When Dutch documentary filmmakers Joop Van Wijk and Hillie Molenaar visited Egypt’s rural regions in 1981, they were shocked to see the number of child marriage cases – adolescent girls forced into marriage, often by their fathers, and often lacking choice in the matter. Their trip was the inspiration behind Daughters of the Nile (1982), a documentary on the restricted lives of rural Egyptian women, and their stories of forced marriage. Despite being screened 40 years ago, the film remains relevant to Egypt’s existing struggle against child marriage – a burden that remains on the shoulders of the country to this day. UNDERSTANDING CHILD MARRIAGE THROUGH DATA Ironically, data trends in Egypt strongly suggest that there is an increase in the country’s average marriage age, from 20 years old to 22, as per the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF). In rural regions, that number jumped from 18 to 20 in the span of nearly two decades. Yet these statistics don’t account for the total number of all child marriages in Egypt, an unrecorded burden conducted in secrecy that continues to plague the country. The United Nations, which defines child…
