Marrying off Early

Pre-Marital Virginity and Family Integrity among the Oromo in Central Ethiopia

Abstract

This article investigates early marriage among the Oromo in Dawo District, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia. The research employed a mixed approach to secure relevant data. We collected primary data from the field via key informant interviews and focus group discussion. We selected key informants purposively from concerned government offices and community representatives. We collected quantitative data via questionnaire from 92 randomly selected school girls. Despite the government’s attempts to ban early marriage, the practice is still common and evolving. Parents are gradually losing the sole decision to marry their children without their consent nowadays. Yet they still have power over when and to whom they give away their daughters. Kadhaa (betrothal) and butii (abduction) are the two main ways of effecting early marriage in the study area. The main cultural reasons for which parents marry off their daughters early include securing their daughters’ future and maintaining girls’ pre-marital virginity. Virginity is valued in marriage and can be a source of honor or shame for the girls and their parents. Poverty, and particularly the current dire economic conditions in the area, coupled with an alarming level of joblessness among the youth who hold a diploma or a degree, have made the girls at school lose hope in education as a viable option for their future life and worsened early marriage in recent years. The girls themselves view marriage as an alternative life career and thus quit school for an early marriage.