WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.960 Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning into the Nonprofits again for 2 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.559 our second episode this week. Tonight is Wednesday, February twelfth, 3 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:09.199 and we had a fun recording the other day on Monday. 4 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.560 But this topic that we're going to talk about is 5 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:14.720 a little bit more somber, a little bit more serious, 6 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:16.719 and so I'm just going to get right into it 7 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.440 with a quote that I think sums up the entire 8 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:24.039 situation that's happening in Bangladesh. And so we are going 9 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.320 to discuss an article tonight called they marry off Girls 10 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.399 because they are a burden. The Battle to save Bangladesh's 11 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:34.479 child Brides from Telegraph by Tom Parry on January twentieth, 12 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:37.439 twenty twenty five. In order to introduce this article, I 13 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:40.560 want to actually read kind of a long quote from 14 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:44.840 another article from twenty eighteen, also from the Telegraph, and 15 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.560 this is on child marriage and sex trafficking in Bangladesh 16 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:51.479 by Corin Redfern. It's been five years since Ruper was 17 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:54.840 trafficked into the brothel. Married at eleven years old to 18 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:57.119 a man in his thirties who she'd never met. She 19 00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:59.759 spent her wedding day playing hide and seek with her 20 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:02.119 cousin in the mud. I ripped off pieces of my 21 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:05.560 sorry to make little wedding dresses for my dolls. She remembers, 22 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:08.359 when my husband raped me that night, I didn't understand 23 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.200 what was happening. I only felt pain. She felt pregnant 24 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.599 shortly after, but when her husband was killed in an 25 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:16.439 accident at work, her family refused to take her back. 26 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.719 They said they couldn't afford to look after me or 27 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.400 my son. I wasn't a virgin anymore, so no man 28 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:24.359 would marry me. Hungary and alone, the then thirteen year 29 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.879 old took a train to Dhaka in the hopes of 30 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:29.599 finding work in a garment factory. A woman saw me 31 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:31.760 crying at the station and said she had a friend 32 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.400 who was looking for a maid. Rupa says, I followed 33 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.120 her home, but she sold me here instead. And of 34 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.439 course this excerpt was taken in an interview with this 35 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.920 young girl at a brothel in Bangladesh. And you know, 36 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:48.280 I just want to say that like many poor and 37 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:53.560 orthodox religious countries, this is common, unfortunately, and young girls, 38 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:58.120 particularly women in general, are devalued. We see it in Christianity. 39 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:01.159 There's evidence for it throughout the Bible. There's evidence for 40 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:05.079 it culturally whether you look at Mormons or just basic 41 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:09.319 texts stating that women can't you be in the church, 42 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:12.919 or can't be vocal in church, they can't teach men, 43 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.240 they can't lead and in many cases work. And so 44 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:20.439 we see that across the world, but particularly in Bangladesh. 45 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:24.479 They are incredibly poor, a ninety one percent Muslim country, 46 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:26.800 and they're just living with a lot of turmoil. And 47 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.639 of course the females, the younger they get, are the 48 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.919 ones that bear the brunt of such atrocity. And so 49 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.479 with that being said, I want to go to Helen, 50 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.560 and Helen, I want to ask you, what are the 51 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:43.599 key factors that lead to child marriage, particularly with girls? 52 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:50.800 So guess what, everybody's misogyny. But also as well, one 53 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.000 thing about this article that I appreciate that they did 54 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.240 talk about the education that they're trying to provide to 55 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:58.159 these girls and the hopes that they have for a 56 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:02.719 better future, because these are young children. These are like 57 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:06.599 if you're a parent, imagining your twelve year old daughter 58 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.800 having to choose between having dreams of a future versus 59 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.719 being forced into a marriage. And there was also mention 60 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:19.080 in the article about parents that didn't want their children 61 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:23.960 to be sold into these child marriages, and they had 62 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.479 hopes for their own children, and there were programs that 63 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.199 were brought in for these kids. 64 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:31.960 To get educations. 