TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) West Java continues to push down the number of child marriage prevalent in West Java.
BKKBN West Java official Ida Indrawati said that the average West Javan woman get married at the age of 18.05 years. The figure is way below the minimum age for marriage to meets the rights to reproductive health.
“We want to improve it. Because to meet [the rights to] women’s reproductive health, minimum marriage age for women is 21,” Ida said on Wednesday in Bandung.
According to Ida, it is difficult to lower the rate of child marriage. She said that child marriage is not exclusive to rural areas. “Child marriage is also common in urban areas. Culture plays a significant role in child marriage,” he said.
Ida said that teenagers make up 26 percent of total West Java population. “The total teenagers in West Java is roughly 26 percent of [the region’s] total population of 46.7 million. They are quite a lot of them,” he said.
Research of Environment and Self Independent (RESIC) director Neng Hannah Hakim said that Indonesia ranks second in rates of child marriage after Cambodia. Some 2.3 percent of 7 million Indonesian women under the age of 15 have married.
As for West Java, three regions are on top of the chart of rates of child marriage: Indramayu, Karawang and Garut. “Also Subang,” she said.
“One of the reason is economy. Parents who are having economic difficulty prefer to let their young daughters to get married to lower the burden. For others, women are seen as properties, such as in Indramayu and Subang. People are taking pride in being able to improve their economy by marrying their daughters with wealthy men,” she said.
AMINUDIN A.S.