60 percent. Women, don’t be a statistic. If you want this job, go for it.
It’s a good day when journalist Nicholas Kristof calls your work “heroic.”
Did you see his column yesterday in the New York Times about child marriage in the United States and our “heroic work” to end it — which has led so far to five U.S. states banning this “repugnant” practice?
Kristof cited our new study that showed nearly 300,000 children married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, mostly girls wed to adult men, in many cases before the children were old enough to consent to sex.
“The marriage license became a get-out-of-jail-free card” for tens of thousands of child rapists, Kristof quoted our Fraidy Reiss as saying.
The column told the heartbreaking story of Patricia Abatemarco, who was married at 14 to the 27-year-old rapist who had gotten her pregnant. (You might remember Abatemarco from the webinar we hosted last week, moderated by Chelsea Clinton, which featured bipartisan legislators and advocates including Abatemarco.)
Here are ways you can join our “heroic work” and end child marriage in another 45 states.
Were you among the more than 320 people who tuned in yesterday for our virtual discussion of United States’ child marriage problem?
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois lauded us at Unchained for leading the movement to end child marriage in the U.S. and called on his colleagues, as well as state legislators in the 45 states that still allow child marriage, to join the movement. Chelsea Clinton, a longtime Unchained ally, noted the importance of our new study that showed nearly 300,000 children married recently in the U.S., and she reminded the audience that child marriage is not “something that happens to other kids in other places.”
New York Sen. Julia Salazar and South Carolina Sen. Katrina Shealy described some of the challenges they have faced as they work to end child marriage in their respective states. Child marriage survivor and activist Pat Abatemarco shared her painful story. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation advisor Dr. Yvette Efevbera explained why our work is crucial to the global effort to eliminate child marriage, and author and influencer Blair Imani urged everyone to do what she has done: partner with us to end the human rights abuse that is child marriage.
Watch the full discussion below.
This event was made possible by the generosity of the international law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.
We have an all-star lineup for our virtual discussion of child marriage in the U.S. on Thursday. Our speakers include a special guest, as well as these activists and legislators:
Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, is a longtime ally in the fight to end child marriage in the U.S.
New York Senator Julia Salazar leads the push to end child marriage in New York. The legislature passed the bill she championed to ban marriage before 18; the bill is awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature.
South Carolina Senator Katrina Shealy leads the push to end child marriage in South Carolina. The bill she introduced to ban marriage before age 18 is pending in the legislature.
Dr. Yvette Efevbera is an advisor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who made Unchained’s study of child marriage possible.
Blair Imani is an author, educator and influencer whose work centers women and girls, global Black communities and the LGBTQ community.
Patricia Abatemarco is a child marriage survivor and mental health advocate who has partnered with Unchained to prevent what happened to her from happening to any other child.
Fraidy Reiss is a forced marriage survivor and Unchained’s founder/executive director.
United States’ Child Marriage Problem
Thursday, June 17, 2021
3 p.m. – 4 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. PT
Register here (required)
This event is made possible by the generosity of the international law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.
We’re now five down, 45 to go in our national movement to end child marriage in every U.S. state. We just stood beside Gov. Daniel McKee and the bill’s sponsors — Rep. Julie Casimiro and Sen. John Burke — as the governor signed H5387/S398 and made Rhode Island the fifth U.S. state to ban all marriage before 18, without exceptions. !!
We have been advocating relentlessly for months for this historic victory. Along with our allies at AHA Foundation, American Atheists, CHILD USA, Global Hope 365, Human Rights Watch, J Strategies, National Coalition to End Child Marriage, Students Against Child Marriage, UNICEF USA and Zonta International, and numerous child marriage survivors, we met with or called every state legislator. We testified at legislative hearings and submitted memos of support. We compiled in-depth legal research conducted on a pro bono basis by the law firms White & Case, DLA Piper and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. We partnered with Lush, whose generosity made all this work possible. You joined us too, if you shared our posts on social media or supported us financially.
The previous law in Rhode Island created a nightmarish legal trap: Minors of any age could be entered into marriage by a parent and/or a judge, without any input from the minor — before the minor was old enough to leave home, enter a domestic violence shelter, retain an attorney or even file for divorce. Minors could be married off before they were old enough to consent to sex.
Child marriage therefore was often forced marriage and, in some cases, covered up rape. Further, marriage before 18 produces such devastating, lifelong repercussions for girls that the U.S. State Department has called it a human rights abuse.
