marieclaire.com.au 51PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHANIE SINCLAIR.
GUATEMALA
“When she was 11, Aracely was
married to a 34-year-old man. Her
husband left her as soon as he
discovered she was pregnant. She’s
now 15 and raising her son alone.
Guatemala has one of the highest
rates of child marriage in Latin
America. I felt it was important to
show that this is an issue that runs
through many cultures, that it’s not
particular to any religion or society.
It’s about development and poverty;
it’s about girls in places where
they’re not valued outside of their
bodies, their sexuality, their fertility.
Marriage of girls under 18 is wide-
spread: you find it in more than
50 countries, on all continents.”D
espite being banned under
international laws, child mar-
riage continues to thrive globally,
unconstrained by religion or
race, with more than 140 million girls
expected to become child brides by 2020.
Stephanie Sinclair knows their stories all
too well. The award-winning American
photojournalist has spent the past 15 years
documenting these girls’ lives, from the
festive wedding days to the sad aftermaths
of little girls raising babies, being deniededucation and often sustaining horrific
childbirth injuries. Sinclair now works
with a team of people travelling to small
towns and villages to educate locals about
the tradition’s damaging aspects and to
ensure girls know their rights. “There has
been improvement, especially now it’s on
the international agenda, but it’s a bumpy
road – and this is only the beginning of
creating sustainable change,’’ she says. For
further information about her campaign,
go to tooyoungtowed.org.WORLD REPORT‘‘[Child marriage is]
about girls in places
where they’re not
valued outside of their
bodies, their fertility’’Sinclair with child
brides in Yemen.