Advances in Social Norms and Implications for Programming Course
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Child Marriage in Lakes State, South Sudan: Looking through the Social Norms Lens
Joyce Mutiso
Background/Context
South Sudan is the newest country in the world, having emerged from almost three decades
of conflict before the self-autonomous separation from the Sudan on 9th July 2011. Along
with the new hope come a number of challenges for the development of the country,
especially as relates to the realization of rights for children. South Sudan’s literacy rate
currently stands at 27% among adults1 and within this, the percentage of literate women is
even smaller; limited infrastructure and economic opportunities compound the situation.
Out of an estimated population of 8.26 million, more than half (51%) of the population is
below the age of eighteen and 83% of the population is rural. 51% of the population live
below the poverty line2.
Child marriage still remains a widespread practice in South Sudan, rooted in cultural and
traditional beliefs (not religious). In general, marriages in South Sudan are largely arranged
marriages, particularly in the rural setting; families arrange marriages within and across
tribes. According to the 2006 Sudan Household Survey, 57.25% of women between 15-19
years are married or in a union, 41% of women are married before the of 18 and 17%
before the age of 15 in South Sudan. In Lakes State in South Sudan, it is common practice for
girls below the age of 18 to be married off. This practice is considered to be part of the
tradition and culture of the Dinka community who are the main inhabitants of Lakes State.
Marriage is a means of bringing respect to a family and many girls are socialized to aspire to
marriage as a pinnacle in life. There is an underlying gender dimension that women are
inferior to men/men have the say in the society.
The age of children is largely determined through a process of age assessment which
involves linking of time with significant events in order to approximate the age of the child3.
Once girls have reached puberty and have begun their menses cycle, they are considered to
1
South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics 2010 Fast Facts.
Ibid.
3
It therefore follows that there are thousands of South Sudanese, if not more, whose birth dates are indicated as 1 st of January of a given year.
2
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be ‘mature’ and are married off. This is particularly the case in the rural areas as opposed to
the urban area (Rumbek Town) in Lakes State.
Dowry is a major factor that comes into play in child marriage in this context. Members of a
particular clan by tradition contribute to the dowry for a particular family when a son is
getting married and as such, when a girl from the same family gets married, the dowry
which is in mainly in the form of cattle is usually distributed amongst the clan members.
With respect to dowry, the value of a girl depends on her age and can also depend on the
level of education; the older she gets, the lower her value drops (this can even start at the
age of 18) and the more educated a girl is, the more dowry she is likely to fetch since she is
more likely to bring income into the family. On the converse, a girl can be perceived as an
economic burden to the family and therefore in cases of extreme poverty, wealth obtained
through dowry can be seen as critical to a family’s well-being as well as status. However,
tied to this is a perceived or real risk (no empirical data available to show whether number
of cases) that the older a girl gets, the less likely she is to have her sexual debut in her
marital home. A girl who is perceived not to be ‘virtuous’ loses value and therefore some
families prefer to marry their girls off at an early age to avoid situations where girls lose
their ‘credibility.
The decision of marriage of a girl rests largely on the father and other male relatives,
usually for the economic benefit of the family and the child to be married off (often) has no
say. Conversely, any girl who refuses to enter into marriage faces severe sanctions and these
are usually in the form of beating, curses and sometimes killing. If a girl attempts to run
away to avoid marriage, there is a high likelihood that the father and uncles will beat her
and take her to the chief for a warrant of arrest. It is usually likely that the chief will write a
warrant for her arrest and she will be taken to prison and the girl will be placed in custody.
Elopement carries the same sanctions. Based on anecdotal reports, some girls have
committed suicide or attempted to commit suicide as an expression of their refusal to
marriage.
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The correlation between early marriage and maternal health problems is not well
appreciated particularly within the rural communities. In some contexts, prolonged or
obstructed labor is associated with infidelity rather than the physiological features of an
individual; there is a belief that a child will not ordinarily come out if the name of the father
is not mentioned and therefore women going into obstructed labor are considered to have
been unfaithful and she would have to mention the names of all the people she might have
had an affair with. As such, girls are rarely taken to hospital for delivery unless the delivery
gets very complicated. Linked to this is the fact that many people do not associate decline in
