Child Betrothal

Child betrothal is the practice of formally promising a child in marriage, often to another child, well before either party reaches the age ordinarily associated with marriage, with the wedding itself typically deferred until puberty or later while the arrangement binds the two families from the moment it is made. Documented across a wide range of societies historically and, in some regions, into the present, including parts of South Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and pre-modern Europe and East Asia, the practice has commonly served to cement alliances between families or lineages, consolidate property or political ties, and secure a daughter's or son's future spouse well in advance of courtship becoming a live social concern. Anthropologists distinguish child betrothal, a binding promise made in childhood, from child marriage itself, the actual solemnization or cohabitation of the union before adulthood, though the two are frequently linked in practice and both remain subjects of active ethnographic study and international human rights concern in the regions where betrothal customs persist.