Students and brides: A qualitative analysis of the relationship between girls’ education and early marriage in Ethiopia and India

Summary & Objectives

The study aimed to explore how girls and their marital decision-makers in Oromia, Ethiopia and Jharkhand, India understand the relationship between girls’ education and early marriage. It sought to identify perceived benefits and disadvantages of girls’ education, and to examine the psychological, social and structural enablers and barriers to continuing secondary education and pursuing schooling after marriage. Using a resiliency lens, the authors aimed to describe how some girls are able to resist early marriage and remain in school despite strong social and economic pressures.

Findings

Participants widely recognised that girls’ education improves self-efficacy, life skills, domestic and parenting abilities, economic prospects and community development, although a minority believed that education harms marriage prospects or risks premarital relationships. At the same time, powerful social norms in both settings continued to favour early marriage, devalue girls’ education and stigmatise older, unmarried or educated girls, particularly in Ethiopia. Financial constraints, the need for girls’ labour, harassment on the way to school and limited job opportunities for educated girls further constrained school retention.

Girls who managed to stay in school and delay marriage often showed strong personal motivation and confidence, backed by supportive parents and teachers and, in some cases, early marriage prevention programmes that advocated for their continued education. In contrast, girls who were less academically inclined or who married early received little educational support and were more readily steered into marriage. After marriage, continuation of education was rare and depended on social acceptance and support from husbands and in-laws; even when support existed, domestic work and childrearing usually made ongoing schooling very difficult.

Recommendations

The authors recommend that early marriage prevention efforts strengthen girls’ psychological assets, including self-efficacy and aspirations for education and work, while systematically engaging parents, teachers, husbands, in-laws and other decision-makers to support girls’ schooling and postpone marriage. Programmes should address structural barriers through financial support for schooling, measures to improve girls’ safety in public spaces, and clearer economic opportunities for educated girls. They also argue for explicit strategies to keep less academically strong girls in education and to provide meaningful livelihood and life-course options beyond marriage. Finally, they call for expanded programmatic attention and policy support for married and childbearing adolescents, including flexible and socially acceptable pathways for them to return to or continue education after marriage.