a woman’s health with early marriage, early pregnancies and pregnancy frequency (one of
the reasons for early marriage is to ensure that a woman gives birth to as many children as
possible). There is also a compounding issue of limited access to maternal health care
services.
In 2008, South Sudan enacted the Child Act in 2008 which seeks to protect the rights of
children in accordance with international standards. Whilst there is general knowledge that
the law exists, it has been shown that the levels of knowledge and understanding of the
provisions of the law are varied and at best shallow. There has been no systematic
dissemination and implementation of the legal provisions. In respect to child marriage,
article 23 of the Child Act 2008 protects children from early marriage, amongst other
“negative and harmful cultural and social practices” that is likely to negatively affect the
child’s life, health, welfare, dignity or physical, emotional, psychological, mental and
intellectual development. It is important to note that the ‘protective’ element of the legal
provision; there is no specific mention of the violation of a right of the child or a prohibition
per se of the negative and harmful cultural and social practices”. Penalties are not expressly
stated in article 23 and can only be inferred when read together with article 30 (which
imposes a maximum of 7 years for infringement of a right of the child). Additionally,
institutions to implement and/or enforce the law are often weak and to some extent are
also influenced by the community in the way that the law is used (for example the
incarceration of girls who attempt to run away from forced/early marriage).
There is a general acknowledgement that many people are uncomfortable with child
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marriage; however, many families continue to practice it. There is also a growing
appreciation for the value of education, particularly in the more urbanized areas of Lakes
State like Rumbek Town. There is a strong presence and understanding of the importance
of education for both boys and girls. In interviews with school age girls, it was shown that
girls in these areas have high aspirations and see themselves becoming highly educated and
having careers as doctors and teachers. The importance of education, including that of girls,
is understood, which holds direct benefits in that families do eventually return to their
home counties (in the rural areas) taking this understanding with them. This appreciation
for education in the urban areas is an organic movement that, given the right infrastructure
such as secondary schools, will flourish. Whilst opportunities for education are expanding,
there is still a long way to go in provide significant access to quality education for girls.
Concerns over limited infrastructure and limited trained staff continue to be valid for many
people and are sometimes used as a justification to say that there are limited options for
girls within the community and hence families prefer to marry them off. This is especially
the case in relation to secondary education as many girls tend to drop out of school at the
upper primary level for many reasons including early marriage.
There is limited written research on the issue of child marriage in South Sudan. This paper
has been informed by the 2010 KAP Study commissioned by UNICEF on Child Marriage in
Upper Nile, Lakes and Central Equitoria (actually conducted in 2008 and remains
unpublished) and field research associated with the development of a communication
strategy for addressing child marriages which included qualitative interviews with men,
women and children, in addition to subject matter experts in 2011.
Theoretical analysis using the social norms framework
A social norm has been defined as:
It is a pattern of behavior such that individuals prefer to conform to it on condition that they
believe that (a) most people in their relevant network conform to it (empirical expectation),
and (b) that most people in their relevant network believe they ought to conform to it
(normative expectation)4.
4
Bicchieri, C. (2006) The Grammar of Society: the Nature of Dynamic Social Norms, New York: Cambridge
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Child marriage continues to be practiced by many families because they see that others in
their communities practice it too; this is particularly the case in the rural setting. There are
several factors in play in this context. The perception of who a child is significant in that for
many people, the age of the child is still determined through factual beliefs and not the legal
standard of the age of 18 years. A child is considered to be someone who is not old enough
to produce children/a girl who has started her menses cycle is no longer considered a child
and a person who has not been initiated into adulthood is a child (mostly applies to
boys/men). Majority of the population within the rural areas may not be aware of the legal
standards pertaining to who a child is.
As has already been mentioned, dowry major factor in child marriages. Girls are seen as a
source of wealth; early marriage in Lakes State is done to boost family finances through
obtaining dowry and even in some cases, girls may be married off in order to pay for a
brother’s dowry. The bride price is usually high and therefore, the incentive to marry off a
young girl is usually high (130-350 cattle); there is no dowry cap in place in Lakes State.
There is a factual belief that the older a girl gets, the less the chance of her sexual debut
