Paper short abstract:

Based on 171 interviews in urban Tanzania, this paper applies a social reproductive lens to examine under-18 marriage. I trace out how worse alternatives for daughters motivate poor families (and some daughters) to choose early marriage, and how these alternatives are linked to economic depletion.

Paper long abstract:

Anti-child marriage discourses assume that girls never choose early marriage, and that eliminating it automatically improves girls' lives. It is known that under-18 marriage increases risk of early childbearing, maternal death, and abuse. Yet my research in urban Tanzania (171 interviews) revealed that some girls wanted to marry early. I therefore ask: what are the perceived realistic life options for girls in poverty?

Rates of early marriage have risen in East Africa since 1990. One reason is that current market-led gender empowerment approaches overlook the depletion of social reproductive resources, i.e. the regeneration and maintenance of able-bodied labour power. Cities requires a flexible pool of low-wage workers - produced and cared for by women - to function efficiently, prevent workers' collective action, and keep living costs down. To accumulate value, urban capital seeks to avoid paying for labourers' social reproduction. Costs are transferred to workers and their families, draining value from communities and households, and eroding the sectors of education and employment expected to foster women's economic independence.

Early marriage can represent families' efforts to conserve social reproductive resources and resist market exploitation and depletion. If daughters cannot access affordable education or reliable income, a husband's income may be the best option to support child-rearing. Many of the families I studied were aware of early marriage's risks. Yet worse alternatives for daughters included pregnancy, resorting to sex work, contracting HIV, or returning home to burden already ill or impoverished parents - all of which continued poverty into future generations.