Before you start reading this story from IRIN, I have to tell you that it's incredibly sad and is likely to make you very angry.
It features a Yemeni woman, known only as Badria. Married at 14, she had her first child at 16 and then five more in quick succession, including three miscarriages. Now in her forties her body is succumbing.
“I was responsible for the children and working on our farm,” she told IRIN. "Most days I just feel sad".
Since her first pregnancy Badria has suffered from “bone ache”, a condition for which the doctors gave her drugs, but were never able to diagnose or cure.
For 11 years she has suffered from a slipped disc after having to collect wood, fetch water, work in the field and have children from a young age.
She also suffers from vaginal prolapse, where the muscles, ligaments, and skin in and around a woman's vagina weaken or break.
“These are all symptoms of early marriage,” said Arwa Elrabee, a gynaecologist in Sanaa. “These marriages are mostly about suffering.”
According to NGOs, health staff and researchers, there are many physical and psychological problems with early marriages, but no studies have been carried out on the long-term effects.
The question, of course, is - why not? Is it because these women simply don't matter? Is it because they are just commodities to be thrown away when used up?
It would seem so because there are studies on just about everything else in the world (we seem to feature an awful lot of them here on WVoN) and many are completely frivolous.
Yet nothing has been done about the long-term impact of being married off at a young age, followed by multiple pregnancies and births. That is not just a crying shame. It is nothing short of criminal.
