Pot calling kettle

I agree @Iam64

When I was 15 I was commuting to work , had two jobs and was paying my own way. No one was treating me as a child because I wasn't one. My parents also started work at 15 so thought it was normal.

I agree, it would be uncomfortable if you had a UK teenager who chose to marry a 58 year old! But that would be the teenagers choice and as parents you would have to accept free will.

An 8 year old is extremely vulnerable, cannot choose, is not even of reproductive age and should be allowed to play and be a kid. These kids need help.

"Child marriage is a human rights violation. Despite laws against it, the practice remains widespread: Globally, one in every five girls is married, or in union, before reaching age 18"
www.unicef.org/stories/child-marriage-around-world

Not all child marriages are with very young girls. Most of them are older teenagers. No one should get married before the age of 18. Under 18s are not adults and cannot consent to any form of legally binding contract. We must campaign for an end to all child marriage not just those that take place in other countries.

When I got married, aged 16, I had been working for a full year, was a dab hand at cooking, cleaning, shopping and caring for my younger siblings. I had not been a 'child' for a very long time. In fact when I had my first baby three years later I was often called upon to give advice to my much older neighbours.

I don't advocate teens getting married, but our laws do provide some protections for young people. Girls in other cultures/countries don't have similar protections and therefore anything that can be done to help them from being used as 'chattels' is surely a good thing.

what exactly is the evil you are trying to remedy, in this country , OP ?

Rather old fashioned perhaps. But what caring parent would agree to a silly sixteen year old marrying. Married life is difficult enough without encouraging this silly romantic nonsense.

Was grannyactivist a silly sixteen? I don't think so.

I'm saying that a child is a child. What's the difference between a 16 year old in the UK and a 16 year old in another country?

i don't think many people are overly concerned about 16 year olds in other countries, aside from the concern to stand against coercion, of course.
what is a true evil is young girls being married off, without any say in it, usually much younger than 16.
obvious children.
what leads you to think 16 year olds being able to marry here is a problem.

A 16 year old in another country us likely to have children who are almost ready to marry off.
That's one difference..

A 16 year old marrying a 58 year old is a victim of abuse. We should not pretend otherwise.

In the news recently a blogger died who had married at 16 and had been fantastically happily married for 14 years with four children until her sudden and tragic demise.

Sue Radford has been with her husband since she was 14. Just because someone gets with someone young doesn't mean they can't make a relationship work. And yes, she was underage when she got pregnant, but she is still with him and they seem happy.

Just two examples of teenagers who managed to make it work...

A 16 year old marrying a 58 year old is a tragedy. All abuse is a tragedy.

i think by confusing the situation here for 16 year olds with the obvious evil in some countries where there is large scale abuse involving young girls, the message is being diluted.

i think the cases of parents agreeing for their 16 year old to marry a 58 year old in england must be very rare.
i've never heard of it. i think the registrar might ask a few questions.

@Welbeck I've never heard of it either. I think it might make the news headlines!

Clearly obvious girls all over the world need to think education, education, education before any thoughts of marriage. Thank god I grew up up in the feminist decade

That's if girls even have access to education, of course.

The difference between a 16 year old in the U.K. and. sixteen year old in many other countries is how they are regarded by the menfolk.
They are of no value other than to cook, clean and procreate.

I knew a lady who had been “married” at the age of 8. The groom was a couple of years older. She sat on her father’s knee during the ceremony and afterwards she lived with her “husband’s” family. I was not rude enough to ask when the marriage was consummated but she clearly loved her husband and they were still together 50+ years later.
This took place in the Caribbean, the family was Hindu.

I think in some countries children are taken out of school or education to marry at a young age. Very young children are also promised, or engaged if you like, to marry parents choice at an early age. This is what should be stopped.

So a 16 year old in this country is not a child bride but would be in another country?

A sixteen year old is not a child, nor a child bride in any country.

But it is wrong, immoral, if not illegal, for a sixteen year old, or especially a younger girl, to be coerced or forced into marriage with an older man against her will.

I married at 17 and over 53 years later am still married to that same special man. I’ve been lucky, but we preached to our children on the advantages of maturity and having a young free life first before going in to a marriage. They all listened and understood.

Well done Jayt It shows that it matters more who you marry than when.

Better to marry the right person at the wrong time than the wrong person at the right time.

A 16 year old is legally a child not an adult.