It's time for men to stand up against teenage pregnancy

By Umar Weswala

In the eyes of many, they are the defilers who are part of the problem, not the solution.

These are the so called boy friends who want adolescent girls to prove their love to them, the sugar daddies who derive happiness in exploiting adolescent girls, and perverts who believe that intercourse with adolescent girls is some form of cleansing.

To some members of society, they are accomplices, especially fathers who marry off their adolescent daughters, the brothers who look the other way when their underage sisters are turned into child mothers and community/faith leaders who either bless the marrying off of underage girls or chose to do nothing about it.

I call them the un-liberated men. But not all men belong to this category and not all the unliberated men have negative motives when they make decisions that harm adolescent girls. Having interacted with several of them, I have realized that some of them act out of total ignorance.

At Malongo Health Center III in Mayuge District, teenage pregnancy is at 45%. In Kinawanswa village, Bulamagi Sub County near Iganga town, teenage pregnancy is at 70%. In Bukatube Sub-County in Mayuge District, teenage pregnancy and child marriages are equally rampant. Surprisingly, this is normal to most members of these communities because despite previous interventions by the government to avert the situation, many have not yet been convinced that the two vices are detrimental to the wellbeing of their families and communities.

In these communities, fathers are still the key decision makers. Once they are involved in a decision to marry off a young girl, it is rarely challenged and out of ignorance, one of the  reasons they give is;

"We married your mothers when they are underage but despite giving birth to you and all of your brothers and sisters, they are still alive and ‘healthy'".

There are high chances that a man with such a mindset will not hesitate to take an underage girl as his bride. If he can give away his own under age daughter, taking one as a bride sounds like fair game.

In such a setting, prosecuting defilers or their partners in crime is rare. On the contrary, the defilers end up being ‘rewarded' with marrying their victims.

Someone should therefore walk into these communities and not only tell all the men that this is not okay but also show them its dangers, and the benefits of abandoning it.

Since men are the key decision makers in most families, I believe putting them in the driver's seat of such an initiative will increase chances of success.

I have seen this work in Bukatube Subcounty in Mayuge District where a group of 15 men who call themselves the Male Action Group (MAG) is not only advocating for an end to child marriage but also girl child education. This group is rarely one year old but through home visits, community dialogues and public awareness campaigns; defilers and their accomplices have been named and shamed, education of girls is slowly but surely being prioritised and faith leaders have vowed to verify the age of girls before blessing their marriages.

There are already success stories being told and Straight Talk Foundation with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is supporting the formation and activities of Male Action Groups in Mayuge and surrounding Districts.

But my humble plea is that with or without funding, men should rise up to protect and support the girl child. Male involvement is key to ending teenage pregnancy and child marriage.

The writer is the founder of www.thecommunityagenda.com