In partnership with others, including survivor advocates from across the country, I have been campaigning state by state for years to change our own out of date minimum age of marriage laws. The most recent victory in New York was a hard-won battle but I am happy that my home state has finally enacted Naila’s Law and set the minimum age of marriage at 18 without exceptions—only the sixth state in the U.S. to do so. This has made me feel like I can heal.
Search Results for: MARRIAGE
Stopping the Theft of Youth: New York Becomes Sixth State to Outlaw Underage Marriage
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that raised the age of consent to marriage from 14 to 18—making New York only the sixth state in the U.S. to end child marriage.
Today in Feminist History: Retaining Her Legal Identity After Marriage (May 17, 1921)
This evening’s first meeting of a new organization called the “Lucy Stone League” proved quite a success, attracting a number of well-known people who engaged in a lively discussion about issues that still remain regarding a woman’s legal identity after marriage.
Teenagers in North Carolina Call For an End to Child Marriage
We are two high school seniors, both age 17, from Chatham County, North Carolina. These days we split our time between online school, our extracurriculars and hanging out with friends. Marriage is the last thing on our minds.
Instead of leaving it to adults to say what is and is not in our best interest, let’s tell them ourselves: End child marriage.
Rabbis on Why They Will Officiate Queer Marriage, as Obergefell Sits in Jeopardy
I don’t know if this Supreme Court session will take a case that could overturn marriage equality before Hannah Ruth and I are ready. But I know that there are hundreds of rabbis who are willing, able and even excited about meeting us where we’re at when the time is right.
13. Beyond Marriage: The Fight for LGBTQ Rights (with Jessica Clarke, T. Mychael Rambo and Chase Strangio)
Have something to share? Drop us a line at ontheissues@msmagazine.com. Background Reading: “The Ms. Q&A: Chase Strangio on SCOTUS and the State of Trans Rights,” Oliver Haug, Ms., October 3, […]
There’s a Simple Solution to End Child Marriage in North Carolina
New studies by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) reveal the grim consequences of child marriage in the U.S., which occurs at particularly high rates in North Carolina. North Carolina is becoming a common destination for adults to take children when their marriage is illegal in their home states. Between 2000 and 2015, almost 9,000 minors were listed on marriage license applications in North Carolina.
But there’s a simple solution: Set the minimum age of marriage at 18, without exceptions.
Today in Feminist History: Marriage is Not Grounds for Teacher Dismissal—DUH! (April 27, 1904)
Though a good deal of prejudice against women in the workforce still remains—especially against married women in the teaching profession—today marks a meaningful advance toward equal opportunity, and bodes well for unprecedented progress in this new, more progressive century.
COVID-19 and Young Girls: Expect Increases in Child Marriage and Teen Pregnancy
Globally, nine out of 10 children are in lockdown in their homes as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. But for too many young girls, their homes are not safe places. Experience shows that during health emergencies, children—especially young girls—face increased risk of sexual exploitation and abuse.
Beyond the Breakthrough: Fighting Forced Marriage In the Struggle to End Violence
Forced marriage is a serious but neglected form of gender-based violence in the United States. And more often than not, it is just one part of a spectrum of other harms that a woman who is forced to marry may face in her lifetime.