In my three years as Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister for Women, I saw many shocking situations. One which shocked me more than most was that of a young girl, barely 13 years old, who had allegedly entered into an “arranged marriage” to a man twice her age.
If this shocks you – and it should – then think of the girls we do not hear about. In the case of the 13 year old, the response from caseworkers and police was swift, but more often the crime is hidden by a towering brick wall of cultural silence.
Let’s take the shocking case of Raina Farrah, an Australian girl taken to Syria and forced into marriage as a teenager. Of course, this prompted a whole lot of questions, many published here on Mamamia.
Trouble is, in communities where forced underage marriage is acceptable or even encouraged, these questions aren’t asked. Mothers don’t ask the police to free their daughters, and fathers don’t ask permission to punish their daughters who disobey.
What happened to Raina – this extraordinary young woman – also happens, we suspect, to other young Australian girls. Taken from school, shipped overseas, married and made pregnant. Returning here to live with their family until miraculously, on their eighteenth birthday, a man arrives from overseas and legally marries her.
It’s all so horrible, but solutions are not simple.
Last month the Premier Mike Baird and I launched with the Federal Government the Second Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. The plan recognises forced underage marriage as an issue that must be addressed by all Australian governments.
This is a great start, but even with a strong Government commitment, changing the attitudes to forced marriage of some in the community will be a huge challenge. Public awareness campaigns, including at our borders, the provision of help lines and anonymous contact points are important strategies, but will only go so far in those communities willing to condone their crime.
In communities where women are hindered from learning English and knowledge of Australian law, and where contact outside the community is discouraged, it’s not difficult to see how the keepers of these girls stay on top.
It won’t come as a surprise that the answers don’t just rest with Government. I believe there is more Australian women can do to reach out to women at risk and include them in the everyday activities we take for granted. In that special way women have, it is to up to us to build important personal networks so we can all share those great Australian values that make this country such a desirable place to live.
Surely there will be hundreds of clever ideas out there about how we can build connections and trust and I’m very keen to hear about them. Be part of the solution, and find me on Facebook, or tweet me @PruGoward.
Every girl should have the freedom to make her own choices about what she wants to be and who she chooses to marry, or if she wants to marry at all. And, until that day, she should be free to remain a girl.
Girls and young women who feel forced or pressured into underage marriage – or other members of the community who wish to report underage illegal marriages – should call the NSW 24-hour Child Protection Hotline. By calling 132111, members of the public can make a report to a caseworker, via an interpreter, if necessary.
Pru Goward is the Minister for Planning, the Minister for Women, and the Member for Goulburn in the NSW Parliament.
Top Comments
We won't be able to fix issues like these until we can have an open and honest debate about immigration, religion and culture . Any mention of these 3 variables sends the political correct apologists into a rabid state of denial .
Having grown up in Sydney's multicultural heartland , and knowing people from many different backgrounds I must admit there was always the suggestion that each culture preferred their children to marry within their own group. The anglo saxons of course allowed their children the freedom to choose, but other cultures definitely encouraged an "arranged" union and hopefully most were over 18. Of course this is reverse racism and is overlooked by the lefties, but anyway i will continue. As the left continue their major effort to totally destroy all anglo saxon culture, language, history and future in this country, we are now reaping what we have sowed. People smugglers determine who comes to our country, and then the greens/lefties fall over themselves to ensure these people are not assimilated. Interpreters, forms in their language, their own schools etc at no point do new arrivals have to try and become like us (yes, they are coming here and so their is an expectation they adopt our ways). It is only natural that they continue their ways. An underage arranged marriage is no big deal for them (because thats probably how they were joined). On radio 2UE this morning, a man rang up and stressed 3 times that his faith came before Australia. Was he a one off crazy? No, I believe there are cultures who see their faith as over riding everything else. There is no way we are going to change these people until we stop handing them everything they want. The new arrivals of the 60s and 70s had to assimilate and today they have fitted in. Before the one eyed defenders of the middle eastern faith write in with their usual accusations of racism, ask yourself this question. Are you Australian first, faith second? or are you Faith first and then australian? The solution to underage marriages, arranged marriages, going overseas to fight, protests about cartoons, etc etc etc etc etc, all lies in the answer to that simple question I asked. Are you Australian above all else?? well are you punk?