65 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.639 But the thing is, though, is that these incidents in 66 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:35.680 Bagladesh are rare. 67 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:37.039 This is not the norm. 68 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:40.919 The norm is that these girls are going to be 69 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.719 sold into marriage. And because it's not so much it's 70 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:51.360 a burden, Like I think there's some genuinely good parents there, 71 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:56.719 but because of lack of economic opportunity, lack of education, 72 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.840 and sort of the religious upbringing that you now, girls 73 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:03.560 and women are second classicizens. Even if they have the 74 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:08.280 best intentions, they're kind of forced into these situations. There 75 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:11.479 have been situations like in Romania where girls were sold 76 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:15.919 into sexual slavery, not because the parents really wanted them 77 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.519 to be sold into sexual slavery. It was because they 78 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:22.079 were dirt poor and had no other option. So these 79 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:26.160 are the and it sounds cruel and it is. It's 80 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.639 cruel for parents to have to make these decisions. But 81 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:31.600 when you're when push comes to shove and you're so 82 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:37.680 desperate that you have to make these really terrible, horrible decisions. 83 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.560 And I'm not excusing this, keep this in mind, but 84 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:45.279 I can understand why it happens, and I just want 85 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:47.199 to point out I'll talk about this later about all 86 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:50.680 about the child brides that have in here, So that's 87 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.279 another conversation we can have. 88 00:04:52.439 --> 00:04:55.680 So I'm not passing the book. I'm just saying that 89 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:58.120 these this is a very not only. 90 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.759 Religious problem, but this seems to be also problem of 91 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:05.639 lack of education, lack of economic opportunity as well, not 92 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:06.319 just religion. 93 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:08.600 And it's funny the way that those feed off of 94 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:10.959 each other. I mean, if you look in our country, 95 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:19.319 lack of education and poor surroundings and and highly religion 96 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:24.000 are also highly religious. It seems to be a formula 97 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:27.439 that can't be broken. I would disagree with you, but 98 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:30.240 not necessarily with you. I would just say that there 99 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:33.959 is certainly a cultural difference because I don't. I would 100 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.800 never sell one of my children, no matter how bad 101 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:39.439 things got, right, I would I have a daughter. I 102 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.279 would never do that. I would die before that happened. 103 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:44.959 I would starve to death before that happened. These folks don't, 104 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.879 and it's probably due to the poor education, but also 105 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:53.639 the kind of infiltration of religion where that education doesn't exist, 106 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:57.279 and thus victimizing generation after generation. 107 00:05:57.480 --> 00:05:58.759 So you know, I. 108 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.639 Would, I would. I would have to argue with anybody 109 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:05.079 who thought that that was a good alternative, you know 110 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.959 why that they might think that. Anyway, I digress a 111 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:10.120 little bit. Aj, I want to go to you. You 112 00:06:10.199 --> 00:06:12.959 brought up a really good point leading up to this article, 113 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.360 and that is, you know that the article largely focuses 114 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:17.720 on young girls. But what are we not getting There's 115 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:18.600 a larger point here. 116 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:20.439 Yeah, I mean, we don't want to take away from 117 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:23.560 the tragedy that these young girls are going through, right, 118 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:27.079 But the article does point out something that's usually not 119 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:30.480 talk about, and that's the fact that boys are also 120 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.680 being married off. When we think of child rides, we 121 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.639 always think, oh, you know, this is an adult man 122 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:39.079 that is already said wele that is like buying a 123 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:42.600 little child girl to do whatever he wants with her. 124 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.920 But in the cases of places like Bangladesh, is it's 125 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:50.040 a little bit different because everybody is in the same 126 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:55.319 poverty level, So the boys and the girls are at 127 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:59.000 the same poverty level. And it seems that the article 128 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:01.959 explained that the boys have to leave school early to 129 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:06.199 help families to cover the cost of rebuilding after natural disasters. 130 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:08.399 They have a lot of cyclones in the area, so 131 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:11.079 there is a lot of flooding. The islands at are 132 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:14.199 very very close to the sea level, so it floats 133 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:18.959 extremely easy. They lose their homes, you know, seasonally, so 134 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:21.480 the children have to go to work and they have 135 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:23.519 to leave school. That's one of the reasons that they 136 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.800 stop going and getting their education. 