Written question asked by Alex Cunningham (Labour) on Monday, 11 July 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 13 July 2011. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Monday, 18 July 2011 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Developing Countries: Marriage

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department plans to take to meet its objective of (a) working towards changing social norms that constrain women's choice and control over resources and (b) helping young women resist early and forced marriage in developing countries.

Answer: The Department for International Development's (DFID) Strategic Vision for Girls and Women recognises that giving girls and women greater choice and control over decisions that affect them helps to break the cycle of poverty from one generation to the. next.Through our country programmes in DRC and Nigeria, for example, DFID is supporting locally led action for social change, including: working with women's groups to challenge discrimination against girls and women; working with boys and men to re-dress unequal gender relationships; and supporting girls and women to participate in local and national decision making.Investing in adolescent girls, including delaying the age of marriage and first pregnancy is at the heart of the Strategic Vision. DFID provides support to tackle early marriage in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Nigeria. In Ethiopia, our support will delay marriage for 220,000 girls in two specific locations, with the vision to expand to the entire Amhara region, which has the highest rate of child marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Secondary information