IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v10y2020i2p2158244020919513.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Faith Effect and Voice on Early Marriage in a Nigerian State

Author

Listed:
  • Jimoh Amzat

Abstract

The rate of early marriage is 87% in northwest Nigeria, although it is 56% in Kaduna. One major issue is that early marriage is often rationalized as a religious norm. This study explores the role of faith leaders in advancing the cause of adolescent girls regarding the timing of marriage in Kaduna state. This qualitative study took place in three local government areas: Chikun (Mixed Christians and Muslims), Makarfi (majority Muslims), and Zangon-Kataf (majority Christians) were purposively selected to have a variety of mixed religious contexts. Using purposive sampling methods, the researcher conducted 24 focus group discussions with adolescent girls, 24 in-depth interviews with faith leaders, and 12 key informant interviews with other stakeholders. The study used a framework method for analyzing qualitative data. The study found that faith leaders play essential roles in rationalizing or discouraging early marriage through preaching and other activities. The study identifies three categories of faith leaders concerning early marriage. Some are proactive, discoursing about it. The second category is the passive faith leaders, somehow indifferent but has never preached against or in favor of early marriage. The last set consists of faith leaders promoting early marriage—who think early marriage is still beneficial. The study recommends that considering the social position of faith leaders and critical role in sanctioning marital unions, they could be considered as a vital link in efforts to curtail early marriage.

Suggested Citation

  • Jimoh Amzat, 2020. "Faith Effect and Voice on Early Marriage in a Nigerian State," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:2:p:2158244020919513
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244020919513
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244020919513
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244020919513?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. Azza Karam, 2015. "Faith-Inspired Initiatives to Tackle the Social Determinants of Child Marriage," The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 59-68, September.
    2. Judith-Ann Walker, 2015. "Engaging Islamic Opinion Leaders on Child Marriage: Preliminary Results from Pilot Projects in Nigeria," The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 48-58, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Muayad Hattab & Mohammad Abualrob, 2023. "Under the veil: women’s economic and marriage rights in Palestine," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.

    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:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:2:p:2158244020919513. 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.