Week of Sept. 21, 2008
Child Bride AbductionDescription
In Ethiopia, a woman has to be 18 years old to get married. That's the law, but local custom in some remote areas rules the day. Many girls — sometimes as young as 10 to 13 — are abducted. Their kidnappers want a wife, but can't afford the dowry they have to pay the girl's family.
Once a girl is abducted, she becomes "soiled" or "tainted" because of the possibility she was raped. Rather than risk the shame of having a soiled daughter, her parents often consent to the marriage — at a reduced price for the husband. Richard Lough reports.