137 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:27.000 You know. 138 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.319 Obviously this happens before they turn they turn of age, 139 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:33.800 that they turn eighteen, So you have all of these 140 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.839 young boys that left school early that are being married 141 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.199 to girls that are just slightly a little bit younger. 142 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.959 So it can be like a you know, twelve thirteen 143 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.759 year old girl marrying enough to like a fourteen or 144 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.040 fifteen year old boy. So it's not like an extreme 145 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.959 age difference, but it's still not right. It's you have 146 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:56.279 you have children being married off to children, Yes, you have, you. 147 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.279 I do, I see that. I see that point. It's 148 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.480 important to recognize that all children are in danger here 149 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.480 and it is due to this. In my opinion, it's 150 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.959 due to this cycle of kind of never ending poverty, 151 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:15.160 never ending opportunity, and it's just you know, kind of 152 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:17.680 perpetual rob I want to go to you, is there 153 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:20.160 anything that could be done to fix this? 154 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.199 So the article starts by talking a lot about child 155 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.639 marriage and then it pivots a lot into the education 156 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:32.039 and how they're trying to help, especially the girls. I 157 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:36.240 think predominantly the girls become educated, which I think is 158 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:38.279 the cool part because there's really only a couple of 159 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.759 ways that this can solve out, right, Like, there are 160 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:44.440 other organizations, perhaps even countries or whatever else. I could 161 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:47.000 come in and change it, but that's not a great solution. 162 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.240 But really that through the means of education. What I 163 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:54.639 like about it is like, teach the girls that they 164 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:58.000 have value. Teach the girls that they can continue to 165 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:02.120 accrue value through skills and education whatever else they might 166 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:04.759 be interested in. And then the article has a quotes 167 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:06.039 from a couple of them that like they want to 168 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:07.519 grow up and being doctor and stuff like that, So 169 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.960 like leave go Like that might be hard, but if 170 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:14.200 you think of this population, and this is gonna sound cool, 171 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:16.120 if you just think of the population more as just 172 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:20.200 like an organism. Over time it should be able to 173 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:23.879 have individuals and then the organim as a whole evolve 174 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.399 into we're gonna go out and we're gonna do stuff, 175 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.759 and by teaching the girls that they and themselves have value, 176 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:33.159 each generation of educated child should be able to do 177 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:35.120 a little bit better than the previous one. So then 178 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:38.519 by doing that they can basically allow them to get 179 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:41.480 pissed off and then not be happy with the status quo. 180 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:45.320 Yeah, you know the I really thought it was a 181 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:47.759 great idea, and I think Helen brought this up before 182 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:51.320 or at least started going down that road, but that 183 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.000 there were programs in place that actually paid families to 184 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:57.879 have their kids stay in school because they lose their 185 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:01.799 kids due to poverty, whether it's their daughters being married off, 186 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.440 and like I heard, like we listed in the intro, 187 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:08.279 you know, they do end up in either being abused 188 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:11.279 or even married too much older men. Even though the 189 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:15.559 other child, other boys are being married out, the girls 190 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:19.559 are I think the ones that are susceptible to sexual abuse. 191 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:23.879 And that's that's really what the worst case scenario I 192 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:27.279 think is for these children. But yeah, paying parents to 193 00:10:27.360 --> 00:10:30.600 keep them in school and paying parents to have their kids, 194 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.200 you know, learn and make something of themselves instead of 195 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:34.840 having to get rid of them. I want to read 196 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:39.080 some statistics that I have here, and so I'm going 197 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.360 to speak to a typo. You guys have seen my notes. 198 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:44.960 I wrote that sixteen percent of families are practicing child marriage. 