Marriage: Love or Law?

“As long as women face violence and discrimination, our efforts to eradicate poverty, achieve equality, and advance human rights and democracy will not succeed.” Michelle Bachelet perfectly portrays the issues of gender equality in our world. Countries are still practicing slavery, and many areas are not encouraging gender equality, even in today's rapidly changing society. The United States, thankfully, is among the few whose citizens are working hard to promote the equal treating of men and women. As hard as we work, jeers are still made, women are still being put down, in subtle ways that feed the slowly dying fire. Women are trying to make a difference, though they still have a long way to go. In Khaled Hosseini's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila and Mariam both live in a world where their gender is discriminated against. Mariam is forced into marriage, a relationship where she must do as she is told or be beaten for any instance of acting out. Mariam had no choice but to say yes to this marriage, as she was immensely pressured by her father and his wives. She must wear a burka in public because her husband wants no other man to look upon her. When she tried to escape the wrath of her husband with Laila and Aziza, they were almost immediately stopped and apprehended by men for their boldness, a horrible punishment resulting in their frantic attempt for a better life. Mariam was forced to make the decision of killing Rasheed, knowing full well that she would have to die, because of how wretched and twisted the society was, no one would look over her case and defend her, because she was a woman. I would be interested to see a trial in which a man murdered his wife. Young girls are forced into marriage still to this day. I recently watched a video of a bride being forcefully lifted form a car into her husband's house, the result of almost half of arranged marriages, according to Mirror Online. There are reports of violent injuries and deaths associated with arranged marriages. How do we live in a world where these horrible things occur, and no one has the decency to do something more to make this nonexistent? The fact that a child can be married at the ages of seven and eight to a man that could be their father baffles me. When I was eight, I thought boys had cooties. You don't realize how messed up other countries are until you compare them to the life you live in a place like America. How many more deaths must happen, how many children will become married to old men before these horrible occurrences will be dealt with? Tradition should be reviewed if someone's religion thinks it is okay for a grown man to beat and molest young children just because they signed a document.