An estimated 171 children in Rhode Island were subjected to this human rights abuse between 2000 and 2018 — and some 88% were girls wed to adult men. But that will never happen again.
To date, our advocacy has helped to end child marriage — without exceptions — in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Rhode Island. The New York legislature last week passed a bill to end child marriage, and it is waiting for the governor’s signature. Let’s move on to the next state together. #18NoExceptions
So we’re trying to stay calm here, but the New York assembly just voted UNANIMOUSLY to end child marriage (A3891, sponsored by Asm. Phil Ramos).
And the senate already passed the bill (S3086, sponsored by Sen. Julia Salazar).
Which means the bill now heads to the governor’s desk, and NEW YORK MIGHT SOON BECOME THE SIXTH U.S. STATE TO END CHILD MARRIAGE!
Please take a moment to email Gov. Cuomo, call him (518-474-8390) and tweet at him (@NYGovCuomo) to urge him to sign S3086.
Did you register yet for our virtual discussion with Chelsea Clinton on June 17? We’ll talk with her and others — including author and influencer Blair Imani — about our groundbreaking study of child marriage in the U.S.
Also joining us will be bipartisan state senators Julia Salazar (New York) and Katrina Shealy (South Carolina), each who leads the charge to end child marriage in her state; Dr. Yvette Efevbera of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and survivor and advocate Patricia Abatemarco.
This event is sponsored by Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.
United States’ Child Marriage Problem
Thursday, June 17, 2021
3 p.m. – 4 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. CT / 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. PT
Register here (required)
Victory dance, please. The Rhode Island House of Representatives just unanimously passed the bill we and our allies have been promoting relentlessly to end all marriage before 18, without exceptions — H5387, sponsored by Rep. Julie Casimiro.
As you may recall, the state senate unanimously passed the senate version last week, so the bill now heads to Gov. Daniel McKee’s desk for his signature. Are we about to see the fifth U.S. state end a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives?
The United States has a child marriage problem, our new study proves.
Join us and Chelsea Clinton on June 17 for a virtual discussion of the groundbreaking study, which found nearly 300,000 children were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 — mostly girls wed to adult men, typically before the girls were old enough to file for divorce or enter a domestic violence shelter. Some 60,000 marriages occurred at an age or with a spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.
We’ll mark our 10th anniversary by talking with bipartisan legislators, advocates and a survivor about the grave implications of child marriage for girls, women and society — and about the simple solution that is available.
United States’ Child Marriage Problem
June 17, 2021
3 p.m. – 4 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. PT
RSVP here (required)
Moderator
~ Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation
Speakers
~ New York Sen. Julia Salazar
~ South Carolina Sen. Katrina Shealy
~ Dr. Yvette Efevbera, Advisor, Gender-Based Violence and Child Marriage, Gender Equality at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
~ Blair Imani, author, educator and influencer
~ Patricia Abatemarco, child marriage survivor and mental health advocate
~ Fraidy Reiss, founder/executive director at Unchained At Last
Sponsored by Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
About the Study
Child marriage is legal in most of the U.S., but many Americans remain unaware of the prevalence of child marriage in their country — possibly because no central repository collects national marriage-age data in the U.S., and some states do not track or publicize these data.
We sought to change that with our new study. Thanks to funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we partnered with McGill University, Quest Research & Investigations, Kroll and Quantitative Analysis on the first-ever study that employed state-by-state data collection and various estimation methods to determine the full extent of child marriage in the U.S.
About Unchained At Last
This event marks our 10th anniversary as the only organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and advocacy.
We provide crucial legal and social services, always for free, to help women, girls and others in the U.S. to escape forced marriages. At the same time, we push for social, policy and legal change; we started and now lead a growing national movement to eliminate child marriage in every U.S. state and at the federal level.
We have a double dose of good news!
The New York senate just approved S3086, sponsored by Sen. Julia Salazar, to end child marriage. And, at nearly the same time, the Rhode Island senate UNANIMOUSLY approved S398, sponsored by Sen. John Burke, to do the same.
Both bills still need approval in the lower house — but New York and Rhode Island are now one step closer to becoming the fifth and sixth U.S. states to end all marriage before 18, without exceptions.
The next step should come soon: In Rhode Island, the house judiciary committee will vote tomorrow on H5387, sponsored by Rep. Julie Casimiro. In New York, A3891, sponsored by Asm. Phil Ramos, is awaiting a vote in the assembly judiciary committee.
If you live in Rhode Island or New York, make sure your legislators know you want them to vote YES on ending child marriage.
