We wore bridal gowns and chains last week as we gathered outside the California State Capitol to protest child marriage. More than 20 child marriage survivors and allies joined Chain-In Sacramento — made possible by the generous support of the Conboy Foundation — to urge legislators to end a human rights abuse and nightmarish legal trap that destroys girls’ lives.
Speakers included:
- Asm. Cottie Petrie-Norris, legislative champion
- Davinder Kaur, forced marriage survivor
- Mandy Havlik, child marriage survivor
- Sara Tasneem, child marriage advocate and survivor
- Fatemah, child marriage survivor
- Chavie Weisberger, forced marriage survivor
- Marilyn Smith, child marriage survivor
- Pat Abatemarco, child marriage survivor
- Dr. Tamara MC, survivor advocate
- Ela Pandya, Zonta International
- Michele Hanash, AHA Foundation
- Fraidy Reiss, Unchained At Last
Child marriage is an urgent problem in California, where the effective marriage age is zero. More than 8,000 California children marry each year. Yet state legislators have resisted passing simple, commonsense legislation to make the marriage age 18, no exceptions.
One of the goals of a Chain-In is to get media attention to spread our message, and it worked. Chain-In Sacramento garnered headlines in CalMatters, The Sacramento Bee, KNX News (no link available), KQED, SFGate, VigourTimes, Yahoo News, CapRadio and more.
We at Unchained started and now lead a growing national movement to end child marriage in the United States by making the marriage age 18, no exceptions, in all 50 states. One of the many ways we advocate for change is by hosting Chain-Ins like this. Read more here about this form of peaceful protest we invented.
Marriage before 18 can too easily be forced, because minors, even a day before their 18th birthday, have limited legal rights that make resisting or escaping an unwanted marriage nearly impossible. Further, marriage before 18 is a human rights abuse that destroys American girls’ health, education and economic opportunities and greatly increases their risk of experiencing violence.
Let’s seize on the momentum. If you live in California, contact your legislators now and urge them to end child marriage in California. And wherever you live, here are other ways you can get involved.
