Child marriage is not a tradition we can afford to romanticise. It is a violation of childhood, consent and opportunity. Defined as any formal or informal union where one or both parties are under 18, child marriage remains one of Pakistan's most persistent forms of gender inequality. Despite legal prohibitions, girls continue to be married before they are old enough to choose, study, work, vote, or understand the consequences of a decision made for them.

Pakistan is home to one of the largest populations of child brides in the world. Around one in five girls is married before 18, and some before 15. This means millions of girls whose childhoods have been shortened by poverty, social pressure and deeply embedded gender norms. Child marriage rates have fallen from more than 40 per cent in the early 1990s to under 20 per cent in recent years. But progress is uneven, especially in rural and low-income communities.

The geography of child marriage is also the geography of exclusion. Girls in rural areas are far more likely to be married early than girls in cities. Poverty sharpens the risk: families facing hardship may see marriage as one less mouth to feed, or one way to secure a daughter's future. Lack........

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