According to the BBC report on September 18th, 2020, ‘Childline’, a telephone counseling service for children, stated that the number of consultations about child marriage in June and July of that year increased by 17% compared to the previous year. It shows the huge increase in the child marriage rate. A notable figure at this moment is Rebeca Gyumi, a Tanzanian lawyer and the head of the Msichana Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that aims to empower women’s rights. Let’s learn more about Rebeca Gyumi, one of BBC’s 100 Women of 2020.
In 2016, Rebeca Gyumi finally made a change after fighting against the Marriage Act in her home country of Tanzania. As a child, Rebeca Gyumi began to realize the inequality that she herself and other girls had to suffer. At only 13, she had to watch her classmates leaving school due to pregnancy or marriage. Volunteering at a youth initiative at age 20, she found out early marriage among Tanzanian girls was a national problem. The original Tanzanian Marriage Act stipulated that the minimum marriage age for boys is 18, whereas for girls the minimum marriage age was 14 with parental consent. According to the survey of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 2015-2016, about 37% of Tanzanian women between 20-24 were married before 18. With even 7% of them having been married before 15. Rebeca Gyumi and her university colleagues filed a petition pointing out the injustice of the Marriage Act in the High Court of Tanzania in 2016 to reduce further damage. It was a petition that proved the side effects of child marriage and insisted that this national tragedy should stop. Also in 2016, she established the Msichana Initiative, an NGO for the protection of women's rights, and actively engaged in resolving child marriage issues as the top priority. Finally, the High Court of Tanzania accepted the unfairness of the existing law and raised the girls’ marriageable age to 18 in July 2016. In an interview with CNN on March 18th, 2019, Rebeca Gyumi said that “Lots of people were not amused and thought we were disruptive, saying 'young people have tried before and failed.' But when we started attending sessions in court with a positive outcome, organizations came back and said they were willing to work together with us.” She did not give up while facing criticism toward her efforts to fight against injustice. Even after the amendment of the Marriage Act, Rebeca Gyumi showed endless passion toward improvement, saying, “We need to make sure the law is implemented at a ground level. We need to teach girls around the country to stand up for their rights and continue engaging with communities”.
Rebeca Gyumi challenged a system that lasted for decades, and she has now protected girls from isolation. It is not easy to rebel against the deep-rooted customs of one country, no matter how wrong it is. What stands out about Rebeca Gyumi the most is her dedication to the weak. It is an attitude that all CAH readers should emulate, empathizing with the difficulties of surrounding people and taking an active role in solving problems. The more people like Rebeca Gyumi that exist in our society, the more the weak will be guaranteed their rights.
