EARLY AGE MARRIAGE: ABARRIER FOR WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT IN KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA SOCIETY

The term child marriage and early age, marriage both are interrelated with each other. Early age marriage in Pakistan is considered a major barrier to the nation's development. Early age, marriage is not a new phenomenon of our society; it has been in practice from generations to generation as the result of social and cultural traditions. So, we can say that early age, marriage is one of the most challenges practices in the globe. The present study was conducted to investigate the various causes and multifaceted consequences of early marriages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa society in the District: Bannu-Pakistan. For this purpose, 100 respondents were randomly selected, among those respondents both male and female were included. After this, the required data were collected through structured interview schedule and then descriptive approach was utilized for analyzing the data. Results reveal that the early marriage is practiced due to certain reasons, i.e. poverty, illiteracy and deeply rooted social customs, which laid overwhelming impacts on the individual, family and the whole society in terms of social, psychological and physiological problems. Finally, some suggestions are given at the end of paper through which we can minimize this social evil.