GUADALUPE CASASNOVAS

About the Work:

Guadaña (Scythe) arose from the increase in child marriage and gender violence in the Dominican Republic. Situation more accentuated by the mandatory confinement due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The United Nations Children’s Fund / Unicef reported that the Dominican Republic is the Latin American country with the highest average number of girls and adolescents married or in a union before the age of 18. Congress recently passed a law prohibiting child marriage. Child marriage and early unions are harmful practices that especially affect girls and adolescents. They limit their opportunities for education and development, expose them to domestic violence, sexual abuse, and early pregnancy, preventing their rights from being fulfilled.

In the Dominican Republic, according to ENHOGAR-MICS 2014, 36% of young women (20 and 24 years old) were married or in a union before the age of 18 and 12% did so before the age of 15. Both figures are among the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean, well above the regional average for adolescents under 18 years of age married or in a union (23%) and more than double the average for adolescents under 15 years of age (5%).