Tanzania Marriage Law and Its Impact to Adolescent Health and Career
presented by Dr. Elizabeth C.U.Hizza OBGYN
Terms and Definitions (1) Marriage
The voluntary union of a man and a woman intended to last for their joint lives
•“Child:” A person under age of twelve years
•“Young Person”: means a person who is twelve years of age or more but under sixteen
years
Terms and Definitions (2) Adolescence
•The period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to
maturity.
•A transitional period of development between youth and maturity
Terms and Definitions (3)
WHO definition
•WHO clearly defines
– adolescence as the period of life between 10-19 years
–Youth as between 15- 24 years and
–young people, as those between 10-24 years
Magnitude
•Adolescents comprise 20% of the total world population, 85% of whom live in
developing countries.
Tanzania Law of marriage,Age at Marriage
•Section 13 (1): No person shall marry who, being a male has not attained the apparent
age of eighteen years or, being female has not attained the apparent age of 15 years
Tanzania Law of Marriage Controversies
•Section 13(2) Not withstanding the provision of subsection (1) the court shall in it’s
discretion, have the power, on application to give leave for a marriage where the parties
are, or either of them is below the ages prescribed in subsection (1) if(a) Each Party have attained the age of fourteen years and
(b) The court is satisfied that there are special circumstances which make the proposed
marriage desirable
•Section:16 (1): No marriage shall be contracted except with the consent freely and
voluntarily given by each of the parties thereto
(2) For the purpose of this Act the consent shall not be held to have been freely or
voluntarily given if the party who purported to give it(a) Was influenced by coercion or fraud; or
(b) Was mistaken as to the nature of the ceremony; or
(c) Was suffering from any mental disorder or mental defect, whether permanent or
temporary, or was intoxicated, so as not to fully appreciate the nature of the ceremony,
and references to this act to “consent” or “consent freely given” in relation to a party to a
marriage or an intended marriage shall be construed as meaning consent freely and
voluntarily given
•section 17-(1) A female who has not attained the apparent age of eighteen years shall be
required before marrying to obtain the consent of:
(a) Her father or
(b) If her father is dead of her mother or
(c) if both her father and mother are dead of the person who is her guardian
But in any other case, or if all those persons are dead, shall not require consent
(2)Where the court is satisfied that the consent of any person to a proposed marriage is
being withheld unreasonably or that it is impracticable to obtain such consent , the court
may, on application give consent and such consent shall have the same effect as if it had
been given by the person whose consent is required by subsection (1)
Law of marriage
•Linked with education, social morals, and health system directly or indirectly affect
adolescent health and career
•Existence of parental/ guardian consent predisposes to early marriage
•Inadequacy information leaves adolescents vulnerable to adults decisions
•Unmatched primary to Secondary education creates a pool of young adults especially
girls who can be victims of early marrige
Challenges Facing Adolescents
•Education
•Physical growth
•Endocrine drive
•Psychological Immaturity
•Sociological integration
•Sexuality
•Sexually Transmitted Infection &HIV
•Adolescent pregnancy
•Adolescent motherhood
•Socio economic
•Social Cultural barriers
•Role of community
•Role of religion
•Role of state
Education- Tanzania education system
•Compulsory Primary education( Grades 1-7) enrollment at age of 7 years
•Completion of primary education at 13 years
•Not all enrolled in Secondary education
•Primary school dropouts; what is their fate
Primary school dropout by gender and reason 1996/97
Total #students dropping out of school 1997/98 by gender
Other training opportunities after 7th grade
•Vocational training: mostly urban
–Tailoring
–Masonry
– Plumbing
– Artisan
–Hotel management
–Electrical technician
PHYSICAL GROWTH
•Rapid physical growing phase mostly hormonal driven Mental and psychological
maturity slightly lagging behind
•Sometimes physical appearance: rapid growth may subject to sexual abuse with reason
of age confusion (this does not hold water) BECAUSE:
–Legally:
•“A young person”
•Have not reached age of employment
•Cannot be married under usual circumstances
•Idleness prevails
Endocrine drive
•Development of secondary sexual characteristics
•Majority have attained puberty
•Some girls have attained menarche
•Beginning of sexual drive due to increasing levels of hormones from the Hypothalamic
Pituitary ovarian axis
Psychological immaturity
Imbalance between physical growth and psychological maturity predisposes to:
–Irrational decisions
–Want to be recognized in the family and society at large
–Arrogance may prevail
–Clash with parents/family/peers may also happen
Sociological integration
•Mostly with peer; likely to be in the same level of education/ understanding
•All least informed on, social cultural, body physiology, body growth and development
•Period of communication gap with adults in relation to social cultural morals; issues on
sexuality very difficult to discuss with parents
•Some cultures display rite of passage ceremonies ( roles of a woman, common period
for FGM)
•Some tribes regard menarche as readiness for marriage
Sexuality
•Limited sources of information
•Peer information prevail
•Early sexual debut
•Inadequate information predisposes to unprotected sex, adolescent pregnancy
•Subject to multiple sexual partners STI and HIV
•Frequently, sexuality presents the first challenge to healthy adolescent growth.
