Girls’ average marriage age in Iranian village is 11

Some figures were released by Iranian authorities shed a bit of light over a very disturbing reality.

A pretty disturbing news was published by Issa news agency. In the village of Zaweh, in Iran, girls get married at an average age of 11, the report said. The figure was given to the agency by Ali Bakdar Delgosha, a youth affairs advisor in the Governoratorate of the Horasan province.

Speaking at a meeting at Fedosi University in Mashad, Delgosha said: “According to statistics released in 2017, 63 thousand girls under 15 were married in Tehran. The average age for marrying is incredibly appalling in some villages of Horasan Razi. For example, in the village of Zaweh, the average age for girl to marry is as low as 11”.

Statements and figures released by the Iranian authorities on girls forced into marriage are often contradicting each other and it is believed that the actual reality is much worse.

“Statistics show that 37 thousand young girls married before reaching the age of 15, in the course of 2017” said Pervaneh Salahshori, who up until recently was in charge of the women's commission in the Iranian Parliament.

In early May, statistics on child marriage in the capital Tehran were also announced. According to Issa news agency, the National Registration and Registration Agency of Iran said that a total of 1,481 children were married in the Iranian capital Tehran alone in 2017. It was noted that 1,463 of them were girls.

Child marriage in Iran is a big problem, especially with government incentives. A non-governmental organization that protects children's rights in Iran reported that 43,459 girls under 15 were married in 2009.

In October 2013, the Council of the Revolutionary Guards allowed a father to marry his adopted daughter aged 13.

That is what happened during the Shah time. Following the Islamic revolution of 1979, the marriage age for girls was reduced to 13, and for boys it was reduced to 15.

Since then, thousands of children have been married every year. Marriages with adopted girls existed before they were regulated.