End Child Marriage

Zonta Advocates to End Child Marriage

Internationally and in the USA

Child marriage directly hinders eight of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. While the prevalence of child marriage is declining, efforts to address this human rights violation must be significantly scaled up. At this rate, it would take another 50 years to eliminate child marriage worldwide.

Zonta International has partnered with UNICEF USA and UNFPA to support the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage , which is working to achieve lasting change on a significant scale by tackling the human rights violation in a dozen of the most high-prevalence or high-burden countries.

Zonta USA is a member of the Steering Committee of the National Coalition to End Child Marriage in the US with Unchained at Last, and is working in all US states to End Child Marriage.

Our Public Service Announcement Website with UNICEF USA is at www.stopchildmarriages.org.  We encourage you to promote this website with our comprehensive toolkit, including social media images and calls to action, and take action with UNICEF USA  to message your legislators.

Zonta Says NO! End Child Marriage

New York Times: Nicholas Kristoff on Child Marriage in the USA

Read the full Article Here (gifted no paywall)

Center Survivor Stories:

The national coalition to end child marriage has found that centering survivor stories, and then following those first person narratives with the facts of the prevalence and negative impact of child marriage in your state are the most impactful in changing state legislation.

We encourage you to learn about survivors, listen to, and amplify their stories using the resources below.  Child marriage survivors come from all walks of life, most of them (84% are girls), and many different backgrounds, and all states.

REsources for Messaging End Child Marriage www.zontasaysno.com

Facts about Violence Against Women pdf

Open and download full list of violence against women facts:

Click on the ZontaSaysNO link above to get  infographics like these, highlighting facts about why we must say NO to child marriage.

Legal summary of arguments for and against Ending Child Marriage

UCLA Law Review

Why Has the United States Not Banned Child Marriage?

Journal of Adolescent Health – Dec. 2021

A tremendous new resource for clubs looking at the issue of Child Marriage, both in the US and worldwide.

The Diversity and Complexity of Child Marriage

This supplement was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The articles have been peer-reviewed and edited by the editorial staff of the Journal of Adolescent Health. The opinions or views expressed in this supplement are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the funder.

Edited by Ronald Olum, Eunice Muthengi, Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli

Volume 69, Issue 6, Supplement,

Download all articles (PDF) : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0jpvjlt75t9zr5m/AABAguRqMJz_Ndrt17uQTqBta?dl=0

Commentary:  Fraidy Reiss Unchained at Last

Child Marriage in the United States: Prevalence and Implications

Fraidy Reiss*Unchained At Last, Westfield, New Jersey

While Americanforeignpolicy deems childmarriage a “humanrights abuse” and calls on other countries to eliminate it [1], manyAmericans remain unaware of the prevalence of child marriage in their own country [2]. One possible explanation for this lack ofawareness is that previous studies of American child marriagehave been stymied by inadequate recordkeeping…  Link to full article:

Article: https://www.dropbox.com/s/w8eja4oea2zy7p9/Child-Marriage-in-the-United-States–Prevalence-a_2021_Journal-of-Adolescent.pdf?dl=0

List of Journal Articles: (available for download as PDF’s from Zonta USA Caucus’s dropbox)

Download Articles - Zonta USA Caucus dropbox
List of Articles on Child Marriage in the Journal of Adolescent Health

Ending Child Marriage in the USA

California Ends Child Marriage

Assembly Bill 1267, authored by Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, repeals provisions allowing minors to [...]

01
Oct
ABA adopts resolution to end Child Marriage in the USA
August 6, 2026

At its August 2026 Annual Conference, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates adopted [...]

CHILD MARRIAGE PREVENTION ACT Introduced to Congress

MOORE, DURBIN, SCHATZ, GILLIBRAND INTRODUCE CHILD MARRIAGE PREVENTION ACT Share on Facebook Share on X [...]

30
Jul
California has another chance to ban child marriage –

The Fresno Collegian summarizes the progress in the CA Assembly quite well.   Reporter  Manpreet [...]

09
Jul
California Bill to End Child marriage passes out of Senate Committee

AB1267 Would End Child Marriage in California Introduced by Assembly member Gail Pellerin and co-sponsored [...]

09
Jul
Oklahoma Bans Child Marriage

OKLAHOMA – A bill banning child marriage in Oklahoma became law on May 13 without [...]

16
May
Oklahoma Ends Child Marriage, becoming the 17th state.

Oklahoma ended child marriage today and not a minute too soon. Child marriage endangers children’s [...]

14
May
Survivor – Kate Yang: Former child bride fights to end child marriage in California

Here’s a shout out to Kate Yang  who was interviewed by The Fresno State Collegian, [...]

07
May
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A Different Path


Background on Child Marriage in the USA

Unchained at last
America child’s marriage problem. It happens here, or American girls are sent out of the country to marry” Forced and child marriage seem like problems that don’t exist in America, but in reality marriage under the age of 18 is legal in all 50 states. After escaping her own forced marriage, activist Fraidy Reiss is working to help women and girls close the legal loopholes around these marriages for good.  (10 Min)