ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the relative importance of livelihood patterns and opportunities and of religious and sociocultural norms on girls' vulnerabilities to school dropout and child marriage. With 56 percent of all women in their early twenties having been married before their 18th birthday, Amhara also has the second highest rate of child marriage in Ethiopia. Changes in the availability of schooling - and the environment within schools - have had significant impacts, both on girls' educational outcomes and their odds of child marriage. For most girls, increasing land fragmentation, driven by explosive population growth, has worked to simultaneously encourage education and discourage child marriage. Improved access to divorce for girls and women is also working to keep girls in school and to mitigate the impacts of child marriage. Rights-based discourses embedded in school curricula are also driving changes in gender norms. Improved access to contraception is also supporting girls' access to school and, for some, helping them remain unmarried.