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HugeElephantEars t1_isca3dl wrote

Southern Africa, not South Africa. Malawi is above Zim.

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Basdad t1_iscdccd wrote

Thank you for being accurate, title was bothering me.

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DrMandalay t1_iseepcz wrote

The West treats Africa like it's a small village, not a continent of a billion people. Malawi, South Africa. What a joke.

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Safferino83 t1_isezmmt wrote

I moved to Australia and when one person found out I was South African they asked if I knew such and such in Kenya…. Also when they find out my mother was born in Zimbabwe ( Rhodesia in those days) I get the response “…….. but your not black”

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Basdad t1_isenpc9 wrote

Indeed, I considered making the comment that many of us (in the US) believe that Africa I’d a village of mud huts.

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Justforthenuews t1_isfm0qo wrote

There have been times when I tried to explain to other Americans that parts of Africa are culturally aligned with the Middle East, and the looks on their faces. Dear lord, I’ve seen it when I say Egypt is located in Africa.

Obviously this isn’t everyone, and in my experience it’s not even the majority (take that with a cup of salt, the US is huge), but it really makes you want to slam your face into a tree when you run into someone that’s a walking stereotype of what people from other countries think of Americans.

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Cethinn t1_isgt282 wrote

Luckily all of Africa is a desert so there's no trees to slam your head into. (/s if that's required for some reason)

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MaxTHC t1_isgqm89 wrote

Giving the author the benefit of the doubt, her bio says she's from Kenya. Which is, you know, in Africa. So she certainly doesn't represent "The West" here, and it's quite possible English isn't her first language.

Many languages don't really have a distinction between "South X" and "Southern X". And in English we do use "West Africa", "East Africa", and "North Africa" to refer to entire regions with multiple countries. So it's not entirely unreasonable to assume that "South Africa" refers to the whole region.

South America is a continent, South Asia is a region, South Africa is a country, and South Australia is a state. That's not necessarily easy to keep straight.

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messyredemptions OP t1_ish5j5a wrote

Yes, I'm wondering also if she referred to it as South due to her own geographic bias where Malawi would in general be South of Kenya.

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messyredemptions OP t1_ise1q7j wrote

My apologies for not taking the opportunity to correct OP's title. I was excited by the sentiment and general news about what she did and shared it before really thinking much further. Thanks for posting the correction here!

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Pandering_Panda7879 t1_ise7f5w wrote

IIRC you can't change the title when you crosspost - but I might be wrong.

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DisplayFair9153 t1_iseaz4m wrote

You can. It's a required field, but it fills in the original title by default, so you can edit it or not.

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HugeElephantEars t1_iseu872 wrote

Yeah it's kind of our fault for naming our country as directions instead of an actual name!

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AliSparklePops t1_isf7mvj wrote

South-Eastern Africa. Not Southern. Southern is South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

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MsFoxxx t1_isd47g9 wrote

r/confidentlyincorrect

Malawi is in EAST AFRICA

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BucBrady t1_isd5vzb wrote

r/confidentlyincorrect

Malawi is a south-east African country, some do consider it southern Africa

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theotherwhiteafrican t1_isec24a wrote

I've never once heard Malawi referred to as East African. They're a part of SADC, not EAC. Weird.

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MsFoxxx t1_iseeb0v wrote

If you Google it literally says it's in EAST Africa.

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Luhood t1_isefeck wrote

If you check Wikipedia it literally says SOUTHEAST Africa.

The CIA World Fact Book says SOUTHERN Africa.

The Malawi Department of Tourism says SOUTHEAST Africa.

I tried checking the Malawi Government's own site but couldn't access it for whatever reason.

Neither the official Malawi Twitter or Facebook pages seem to say anything about it.

So in short: It might not necessarily be Southern Africa, but it sure doesn't seem to be Eastern.

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e55at t1_isefciq wrote

Nobody in Malawi considers it East Africa.

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amideadyet1357 t1_isceqvt wrote

Theresa Kachindamoto is an incredible woman. On top of ending child marriages, she’s been working to get all those kids back in school. I remember when I first read about her push to end child marriages, and I’m very glad to read about how she pushed to make sure they did actually end, and pushed to make sure people couldn’t carry on the practice unofficially. She and the people under her have annulled over 3,500 child marriages. What an amazing woman.

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jellybelle3 t1_isdrxya wrote

u/q203 breaks down the misinformed headline:

There are a bunch of issues with the headline and introductory section of this article.