199 00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:48.720 Actually sixty, it's sixty I wrote that backwards, but it's 200 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:52.320 sixty percent. Are also living in rural areas, So I 201 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:54.919 thought that was interesting that the rural and the number 202 00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:59.840 of child marriages are kind of coinciding. Fifty six percent 203 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:02.559 of girls are married before completing high school excuse me 204 00:11:02.679 --> 00:11:06.720 high school. And in one survey three hundred and seventy 205 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.759 five sex of three hundred and seventy five sex workers 206 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.759 across four brothels, forty seven percent were child brides trafficked 207 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.440 at the prostitution against their will. It's it's so horrible, 208 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:19.759 but these are numbers that we need to kind of 209 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.919 push out there and make sure everybody understands Helen, you 210 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:27.159 had some statistics of your own and some numbers, some 211 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.240 data that you wanted to share, and I found that 212 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.360 they were really interesting. So if you will please enlighten us. 213 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:37.200 So because I want people to understand that this doesn't 214 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:40.399 happen in just like a microcosm, like this is something 215 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:45.159 that's happening throughout the world, and that though we're talking 216 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:47.000 about what's happening in Bagladesh. 217 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:51.159 This happens here. There's thirty seven states that still do. 218 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:56.480 This practice, which is mind mooweling when you think about it. 219 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:03.720 So I pulled up statistics by the Koski Hymen study. 220 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:07.080 This was a study that was done in the mid 221 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:11.919 twenty tens, and basically this was this was the these 222 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:16.759 are the averages about ten years ago. It just a 223 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:18.840 little bit of like, you know, something to kind of 224 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:23.159 think about. For example, in Texas, from twenty twenty fourteen, 225 00:12:23.240 --> 00:12:26.519 almost forty thousand children were married, and FIDA sixteen thousand, 226 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.039 sixteen thousand, four hundred children, some as young as thirteen 227 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.200 years old, were married from two thousand to twenty seventeen, 228 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.039 which is the second highest incidence of child marriage after Texas. 229 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.720 In Alabama, there were over eighty six hundred child marriages 230 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:43.279 from two thousand to twenty fifteen, the fourth highest amount 231 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.320 of any state. However, child marriage in Alabama showed a 232 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.879 large decline in that time. In twenty almost twelve hundred 233 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:54.440 children are married, but dropped to one ninety by twenty fourteen. 234 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:57.799 In Virginia, between twenty four and twenty thirteen, nearly forty 235 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:03.159 five hundred children were married to Tara Justice Center in Ohio. 236 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:06.720 From twoentand to twenty fifteen, there were four four hundred 237 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:11.000 and forty girls married age seventeen and younger, including forty 238 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:14.399 three age fifteen and under. In New York, more than 239 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.679 thirty eight hundred children were married between two thousand and 240 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:22.480 twenty ten, and koske Say also found that only twenty 241 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.919 percent of married children were living with their spouses. The 242 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.399 majority rest were still living with their parents. So the 243 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:31.720 parents like, they're still living with at home, you know, 244 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:36.279 those children, but the parents are still you know, agreeing for. 245 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:38.000 Them to enter these marriages. 246 00:13:38.440 --> 00:13:43.440 And most of this comes from religious families that are 247 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:47.080 marrying their children, are allowing their children to be married. 248 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:49.240 This is not happening. 249 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:55.720 And communities where kids get access to economic growth and 250 00:13:55.799 --> 00:14:00.399 they also have the ability to have you know, have 251 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:04.200 the mobility upwards. Now we under like, you know, we 252 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:07.519 can think of the Mormon religion, we can think of 253 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.480 other religions that are kind of okay with your children 254 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:12.840 being kind of married off. 255 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:14.240 I think it's gross. 256 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:19.320 But this comes from if even if you're broad religious, 257 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.879 like I was broad religious, my parents would never think 258 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:25.039 that I should get married at fourteen years old. 259 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:27.639 They were like, you. 260 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:29.240 Need to you need to grow up, you need to 261 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.080 go to school, you need to get education. So this 262 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:36.080 is not just a symptom of religion, it's also the 263 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:37.720 society factors that goes around it. 264 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:40.039 And I think that's being taught. 