Disability and Child Marriage

Objectives

The brief aimed to assess what is known about links between disability and child marriage. It sought to identify whether children with disabilities face different risks, what drives these risks, and how child marriage programmes can better include and support children with disabilities.

Findings

The review found extremely limited data and no comparable disability-disaggregated estimates of child marriage. It could not determine whether children with disabilities are more or less at risk than their peers, but evidence shows that stigma, poverty and discriminatory norms often combine with disability to shape marriage decisions. Barriers to education, SRH, and child protection services may further increase vulnerability, and some girls with disabilities are married off to reduce perceived family “burden” or to resolve sexual violence informally. Very few child marriage programmes systematically mainstream disability, and only one documented model showed how involving children with disabilities and their families can improve both protection and inclusion outcomes.

Summary

This brief synthesises the very limited global evidence on how disability and child marriage intersect. It reviews available studies, programme evaluations and policy documents from low- and middle-income countries and finds that most child marriage data sets do not disaggregate by disability. As a result, it is not possible to say whether children with disabilities are more or less at risk of child marriage than their peers.

Existing research suggests that stigma, discrimination and poverty often interact with disability to shape marriage decisions, and that girls with disabilities may face high risks of violence, exclusion and lack of support when married. The brief also highlights that most child marriage programmes pay little attention to disability inclusion and almost none document systematic approaches to involving children with disabilities.

Purpose

The purpose of the brief is to guide donors, policymakers and programme implementers on how to make child marriage work more disability-inclusive. It aims to draw attention to the current evidence gaps, to underline why disability-disaggregated data and intersectional analysis are urgently needed, and to outline practical entry points for mainstreaming disability in child marriage prevention and response. The brief also seeks to inform future research agendas so that children with disabilities are not left behind in efforts to end child marriage.

Audience

Donors, government policymakers, child protection and gender programme implementers, and organisations responsible for designing, funding or evaluating child marriage interventions who need guidance on disability inclusion.