  1. ⁠Malawi and South Africa are different countries. This is about Malawi, a country in Southern Africa.
  2. ⁠The name of the district is Dedza (not Dzedza). This wouldn’t be as big of a mistake if it was only done once but it’s repeated multiple times.
  3. ⁠Theresa Kachindamoto is not “the first female chief” in Malawi, as the headline implies. There are multiple female chiefs in Malawi. She is unique in that she’s Ngoni, and she’s a female paramount chief of the Ngoni in Dedza. But even the use of the word ‘first’ here would be debatable. The legendary first paramount chief/high priestess of the Dedza area, Makewana, was a woman. Her name literally means ‘mother of the children.’ Kachindamoto clarifies that she is the first female Ngoni chief in Dedza in the article (not all of Malawi), but the headline distorts this.
  4. ⁠The headline implies Kachindamoto single-handedly ended child marriage in Malawi. The Malawian parliament ended child marriage 7 years ago. Her achievements are still notable for enforcing this in her area, but she didn’t single-handedly take initiative to do this. She mentions Joyce Banda in the article, who is recognized as a driving force behind the change. Child marriage also still occurs, even if not in her particular area. They are working to end it, but the headline makes it seem as if it’s been totally eradicated.

I don’t mean to discount her achievements. Her firsthand account is great. The headline just irks me due to how inaccurately it portrays Malawi.

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messyredemptions OP t1_ise2513 wrote

Thank you for this thorough breakdown.y overall lack of awareness about a lot happening in Africa compounded with my enthusiasm for the potential good news turned into a hasty share that kept OP's original title even though I had an inkling that there wasn't something right about the geographic notes. The rest of the context you raised is important for many of us to see and note too as a lot of us lack the cultural education to properly interrogate claims like what's in the headline not to mention interrogate our own understanding of other cultures and their definition of roles and governance like chiefhood as it can differ greatly from nation to nation and tribe to tribe. Thanks again!

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Specialist_Fruit6600 t1_isf2dro wrote

that was a lot of polite words to not directly address the multiple fallacies in your post

i’m sorry but that breakdown shows that this post is misleading and false - that’s not very uplifting

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messyredemptions OP t1_isf7wi3 wrote

I crossposted it from someone else. Yes the reality of misinformation and ignorance isn't very uplifting. The factual account from the woman that it was rooted in however remains so and I think it's worth keeping the comments above to at least educate others about the reality especially since the reality is better than what was initially shared and there's an opportunity for many of us to learn from that.

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fiendishrabbit t1_isf7jl7 wrote

It should also be pointed out that Theresa Kachindamoto has worked for almost 20 years to achieve this (since shortly after she first became Inkosi, paramount chief, in 2003). Which includes a lot of working with sub-chiefs (there are like...50 of them?) and numerous headmen (of villages and groups of villages), and on occasion putting her foot down (including temporarily dismissing some sub-chiefs when they defied her).

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Bluephonewhodis t1_isf4dgl wrote

I didn't like how native practices are painted as "archaic" in the article while, by contrast, western ideas are considered new and better. The story represents a good change in the culture, but I wish there was more nuance in how people talk about African cultures

0

Unsd t1_isfvjud wrote

I get where you're coming from, but child marriage still happens in the US. It is still legal in most states (many states have explicitly turned down bills that would ban child marriage), and the majority of these marriages are underage girls married to adult men. And I would absolutely consider this archaic whether it's in the US or Malawi. It is sick no matter where it's happening.

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Retrobubonica t1_iscvfpu wrote

So all it took was one woman in charge? Sheesh

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afromanspeaks t1_isdm9at wrote

How many US states have legalized child marriage still?

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PrayingMantisMirage t1_isdo8c6 wrote

Source: https://www.equalitynow.org/learn_more_child_marriage_us/

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Acrobatic-Whereas632 t1_isdru04 wrote

So out of 50 states, only 6 make child marriage illegal. Goddamned depressing.

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ChromeMaverick t1_isdu8uf wrote

This is the case in most western countries. 18 without parental consent or 16 with parental consent

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Cole-Rex t1_ise2bt7 wrote

So I talked to a social worker about this, it’s child abuse where I live, so while “legal” it’s not legal.

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Elitesuxor t1_ise451k wrote

According to the wiki article on the subject, 96% of child brides are 16 or 17 whilst only 4% of adult spouses are over 29. Whilst it is an issue, the majority of child marriages are between people of similar ages and don’t always reflect abuse.

Also, some child brides are used as anchors for others overseas. Families from places like India and Pakistan, where up to a fourth of their marriages involved an underage spouse at the time of wedding, used immigration loopholes to obtain visas at the expense of the child.

https://www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/REPORT-Tahirih-Survey-on-Forced-Marriage-in-Immigrant-Communities-in-the-United-States.pdf

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plexomaniac t1_iseidqq wrote

Just the fact a child can marry is bad enough to me.

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TheHungryDiaper t1_isfesg5 wrote

No, because it's a bullshit headline. She isn't the first woman. Still accomplishing good things though.