being in her marital home which would then lead to loss of credibility reduces for the girl
and for her family. There is also the factual belief that the younger a girl is when she is
married, the more children she is likely to bear; children are seen as a source of wealth and
labor (especially girls)5. There is a factual belief that prolonged or obstructed labor is
related to infidelity and is not seen as a physiological problem; therefore, the correlation
between the girls marrying and bearing children at a young age and prolonged or
obstructed labor is not made by many people. People also hold the factual belief that
marriage can be imposed on an individual by the family/clan.
There are personal normative beliefs that the traditions of the Dinka community allow for
child marriages and that marriage causes a girl to be respected in the community; marriage
is seen as increasing respect for the girl and the family. There is also a personal normative
5
The average family size is about 7 people and the fertility rate is 6.7 children (Situation Analysis of Nutrition in Southern Sudan June 2009
Assessment, FANTA II project).
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belief that riches should be a basis for child marriage. Another personal normative belief is
that the onset of menses is a good indicator for maturity and readiness for marriage. There
are some positive personal normative beliefs such as that many future opportunities are
lost as a result of early marriage, especially education opportunities (whilst marriage can
be entered into at a later age, education opportunities diminish with the increase in years
of marital life).
Social norms are behavioral rules supported by a combination of empirical and normative
expectations. Individuals have a conditional preference for obeying social norms, provided
they hold the right expectations6. The research available on child marriages in South Sudan
relates mainly to knowledge, attitudes and practices. However, based on available
information, I have attempted to deduce the expectations that family/community members
may have in relation to the practices and to each other. The empirical expectations are that
most of the families, particularly in the rural setting, see that other families in their
communities marry their daughters off at an early age. They also see that young girls who
refuse or attempt to run away from marriage face severe consequences, including beating,
curses, ostracization, incarceration and sometimes death. There are therefore sanctions
related to the practice of child marriages that are enforced by the family members of the
girls and even sometimes by the local authorities. There are negative social consequences
as such, girls will ordinarily accept to be married off. There is also an empirical expectation
that most family members see that clan members contribute towards a dowry of a son and
that cattle obtained as part of the dowry paid for a girl is distributed amongst the clan
members.
I have also deduced that there are normative expectations; that there is a social dimension
in the beliefs that people in the community think that majority of the community members
think they ought to do. Most people in Lakes State believe that most people in their
community expect them to marry their girls off at an early age, particularly in the rural
setting. Most people believe that most people in their community expect any girl who defies
or attempts to defy the decision of early marriage to be punished severely. Most people
6
Bicchieri, C. (2006) The Grammar of Society: the Nature of Dynamic Social Norms, New York: Cambridge University Press
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believe that the majority believe that since members of the clan contribute to dowry for a
particular family, when the opportunity of the marriage of a girl ‘presents itself’ to a family,
the family should marry the girl off so that the wealth obtained can be distributed amongst
the clan members.
Particularly in the urban settings, there is an emerging conditional preference where
parents who value education are allowing their girls to continue with their education and
therefore defer the decision of marrying off the girl even where social pressure from the
community to marry the girl off is present. However, there is no data available on what
percentage of the community has this conditional preference. According to the KAP study,
56% of the respondents said that they are uncomfortable with child marriages; however,
there was an indication that the willingness to sustain this practice is not diminished by
prohibition by law. In fact, only 43% of the respondents in Lakes State indicated knowledge
of the legal prohibition of child marriage in the KAP Study.
Even though people may be uncomfortable with the practice of child marriage and/or may
not agree with it, majority of the families continue to follow the practice since they see that
this is what other families do and they believe that other families think that they ought to
marry their girls off at a young age. In this sense, I think that the empirical expectations
have a stronger influence on what families do than the normative expectations. In the
empirical expectations there is a strong implication regarding the role of the clan and this
largely compels families to practice child marriage.
Similarity/Differences with a case study
Similarities
Child Marriage in LS, SS
FGM/C- Tostan Experience

