IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v20y2020i4p296-311.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constrained choices: Exploring the complexities of adolescent girls’ voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Nicola Jones

    (GAGE/ Overseas Development Institute, London, United Kingdom)

  • Elizabeth Presler-Marshall

    (Independent Researcher)

  • Guday Kassahun

    (Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

  • Meti Kebede Hateu

    (GAGE Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

Abstract

Ethiopia has recently seen a remarkable fall in the proportion of girls who marry in early adolescence, reflecting the country’s lauded efforts to tackle child marriage. However, aggregate national figures mask a more complex reality. This article explores this complexity, drawing on qualitative data with adolescent girls and boys, their caregivers, service providers and community leaders, from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study baseline. Our findings highlight the complex interplay between cultural norms, economic factors, individual voice and agency, and collective support thereof, on the part of leaders and service providers, from grassroots to national levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicola Jones & Elizabeth Presler-Marshall & Guday Kassahun & Meti Kebede Hateu, 2020. "Constrained choices: Exploring the complexities of adolescent girls’ voice and agency in child marriage decisions in Ethiopia," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 20(4), pages 296-311, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:20:y:2020:i:4:p:296-311
    DOI: 10.1177/1464993420958215
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464993420958215
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1464993420958215?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ana María Muñoz Boudet & Patti Petesch & Carolyn Turk & Angélica Thumala, 2013. "On Norms and Agency : Conversations about Gender Equality with Women and Men in 20 Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13818, December.
    2. Christine Griffin & Laura Camfield, 2009. "Using Qualitative Methods with Poor Children in Urban Ethiopia: Opportunities & Challenges," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 73-87, January.
    3. Solava Ibrahim, 2006. "From Individual to Collective Capabilities: The Capability Approach as a Conceptual Framework for Self-help," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 397-416.
    4. Elisabetta de Cao & Marloes Huis & Samson Jemaneh & Robert Lensink, 2017. "Community conversations as a strategy to change harmful traditional practices against women," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 72-74, January.
    5. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    6. Naila Kabeer & Munshi Sulaiman, 2015. "Assessing the Impact of Social Mobilization: Nijera Kori and the Construction of Collective Capabilities in Rural Bangladesh," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 47-68, February.
    7. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2012]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4391, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sarah Baird & Laura Camfield & Anita Ghimire & Bassam Abu Hamad & Nicola Jones & Kate Pincock & Tassew Woldehanna, 2021. "Intersectionality as a Framework for Understanding Adolescent Vulnerabilities in Low and Middle Income Countries: Expanding Our Commitment to Leave No One Behind," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(5), pages 1143-1162, October.
    2. Esther Miedema & Winny Koster & Nicky Pouw, 2020. "Taking choice seriously: Emic understandings of decision-making about child marriage," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 20(4), pages 261-269, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sarah Baird & Laura Camfield & Anita Ghimire & Bassam Abu Hamad & Nicola Jones & Kate Pincock & Tassew Woldehanna, 2021. "Intersectionality as a Framework for Understanding Adolescent Vulnerabilities in Low and Middle Income Countries: Expanding Our Commitment to Leave No One Behind," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(5), pages 1143-1162, October.
    2. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    3. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    4. Bussolo,Maurizio & Ezebuihe,Jessy Amarachi & Munoz Boudet,Ana Maria & Poupakis,Stavros & Rahman,Tasmia & Sarma,Nayantara, 2022. "Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10142, The World Bank.
    5. O'Hara, Corey & Clement, Floriane, 2018. "Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 111-123.
    6. Soumya Gupta & Prabhu L. Pingali & Per Pinstrup-Andersen, 2017. "Women’s empowerment in Indian agriculture: does market orientation of farming systems matter?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(6), pages 1447-1463, December.
    7. Boulier, Bryan & Emran, M. Shahe & Hoque, Nazmul, 2021. "Access to Credit, Education, and Women’s Say in the Household: Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 109009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Muchomba, Felix M., 2017. "Women’s Land Tenure Security and Household Human Capital: Evidence from Ethiopia’s Land Certification," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 310-324.
    9. Vivian Polar & Jaqueline A. Ashby & Graham Thiele & Hale Tufan, 2021. "When Is Choice Empowering? Examining Gender Differences in Varietal Adoption through Case Studies from Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Collins, LaPorchia A., 2022. "Identifying Profiles of Empowerment: Does the Empowerment Mix Matter for Food Security?," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322538, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Yamamoto, Yuki & Matsumoto, Ken’ichi & Kawata, Keisuke & Kaneko, Shinji, 2019. "Gender-based differences in employment opportunities and wage distribution in Nepal," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Grillos, Tara, 2018. "Women’s participation in environmental decision-making: Quasi-experimental evidence from northern Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 115-130.
    13. Ferrant, Gaëlle & Tuccio, Michele, 2015. "South–South Migration and Discrimination Against Women in Social Institutions: A Two-way Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 240-254.
    14. Klasen, Stephan, 2020. "From ‘MeToo’ to Boko Haram: A survey of levels and trends of gender inequality in the world," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    15. Kwarteng Amaning Theophilus & Sarfo-Mensah Paul, 2019. "The impact of savings groups on female agency: insights from village savings and loans associations in Northern Ghana," Asian Journal of Agriculture and rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(2), pages 133-146, December.
    16. Umar, B.B. & Nyanga, P.H. & Chibamba, D. & Nchito, W.S., 2020. "Women’s empowerment, land and donor-driven agricultural interventions in Eastern Zambia," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    17. Lu Gram & Joanna Morrison & Jolene Skordis-Worrall, 2019. "Organising Concepts of ‘Women’s Empowerment’ for Measurement: A Typology," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1349-1376, June.
    18. Haeyoung Jang & Seung-Ho Kwon, 2022. "Understanding women’s empowerment in post-Covid Korea: A historical analysis," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(2), pages 351-376, June.
    19. Nayana Bose & Shreyasee Das, 2021. "Women's Inheritance Rights and Fertility Decisions: Evidence from India," DETU Working Papers 2101, Department of Economics, Temple University.
    20. Noora†Lisa Aberman & Julia Behrman & Regina Birner, 2018. "Gendered perceptions of power and decision†making in rural Kenya," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(4), pages 389-407, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:20:y:2020:i:4:p:296-311. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.