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KarlaKaressXXX t1_iscdks2 wrote

a leader that’s FOR THE PEOPLE, i know that’s right

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MsFoxxx t1_isd3yar wrote

Malawi is nowhere near South Africa. Africa is a continent. South Africa is a country.

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Party_Acanthaceae_89 t1_isdz40r wrote

Malawi is in southern Africa

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[deleted] t1_iseea4m wrote

Southeastern africa. Not South Africa. Malawi is a country. South Africa is also a country. Africa is a continent.

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DawgTroller t1_isg7q8g wrote

Well Malawi is in south Africa, not South Africa.

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[deleted] t1_ish4ca8 wrote

Malawi is in southeastern africa, as in around the southeastern area of the continent of Africa. It has nothing to do with the country of South Africa.

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messyredemptions OP t1_isgj6yz wrote

Thank you for making that distinction, I wish Colonialism didn't have such a large footprint on so much of the information in this article and the way many of us wound up reading the situation.

The author who wrote and titled the article seems to be from Kenya, perhaps there's a geographic bias in description where Malawi would be noted as South in Africa to Kenya but with added ambiguity due to the existence of South Africa as a nation?

Reading some of the other comments about her chief status, I'm wondering if "first chief" might be a reference to being like head woman chief, rather than the first of all time too. I'd be curious to know what the names for leadership roles in her original language are and what they imply.

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Batmanlover1 t1_iscek4f wrote

Good for her.. some states should follow this common sense 😬

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Goofy_Goobers_ t1_iscpf4t wrote

I will never understand why this was even a thing. Those are not men they are pedophiles.

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Atthetop567 t1_isd2p67 wrote

Most pedophiles are men

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Goofy_Goobers_ t1_isdcl1e wrote

And I always kind of wondered why that was honestly. Like what differs between men and women that makes pedophilia more prevalent amongst males.

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IAMSHADOWBANKINGGUY t1_isdvq1n wrote

Judging by the amount of men on tik tok talking about their first time being with an older woman, I'm starting to think there are way more female pedophiles than people realize. It just isn't reported because men are supposed to like it.

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blueheartsadness t1_isdx11t wrote

Yep. There are tons of female middle school/ high school teachers who have inappropriate relations with their students.

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Chibsie t1_isdrlrb wrote

I'd kinda like to know the official answer to this too. I thought it may be because puberty hits girls a bit quicker (sometimes). Like early menstrual cycles and breast development. Men get a deeper voice and facial hair among other traits later than girls.

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whilst t1_isf99gt wrote

I both expect that's true and wonder if it's not. Our cultural reaction to female pedophiles is often not as intense, and we have a long history of ignoring and misrepresenting women's sexuality.

I wouldn't be surprised if, of female pedophiles, far fewer actually act on it though. Men in our culture sure seem to have a hard time with empathy and are taught to push their feelings down, whereas women generally have empathy drilled into them from day one, and (very sadly) most have had to live through firsthand what it feels like to be the target of unwanted sexual advances.

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Atthetop567 t1_isgz8cl wrote

Wow what a genius these basic observations you thoguht of in five seconds never occurred to any of the professional researchers who have looked into this

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whilst t1_isib2qo wrote

I mean.... is no one allowed to engage in a conversation / wonder about the world?

You certainly didn't cite any sources... not sure why you're being salty about me not citing sources. Perhaps you could?

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Atthetop567 t1_isij8ro wrote

You’re probably not sure about that because that’s not what happened. Try reading again

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whilst t1_isjos3w wrote

Okay. Putting it differently: I'm not sure why you're angry with me. You made a four-word, unsupported comment, to which I responded speculatively. You then got angry at me for apparently disagreeing with the scientific consensus, which you never referenced.

I don't know what I did to deserve that, but I'm done talking with you. Have a nice day.

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Charlatangle t1_isd87on wrote

Weird title. The author is based in Kenya, so I'd say this is just a quirk of multilingualism rather than an artefact of ignorance.

For native English speakers, Malawi is considered part of East Africa.

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corsicanguppy t1_isdqldr wrote

Deconstructing the title, it's two separate ideas - first female chief AND child marriage ending in SA - with a weak comma splice there.

If it was the same correct sentence it'd properly have a trailing delimiter after the subordinate clause. Because elementary school exists.

0

[deleted] t1_isck8wa wrote

[deleted]

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MsFoxxx t1_isd4e5d wrote

East Africa. Malawi is in EAST AFRICA

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sock_puppet0 t1_isdu5rb wrote

Did this news website really say South Africa instead of southern Africa? Fucking incompetent fucktards.

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Majorian18 t1_isd08kq wrote

Wait, I thought Malawi was a republic

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taronosaru t1_isd2npp wrote

From what I understand, many countries in Africa have a kind of mishmash government, where traditional chiefs still maintain some level of power over their own people, but laws and foreign policy are decided by whatever formal government is in place.