Related to marriage/ability

Rooted in the value of honor

Physiological and physical harm entailed

Sanctions are present when norm is contravened

They are believed to be sanction by tradition

Practiced even by people who oppose them
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Differences

Value of honor rooted in cultural beliefs

Value of honor rooted in religious beliefs

Wealth element for family/clan is very

Wealth component limited to cutters’ income
strong (dowry)
Desired Outcomes
The overall desired outcome is the abandonment of the social norm of child marriage. Given
the intricate dimensions of the social networks involved in the practice in Lakes State, any
change is going to be gradual.
To abandon a social norm, a collective process of belief change may be necessary; people
have to come acknowledge the differences negative consequences of their actions; the
empirical expectations have to change and this change has to be coordinated7.
Evaluation of strategies already in place for addressing child marriage in Lakes State
The strategies already in place for addressing child marriage include legal measures,
promotion of education, including girls’ education and a proposed communication strategy.
The legal measures put in place in essence describe the ideal situation which should be in
place in the event that change to abandon the social norm takes place. However, the law has
only had a limited impact due to various reasons: knowledge of the existence of the legal
provisions and their content is not common knowledge; there has been no systematic
implementation of the Child Act and the institutions for implementation/enforcement
continue to be relative weak the variance between the legal norms and the social norms is
substantial and more importantly, there is no strong social norm of legal obedience in Lakes
State.
Initiatives to increase access to education in general in South Sudan are an area of much
focus; there are several initiatives aimed at putting in place laws and policies, strategic
plans, increasing learning spaces, improving the quantity and quality of human resources
and more specifically in this context, there are scholarship opportunities for girls’. It is safe
7
Bicchieri, C. (forthcoming) Social change: psychology and normative constraints: Chapter on “What matters about social change” (part of
course material).
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to say that the current programmes are focusing a lot on education, i.e. on the supply
determinant and not necessarily on the social norms determinant of the UNICEF Level 3
UNICEF MoRES system. A system for birth registration is being introduced and in the long
run, this will support the enforcement of the legal age determination but this is a long term
measure.
Of more interest is the proposed communication strategy for addressing child marriages
that was developed in 2011. The strategy comprises of three components: (i) increasing
awareness (particularly in relation to the legal provisions; (ii) building understanding
around the consequences of child marriage and the benefits for families and girls in
marriage takes place after girls turn 18 years of age and (iii) active participation, change of
behavior, change of mind-set and acknowledgement of the problem. The methods for the
proposed messaging are development and dissemination of simplified versions of the Child
Act; production of drama on child marriage; training of relevant ministerial staffs, state,
local and county level officials with an expectation that these groups of people will be
responsible for conducting training/dissemination for community level leaders (payam and
boma levels; community ambassadors primarily responsible for dissemination of messages
relating to the Child Act and child marriage within the communities; radio programs; road
shows and peer to peer group initiatives for girls. A lobbying and advocacy campaign
dubbed “Why Wait?” has been also been proposed.
Looking through the social norms and dynamics of change lens, the components of the
proposed strategy show some elements of the social norms perspective. The proposed
components can be effective in as far as they propel deliberation amongst the relevant
networks8 within the communities. However, how much deliberation and what kind of
deliberation would be propelled as per the proposed methods? A lot of the proposed
training and message dissemination is centered on the legal norms (the Child Act) with a
didactic element that will rely on elements of organized diffusion. The issue of child
marriage in the context of Lakes State is based on trust networks and whilst state, county
8
Mercier, H: How to Change People’s Minds: Insights from Psychology. Lecture on July 10, 2012 as part of the „Advanced
Social Norm‟ Course, UNICEF – University of Pennsylvania.
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and other local leaders may be the official leaders, they may not necessarily be the natural
leaders. Looking at the dynamics of child marriage, for the families that practice child
marriage/likely to practice child marriage, their reference group is other families within the
community which practice child marriage as well as clan members. It is true that county
commissioners (and other official leaders) wield a lot of power and have a significant say
within the communities but it would be important to understand the element of trust that
the community members have in these leaders in relation to child marriages. I proposed
that a social network analysis would be useful in identifying the key persons that
community members’ trust in relation to marriage and child marriages9. It is proposed in
the strategy that in the workshops where training will be conducted for ministerial, state,
county and other official leaders, the participants will be expected to sign a Child
Protection Statement at the end of the day stating they understand the Child Act, will
adhere to it and will endeavor to enhance the protection of children by taking a personal
responsibility in reporting violations to the authorities. Whilst this signing can be
considered a public pledge, I argue that it is done in the presence of a reference group of
leadership and is not a public pledge in the sense of gaining commitment; there is no
community participation (primarily the families and their reference groups) in the process
and therefore one has to question whether this will lead to any (sustainable) change in
empirical expectations. Methods such as drama and road shows which are followed by
discussions can be useful entry points for community discussion, decision and
commitment; they are visible forms of messaging.
Another aspect that the proposed methods seek to do is to change the factual beliefs as well
as the personal normative beliefs by messaging on the physiological problems of child birth
for young girls e.g. if the girl dies due to delivery complications, the family of the girl will
lose since they would be expected to return the dowry paid on behalf of the girl; in addition,
the value of education for girls, their families and for the community at large will be
emphasized. I suggest that communication is not enough in changing factual as well as
