Emma Watson Visits Malawi To Help End Child Marriage Across The World

Emma Watson put her UN Women Goodwill Ambassador duties to work today, October 10, by visiting Malawi. The young actress was in Malawi to draw attention to the end of child marriage.

During her visit, Emma got a first hand look at how Malawi has made the necessary steps to end child marriage and bring women back to school and her heard first hand accounts from some of the young women freed from marriage. For those who don’t know, the country “passed the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, raising the minimum age of marriage to 18” back in 2015 and they have never looked back.

Emma spoke about her experience stating, “Spending the day in the beautiful country of Malawi has been a moving and inspiring experience for me. Meeting with young girls, who like many in their country, are struggling with poverty and were pressured into early marriage, depriving them of their education in the process, made me realize just how important it is for women to be able to make their own choices. It’s so encouraging to see how such a harmful practice can be stopped when communities work together to pass laws, and then turn those laws into reality.

“I applaud and thank our HeForShe Impact Champion President Mutharika for making this issue a priority in his Government, as well as all the traditional leaders—especially Chief Kachindamoto (so formidable, she has been nicknamed ‘The Terminator’!). She has implemented the annulment of so many child marriages and restored the futures of these girls.

With the help and collaboration of her local chiefs, mothers’ groups and religious leaders, she has managed to annul almost 1500 child marriages, sending the girls back to school. President Mutharika has committed to make child marriage a thing of the past in Malawi within the next five years. Because of bold and brave leadership like this things may start to change. It was amazing to be on the ground with UN Women to witness their work!”

You can check out even more from Emma’s trip and how you can help end child marriage here.