A bridal shop in the town of Marneuli (Kvemo Kartli). According to the Azeri tradition two separate weddings take place: one for the groom, where women need to wear white dresses, and one for the women, where the brides need to wear colored dresses. Women normally rent rather than buy their wedding dresses.
An empty classroom in the village of Dzevri.
One of the consequences of early marriage is the dropout from school: to address this problem and encourage girls to continue their studies, the Mac Laine association for children, set up in 2012 a scholarships program for the students of Dzevri school. The only requirement for the scholarship is not getting married before finishing college.
Tamuna, an early bride, performs a traditional Georgian dance in her family's home. Her family in law prohibited her to dance. Few months ago she fled her husband and returned to her family's home. She has now pressed charges against him for mistreating her, from which she hopes to get some money to be able to live decently.
Kvemo Kartli region, Georgia, 2016.
An underage girl the day of her wedding. Before December 2015, girls aged 16-18 could get married with permission from their parents. On the initiative of the Ombudsman of Georgia, the law was amended and now 16-18 years old girls must get permission from the court as well as from their parents to get married.
Kakheti region, Georgia, 2016.
Megi, 16, taking care of her newborn baby in the house she shares with her husband and parents in law. Most of the child spouses live with their parents-in-law since the beginning of their marriage and some experience a great deal of stress and pressure from the mother-in-law.
Batumi, Adjara region, Georgia, 2016.
Ia with her child. She got married at 17.
According to the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science, 7,367 girls dropped out of school before the age of 15 during the period of October 2011-January 2013. There are no data about the reasons that these girls dropped out, though based on the observations referred to in reporting by the Public Defender, early marriage was a prominent factor in most cases.
Ia is one of the rare exceptions, as she never stops to study, and dream to become a pharmacist.
Imereti region, Georgia, 2016.
A young girl hides behind hanging blankets at Tamuna's house. According to the few data available, Georgia has one the highest rates of female underage marriage among European countries.Child marriage is a gendered phenomenon that affects girls and boys in different ways. Overall, the number of boys in child marriages around the world is significantly lower than that of girls.