Of course, I only know this from Googling whether Nigeria even has a prince, so I am by no means an expert...

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DASAdventureHunter t1_isdnaiy wrote

Malawi has the overarching government but most people only have interaction with people in their tribe. More specifically in their Traditional Authority (TA), kind of like a collection of villages.

There's a chief in charge of a village (maybe 30 households).

A Traditional Authority in charge of several cheifs (several hundreds to thousands of housholds).

A paramount chief who is charge of a whole tribe (several thousands to millions depending on the tribe).

That's the tribal structure which almost kinda acts parallel to the republic of Malawi. For the republic government there are Districts (kind of like states/provinces), and then the national government (parliament, president, and supreme court)

In the less populated parts of the country people tend to interact more with tribal chiefs than the main government. This might have change since the Chewa tribe lost the presidency but idk.

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papadjeef t1_isdp6mw wrote

First: nice! Malawi is awesome. They, like lots of places, have post colonial, modernism, and urbanization problems but they are generally preserving things they do right that western countries get wrong.

>most people only have interaction with people in their tribe.

A large percentage of the population live in Lilongwe and Blantyre-Limbe. Tribes are not well delineated in those urban areas. I was just talking with some friends there about the cultural changes coming from so many children born in cross tribal marriages.

Also, I don't understand how she could be the "first" woman chief. Yao and Sena are matrilineal and tend to prefer women as chiefs. I was just in Zomba where the "Village" (or neighborhood) chiefs are women.

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DASAdventureHunter t1_isexvu5 wrote

True on all points. Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba are very different from the rest of the country.

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Boggie135 t1_isedzrd wrote

She’s a chief in a region of Malawi. This is very common in Sub Saharan Africa

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Sofrawnch t1_ise12kh wrote

Malawi is a country it’s not South Africa which is also a country.

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leapdayjose t1_ise2eqb wrote

It's like society can improve drastically with women's leadership or something. Huh. Who woulda a thunk? ^^\s

Yes women are human. Yes it's not "the solution". But there sure is a decent track record of them fostering change.

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TheRadiantSoap t1_isf8nuy wrote

Even if not, automatically discounting 50 percent of candidates means you're going to get shit results

−1

KakkaKarrot t1_isfbvai wrote

"This is total bullshit" - 50 year old men in Malawi

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MacadamiaMarquess t1_isdx82n wrote

This gives me hope that someday we can end child marriage in the United States.

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W0ndn4 t1_ise9raa wrote

Hopefully this will happen in the United States soon.

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Party_Acanthaceae_89 t1_isdz0op wrote

Malawi and south africa are 2 different countries

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Boggie135 t1_isedwir wrote

The write is terrible at this job, so many inconsistencies in the article

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captianbob t1_isf5oxd wrote

Now if only that was the norm

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Boggie135 t1_isedv0k wrote

Great news expressed in a horribly written article.

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Miss-Independence t1_isft42p wrote

Whatever the errors. She ended child marriage and is getting her children educated. She's a wonderful woman who's doing wonderful things. We need more like her in this world

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1

greenmachiner t1_isdh8fz wrote

I read that as female chef at first

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alwayslurkeduntilnow t1_ise4lru wrote

Same here and wondered why a chef had that much power.

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messyredemptions OP t1_isgk07t wrote

I mean, respect to the chefs out there. Doesn't it take a ... chef to feed a village or some other idiom like that anyhow?

Haha 😂

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shitposts_over_9000 t1_isepjlc wrote

Traditionally, and even mentioned in this terribly written article, prepubescent child marriage as was popular in that area is more about managing abject poverty then anything else.

Very different from what you see in the west with the laws being more that there is an avenue to marriage for teens that end up becoming parents.

Banning it typically either results in it going underground, by a different name, or those that would have been married off ending up in an even worse situation unless there is a significant effort to offset the cost to families with daughters.

Hopefully they have accounted for this sufficiently add the bad article is just bad.

1

Nandiola7 t1_isfc4je wrote

Malawi, South Africa?

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messyredemptions OP t1_isgkd2o wrote

I think it's south of Kenya where the author of the article and headline was from and some biases or loose translation assumptions carried over based on what I gathered from reading and the comments here? It seems likely this might be an early career article on a website that isn't exactly focused on news editing but translation.

1

Lucky_Yolo t1_isflmxa wrote

This is good but how long till a dude takes over and starts it up again?

1

bingold49 t1_iscfris wrote

No one should get married before the age of 30

−1

Retrobubonica t1_iscvbhd wrote

We should make this world safe for our children, but not our children’s children, because I don’t think children should be having kids

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BenVera t1_isdait8 wrote

Did she stand up and object during the wedding

−20