ADDRESSING EARLY MARRIAGE: CULTURALLY COMPETENT PRACTICES AND ROMANIAN ROMA (“GYPSY”) COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Early marriage affects many communities around the world. Examples of commonly practiced early marriage can be found today in the U.S., India, Syria, and many other places. Although most countries have instituted minimum age laws for marriage, so that legal marriage can only occur after an age set by law, early marriage is still practiced for tradition, control, security, and other reasons. This article explores the harms of early marriage and the international instruments meant to defend against these harms in Part II. Part III reviews theoretical perspectives from legal anthropology and presents a case study of early marriage in Romanian Roma, or “Gypsy,” communities. Part IV sets out the concepts of legal pluralism and critical feminist intersectional theory and then uses these legal theories to examine early marriage. Part IV of this article looks at culturally competent approaches to raising the marriage age in Romanian Roma communities. The conclusion identifies respectful, culturally competent ways to reduce early marriage by engaging communities