Child Marriage Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys- MICS3 Analysis and Report Writing Workshop Panama City, July 12-20, 2006

Indicators 1.Marriage before age 15 and age 18 2.Young women aged years currently married or in union 3.Spousal age difference 4.Polygyny

Goals World Fit for Children (WFFC) Protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence and under general protection to End harmful traditional or customary practices, such as early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, which violates the rights of children and women Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) The MD declaration calls for the protection of children against abuse, exploitation and violence but no goal, target or indicator is included

Why to measure child marriage? Reasons: Identify the magnitude of the problem as well as its characteristics Evaluate impact of programs and interventions based on trends

Which is the approach in MICS3? Estimation of indicators based on household survey Present obtained results by background variables Promote the design and implementation of further analysis of the main determinants of this practice

Which countries included the child marraige module in MICS3? 5 out of 7 Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago Belize or Cuba did not Mongolia?

Marriage before age 15 and age 18 Numerator: Number of women that were first married or in union by the exact age of 15 and the exact age of 18 by age groups Denominator: Total number of women aged years and years surveyed, by age groups

Young women aged years currently married or in union Numerator: Number of women aged years currently married or in union Denominator: Total number of women aged years surveyed

SPSS Program Generates basic table: CP.5 Generates –percentages of women years of age married or in first union before their 15 th birthday –percentages of women years of age married or in first union before their 18 th birthday –The percentage of women years that were married or in union at the moment of the survey

Spousal age difference Numerator: Number of women married/in union aged years and years with a difference in age of 10 or more years between them and their current spouse Denominator: Total number of women aged and years surveyed that are currently married or in union

SPSS Program Generates basic table: CP 6 Generates –Percentage of women years of age currently married/in union by groups of age difference with their current spouse –Percentage of women years of age currently married/in union by groups of age difference with their current spouse

Methodological issues Best to report on marriage/union before age 18 only among women 20-24, 25-29, etc. Trends in the proportion of marriage/union before age 15 can be obtained by comparing age cohorts 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, etc Spousal age differences are produced using the age of the current husband

Thank you!