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巴基斯坦未成年婚姻中女性远远多于男性

Raeena was 14-years-old when she was married to a man 21 years her senior.

瑞依娜在14岁时嫁给了一位比她大21岁的男人。

She moved in with her husband’s family with little idea of what a marriage means or what was expected of her.

她搬到丈夫家里 ，那时她根本不知道婚姻意味着什么，对她的期望是什么。

In a society where a family’s honor is often linked to female sexuality, her mother felt pressured to marry her off early.

在一个家族的面子与女性的性行为息息相关的社会，她的妈妈觉得备受压力，早日把她嫁了出去。

“I was worried about my honor," she said. "It was not her age to be married, but I was worried about her father’s honor as well. That is why I got her married off.”

瑞依娜的母亲莎亥达说，“我担心自己的名声。她的年纪不适合结婚，但是我也担心她父亲的荣誉。这就是为什么我把她嫁出去了。”

Raeena's case isn't unique. Each year, hundreds of thousands of girls across the country are married before they are physically¹ or psychologically prepared for it.

她的情况并非个例。每年全国有数以万计的女孩在生理或者心理尚未发展成熟时结婚。

While child marriage is an issue for both sexes, a recent study by the child advocacy group Plan International suggests females in Pakistan marry at a significantly younger age than males, sometimes as early as their first menstrual cycle.

虽然童婚对男女两性都是问题，但是国际计划儿童维权组织的一项最新研究表明，在巴基斯坦，女性的结婚年龄要显著早于男性。有时，早在她们第一次月经周期来临时就被嫁出去了。

Accurately² assessing the number of underage brides or grooms³ is difficult in a country where birth records are often manipulated, but UNICEF estimates some 21 percent of all marriages involve a person under the age of 18.

在一个很容易篡改出生记录的国家，很难获得未成年新郎新娘数量的准确数据。联合国儿童基金会认为，在新的婚姻中，18岁以下的 占21%。

Local activists⁴ insist the true figure — especially for girls in rural areas — is as high as 60 or 70 percent.

但是当地的活动人士坚称真实数据是60%或者70%，特别是对农村地区的女性来说。

Lack of awareness⁵ blamed

Activists blame the practice on a lack of awareness, poverty and perceptions about a female’s role in society: sons are considered potential wage earners while daughters are considered financial burdens.

活动人士把这种行为归咎于贫困、缺乏认识和对女性社会作用的认知不足。很多当地人认为，儿子是潜在的经济创造者，然而女儿是经济负担。

That little thought is given to early marriages, they say, can create problems down the road.

他们说质疑早婚的观点很少。

“Often the girl, the mother, dies during child birth," Naseem Akhtar of the Child Protection Unit in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province told VOA. "The poor thing is often herself only 13 or 14 years old and not capable of becoming a mother. Then dealing⁶ with the mother-in-law, the sister-in-law, the extended family system. She is not capable of handling all of this.”

开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省儿童保护机构的纳西姆·艾克塔说，“年幼的母亲经常在分娩时死亡，可怜的是她自己只有13、14岁，还没有能力成为一名母亲。她没有能力处理婆媳、妯娌和大家族中的关系。”

Awareness campaigns by the government and non-government organizations have helped, but child rights advocates say real long term change is not possible without easier access to education and employment for girls.

政府和非政府组织帮助了意识宣传活动。但是儿童权利倡导者说，如果女孩不能容易地获得教育和就业机会，就不可能有真正的长期变化。