personal normative beliefs and that this will require community discussions where genuine
9
Muldoon, R. Social Network Analysis. Lecture on July 11, 2012 as part of the „Advanced Social Norm‟ Course, UNICEF –
University of Pennsylvania.
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deliberation can take place leading to common knowledge amongst the community
members; this will require innovative approaches that will not backfire, leading to
polarization or mistrust.
Doing things better, doing things differently
In order to reinforce existing interventions, there have to be interventions that seek to
propel changes in both the empirical and social expectations.
 Messaging: A lobbying and advocacy campaign dubbed “Why Wait?” has been proposed
in the communication strategy. This was identified as a theme with the aim of
communicating the advantages of delaying marriage until the age of 18 and not just the
legal ramifications. It aims to demonstrate the layered benefits associated with delaying
marriage for girls through a positive campaign, it builds on the idea of a new South
Sudan and its future potential. Through simple and easy to remember messages, a
variety of topics and issues such as women’s health, family economic opportunities,
child mortality, and country development among many others can be addressed. The
communication media proposed are posters and billboards, media and social networks
and face-to-face meetings with government officials.
I propose that the campaign would be more effective if it borrows from the Saleema
campaign experience in the Sudan. The Saleema campaign introduced a new script by
changing the way people talked about the social norm of FGM/C. The “Why Wait?”
should be modified to “Ready?” The idea is that this question be posed through
different media to trigger people to ask themselves, ‘ready for what?” This would then
be followed by a phase of other questions such as “Ready for Child Bearing?”, “Ready for
Motherhood?”, “Ready to leave school?”, etc. The intention is to get people to indirectly
question (without directly mentioning) the compelling element of child marriage. In my
view, “Why Wait?” has a sense of ambiguity which can lead to the reinforcement that
child marriage is compelling; for example, it may lead some boys, girls or families to ask
themselves “why wait when the marriage can be arranged?” The “Ready?” campaign is
aimed at generating reflection on the factual beliefs and personal normative beliefs that
people hold in relation to child marriage by introducing a new script in the way people
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perceive girls within the community.
 Community discussion, community decision and community commitment. Deliberation by
the community members in looking at core values and beliefs would be instrumental in
propelling social change. As has been stated earlier, there would be a need for
community members involved to reflect on what their core values are and how these
core values are expressed in their community. For example, there is a core value of
honor and respect placed for the family placed in the chastity of a girl and in order to
protect this core value, families prefer to marry their girls off at an early age. Linked to
the messaging campaign of “Ready?”, it would be useful to engage fathers and uncles (or
other male relatives involved in the decision making) to reflect on what they perceive a
good wife to be versus the posed by the “Ready?” campaign can be posed during this
process of deliberation in relation to daughters/nieces. The purpose of this would be to
determine if there are any opportunities of for taking advantage of cognitive dissonance
if leveraged appropriately. For instance, if the reflection by the fathers and uncles is such
that their expectations of a good wife (young, domesticated) are different from the
aspirations they have for their daughters/nieces (in that they want better things for
their daughters – for them to be better educated, to have a better footing in society),
then this would present an opportunity for the fathers and uncles to make the link that
their daughters/nieces will as future wives and the aspirations they have for them.
The aspect of community decision would be every important in the sense that if the
deliberations lead to the fathers and uncles publicly agreeing to delay the marriage for
girls, then these outcomes can be publicly shared with other community members in
forums where public commitments can be made on the same. It is important to note
that given the gender dimensions in Lakes State, separate discussion forums may be
necessary for men and women and outcomes from such discussions may be then shared
with groups of men and women together.
Part of the community discussions can campaign will need to integrate messaging about
the right to health and right to education for children, with a particular emphasis on the
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girls. Messaging on the right to health and right to education for girls can lead to
changing some of the factual beliefs, for example those beliefs relating to child birth, and
to foster common knowledge. It is important to note that these messages will need to
come from people identified as trusted by the community (e.g. health workers),
particularly in relation to health since this will involve changing factual beliefs that
people have in relation to nature.
 Education for all boys and girls. In tandem with all efforts towards social change, the
demand and supply for education must continue to be created particularly in the rural
areas and especially for girls. Some of the rationalizations that parents give for not
sending girls to school are the limited access to quality education learning facilities at
both primary and secondary levels, teachers and other education related services.
Specifically, the question of how girls will be protected to maintain their chastity will
have to be dealt with. It would be useful to conduct a study to determine the prevalence
of girls falling pregnant at a young age outside of any form of union or cases of sexual
violence against young girls; results can then be shared publicly and this may help to
address some perceptions of the risks depending on the outcome of such a study. In
respect to the increased opportunities for education, it is important to reflect back on
the fact that dowry increases with the level of education of a girl and therefore it is
likely that as more and more girls get educated, the dowry prices may become higher.
Given that the father of a poor girl is likely to marry off his daughter at a young age
because of the wealth attained from the dowry, it is possible that free education for all
boys and girls can encourage such parents to send their girls to school if the cost of
education for girls is subsidized/minimized. Implications (negative) of a trend of
increased dowry would have to be factored in.
The ongoing and proposed interventions can be combined to achieve short-term and
medium-term goals in the journey to the collective abandonment of child marriage in Lakes
State and in South Sudan.
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