•Often unplanned, and sometimes pressured,
•Inadequate knowledge of contraception, sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) or health
services available to them.
Sexually Transmitted Infections
•Limited awareness of RH consequences of STI
•Limited youth health services
•Existing health system not user friendly/easily accessible by this group ( limited privacy,
confidentiality, skilled providers to deal with adolescent related RH problems)
•Subject to re-infection
•Increased chances for contracting HIV
•One out of 20 adolescents contracts a curable STI, excluding viral infections
•STDs often go undetected or untreated among young women, who, embarrassed or
stigmatized by the presence of a STI, are reluctant to seek help.
•Yet STD agents, such as Chlamydia and human papilloma virus, can have dire
consequences at later times, such as infertility or cervical cancer. STDs may also
facilitate the transmission of HIV.
SELF REPORTING STI
HIV among adolescents
•Although the overall world population living with HIV/AIDS appears to be declining,
evidence shows that new HIV infections among adolescents are rising.
•Worldwide, more than half of all new HIV infections occurs in the 15 to 24 age group.
•In South Africa, the rate of pregnant teens (15 to 19) with HIV doubled between 1994
and 1996.
•Although young people may know how AIDS is transmitted and prevented, many
believe their risk of infection is minimal.
•In one study in Malawi, 90% of teenage boys reported having at least one sex partner in
the previous year but very few used condoms.
•Girls appear to have a significantly higher incidence of HIV infection than boys.
•Statistics from Uganda show girls having six times more HIV infection than boys, even
though the rate for teenage girls has dropped 50% since 1990.
Adolescent pregnancy
•Poor ANC attendance
•Prone to Malaria and anaemia
•Prone to complications of labour and deliver: Obstructed labour, fistulae, Neonatal
mortality, puerperal infections and possibility of secondary infertility
•In developing countries, girls under 18 have a maternal mortality rate that is two to five
times higher than women 18 to 25.
•1 and 4.4 million adolescent abortions occur each year, most of which are unsafe,
performed by unskilled practitioners illegally.
•Complications of abortion affect current and future RH
•Family planning services for the youth not well established
Adolescent motherhood
•Majority single parent
•Limited support from family and partner
•Immature social system to deal with outcomes of adolescent pregnancy
•Future education cloudy
•Child survival cloudy
Adolescent pregnancy and motherhood- Socio economic status
•Economically dependant
•Prevailing poverty among majority of families
•Poverty predisposed female adolescents to commercial sex
•Males will embark on casual labour
•Females go into vicious cycle of STI, pregnancy, poverty
Other health related Facts: Tobacco use
•Tobacco use is another serious health problem for adolescents.
•One third to one half of young people who experiment with cigarettes become regular
smokers, half of them within one year.
•Teens who smoke daily for a number of years develop a habit and addiction level as
difficult to reverse as for adult smokers.
•Although many try repeatedly, very few adolescents actually stop smoking.
•Studies show that young people who do not use tobacco before the age of 20 are
unlikely to start smoking as adults.
•Studies around the world show that the majority of adult smokers begin tobacco use in
their teenage years, sometimes earlier, and that smoking is addictive and dangerous to
their health.
•Therefore, preventing tobacco use in the first place among teens avoids many lifelong
and life-threatening health problems.
Barriers
Social cultural communication gap
•Limited communication skills with adolescents
•Limited information from education system some issues still a controversy
•Health system: limited adolescent RHS recently speeding
•Religious programs mainly spiritual e.g. confirmation, holy communion classes and
Madras
Career Bottlenecks
•Limited formal education ( compulsory Primary, Secondary????
•Inability to compete with employment market which requires higher standards of
education
•Subject to casual laborers or low wage earners
•Propagation of poverty
What is the future like?
•Young people’s problems have been ignored, with little understanding of the potential
impact of a generation at risk on the future.
•If today’s young people are to realize their adult potential, new solutions must be found.
•These solutions will be based on understanding the complexities of adolescent cultures,
how they experience risk and what factors contribute to their vulnerabilities.
Role of community
Generally Limited communication skills for adolescent
•Community Based Organization what is their role on adolescents
•Religious organizations, have they played enough role?
•Family as the basic unit, has it been empowered?
Role of Religion
•Be more proactive and bridge the gap where parents fail due to cultural reasons
•Put in place curriculum for adolescent religious classes to include issues on sexuality
•Set more time for adolescents to interact with religion to cope with the media challenges
Role of State- MOH
•Adolescent Reproductive health is among MOH strategies. Concerns:
–Coverage in school Vs out of school
–Expansion of comprehensive youth services urban and rural
Role of state- Ministry of Education
•Government embarked into expansion of Secondary education
•Production of teachers still lagging behind
•Post secondary education preparedness :Challenge
•Cost of current Vocational training centres probably not affordable by majority
Post Education
•Employment still a challenge
•Is it possible to increase the number of years for compulsory education to allow:
–Attain higher levels of education
–Postpone first pregnancy at tender age
–Ability to gain skills and win better chances in employment market
Role of state- Ministry of Justice and Constitution
•High time to wind up the revision of law of marriage and its controversies
•Review of traditional marriage to avoid oppression of female gender
•Strengthen community empowerment of issues of property ownership related to
marriage