265 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:42.759 Yeah, yeah, right, And that's what I was kind of 266 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:47.159 alluding to, this perfect storm of poverty and of a 267 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:49.720 lack of education where religion is able to kind of 268 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.639 sink its hooks in and provide something, but then you know, 269 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:57.360 it ends up, it ends up giving you the worst 270 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:00.600 case scenarios. And speaking of scenarios, Age, you know, you 271 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:05.559 had some solutions highlighted coming into tonight's recording, and I 272 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:07.240 just wanted to kind of talk to you about that 273 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:09.720 and some of the laws that have been passed in 274 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:12.000 Bangladesh to try and protect kids. Yeah. 275 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:15.039 I think Rob had a comment maybe possibly. 276 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:17.960 Jump I'm so bad at my job. 277 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.720 Please please show I don't try to jump in before 278 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.399 you ag every time. That's not on purpose. I was 279 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:30.480 going to say, between Jimmy and Helen, Yeah, correlation not causation. 280 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:34.879 But boy, howdy, isn't it convenient that every single study 281 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:37.799 shows that the poorer you are and the less educated 282 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.080 you are, therefore the more religious you are. And then 283 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.679 when it comes to this, yes, not all religious people 284 00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:47.759 marry off their their daughters, because let's face it, we're 285 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.759 talking about the daughters. Not every religious person marries off 286 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:53.559 their daughters. We know this to be true because we 287 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:56.200 have at least one person. But also most people don't 288 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.559 do that in America, but it still does occur. So 289 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.519 I think it's worse than that, right, because it's not 290 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:02.879 just you have to be poor and educated to be 291 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:05.360 likely to be religious, and then you need to have 292 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:08.200 the very bad religion that makes you feel that women 293 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:11.840 are literal property. That thus, this is a transaction. That's 294 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.240 the problem is it's the transactional component to it, really. 295 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.519 And I think the state of Bangladesh realizes that the 296 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:21.639 transaction is the solution that people are looking for. And 297 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.080 since Aj graciously yielded her time to the man on 298 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:30.320 the on my screen bottom right, uh, but also to 299 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:33.840 my to my left, if you're if you're watching, if 300 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:35.639 you're watching us, now, I want to go back to 301 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:39.679 Aj and say, hey, Aj, what what is the Bangladeshi 302 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:40.960 already doing? 303 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:48.320 So there it seems to be like a huge, huge 304 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:50.320 focus on education. 305 00:16:58.879 --> 00:16:59.279 Anyway. 306 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:03.639 Yeah, it seems like education is the key here because 307 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:07.799 with all the work that they have done, the enrollment 308 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.720 rates have gone way up. I think I said about 309 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.559 to about ninety percent enrollment wight, So it's a huge, 310 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.519 huge difference from the nineteen eighties when it was like 311 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:21.799 around forty percent. So their work is working, and it 312 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:25.440 seems that the solution is focusing on keeping them in school. 313 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:27.799 One of the things that you mentioned the onlier on 314 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:30.920 was that they're paying families, but basically they've give them 315 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.279 a little bit of money to make sure that they 316 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:36.480 keep their kids in school. And as I also mentioned, 317 00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:38.839 the reason that they were dropping out of school was 318 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:41.519 because they're having to go to work to cover for 319 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:45.160 the cost you know, after a natural disaster, rebuilding homes 320 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:46.960 and all of that. So if they have that extra 321 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:50.359 money from these organizations, then they're going to have they're 322 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:54.000 going to be able to cover that that recovery effort 323 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.400 without having to take their kids out of school. So 324 00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:59.759 that's an excellent solution right there. Another thing they're doing 325 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:03.680 is they build out of these really really small schools. 326 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.319 They're like a one classroom type of schools, but they're 327 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:10.200 all over they have about sixty four thousand schools and 328 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.240 one point eight million students. So this means that the 329 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:15.559 kids can walk to school. They don't need to have 330 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:19.039 any type of transportation. So access access to the school 331 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:22.319 is so important because if they have to drive or 332 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:24.720 walk a whole hour, then they're not going to go there. 