In Eswatini, a child is anyone below the age of 18 years according to the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (CPWA, 2012) and legally speaking that person is not supposed to be in any romantic or sexual relationship with anyone. Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence at Mbita Chiefdom for young girls and women to engage in intergenerational relationships and early sexual debut which often lead to child marriages in the area. Lack of education at Mbita Chiefdom is the driver for many problems happening in the area. Young children and women are subjected to child marriages which is also ex[1]acerbated by widespread poverty in the area. Lack of education has forced many young girls and women to marry at an early age which then exposes them to abuse in their marriage. Early marriage causes young girls and women to lose their innocence and self-esteem due to the challenges they face in their marital homes which includes being abused financially, emotionally, physically and sexually. During parents’ dialogues at Mbita chiefdom, participants were divided into different target audiences to be engaged in focus group discussions (FGDs) in an effort to tease out some of the issues and challenges they face at household level, specifically, and community as a whole. Young women mentioned that they are being abused financially as their husbands never allow them to work for a living thus enabling them to contribute towards the welfare of their families. It was also highlighted during the discussions that because of their low level of education, they can never be able to get decent or stable jobs hence trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty which forces them to endure many forms of abuse from their husbands.
Moreover, young women reported being abused sexually as they are expected to be submissive to their husband at all times, which includes not denying their husbands sex when they demand it. It is challenging to engage in sex with their husband as they are always drunk and also have many girlfriends which puts them at risk of contracting STIs, including HIV, and to make matters worse they are unable to negotiate for safe sex because of unequal power dynamics. They identified societal and cultural expectations as the main culprits for such issues as these reinforce gender stereotypes as well as societal norms and values rooted in patriarchy. Young women are usually treated as children in their marital homesteads causing them to lose their dignity as individuals. As a society, we need to empower and encourage young girls to take their education seriously which will in turn lead to changed behaviors thus reducing the high numbers of child marriages in remote rural areas like Mbita chiefdom and knowledge is the single most powerful weapon for behavior change.