333 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:26.799 Right when I was a kid growing up, I had 334 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:29.400 to walk like about forty five minutes to an hour 335 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:31.480 to the only school that we had around. 336 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:32.960 We did it every day. 337 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.000 You know, if it was raining then you know, we 338 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:38.000 couldn't make it. But so having these schools within like 339 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:40.720 ten minutes to where they can just go back and 340 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:45.519 forth accellent. Keeping them motivated, like giving them things to 341 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:47.960 look forward to. There were some of the kids in 342 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.519 the auticle that said they wanted to be teacher, another 343 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.799 one wanted to be a doctor, another one wanted to 344 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:57.400 be a soldier. So like giving these kids dreams and 345 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:00.000 you know, something to be like, hey I can work, 346 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:02.839 that I can be that I can do better than 347 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:05.720 you know, just being I'm not saying that it's want 348 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.799 to be a farmer, but like their in their poverty 349 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:13.480 stricken areas, being a farmer, it does not bring any 350 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.160 type of money that is going to take them anywhere. 351 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:20.480 Especially when sixty percent of your economy or sixty percent 352 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:26.240 of your populace is agricultural. You're competing every day, you know, 353 00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:28.920 to try and make a living, especially if you consider 354 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.839 all of the imports that the country can take from 355 00:19:32.039 --> 00:19:35.680 agriculture happening around the world. You know, there's you pretty 356 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:38.759 much can only sustain yourself. I was looking into I 357 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.079 did a little bit of research on dowries. I was 358 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.079 interested in seeing how the dowry affected Bangladesh because I 359 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:48.960 know that people would you know, when you marry off 360 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:52.359 your daughter, you collect the dowry from the groom's husband 361 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:57.279 excuse me, the groom's family. The bride's family collects a 362 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.079 dowry right a cash payment or maybe some kind of 363 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.359 economic bump into in the form of maybe livestock or 364 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:09.599 or who knows, but that has been outlawed in Bangladesh, 365 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:11.400 and I wanted to see what you guys thought about 366 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:13.480 that and what you think the impacts of that might be. 367 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:16.119 Rob go ahead really quick, I think you have that backwards. 368 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:21.000 It's the wife brings the dowry to the husband. Yes, yeah, 369 00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:25.839 well yes, because the wife doesn't have value. Remember why, 370 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:30.160 So you're interesting money or property or money brought by 371 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:34.240 a bride to the husband because you are giving them 372 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:38.559 support for taking your woman, and the woman does not 373 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:39.279 have value? 374 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:40.839 Wordless? 375 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:42.400 Okay, I think I think. 376 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:47.000 The dowry is not allowed, but it's not practiced in 377 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.519 Bangladesh as a mandatory obligation society. I thought that it 378 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:53.400 was different in Bangladesh. 379 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.440 It could be very true, and I could just be 380 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:56.480 messing everything up. 381 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:00.519 Okay, So I will tell you this though, So let's 382 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.160 all right, So so I will I will admit, I 383 00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:06.319 will admit wrongdoing so that I'm not I don't want 384 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.200 to just sit here and start researching because I may 385 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:11.200 very well have gotten that backwards. But with okay, so 386 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:14.720 poverty in poverty stricken areas, does it even make a 387 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:15.920 difference to eliminate that? 388 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:17.359 I think it's a good question. Yeah. 389 00:21:17.400 --> 00:21:19.720 I mean, nobody's got the money to pay it anyway, right, 390 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:24.279 So really, the government taking this approach to say, hey, 391 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:27.160 dowries will not be allowed, well, it doesn't really do 392 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:30.359 anything for the children, because no, it only really would 393 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.640 affect the middle class who they're not struggling to make 394 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:38.920 or receive payment anyway. Uh, and so the problem stays 395 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:42.279 in the impoverished area. Anyway, I thought that that was 396 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.559 interesting and I wanted to kind of get your guys take. 397 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:47.000 I guess as we wrap up the show about you know, 398 00:21:47.079 --> 00:21:51.480 what will work and what will not work in preventing 399 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.240 or reversing this kind of cultural mindset. So I'm gonna 400 00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:55.759 go down the line. 401 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:56.240