海角大神

In this remote village perched high in the hills of eastern Guatemala, a spunky 21-year-old in high-tops and skinny black jeans is holding court in a former coffee-processing plant.

In front of Patricia Rossibel Cort茅z Jim茅nez are dozens of girls, ages 8 to 18, who whisper and swing their feet beneath plastic chairs as she opens a weekly training with a question: 鈥淲hat is gender?鈥�

The cavernous, cinder-block space grows quiet. Finally, one girl answers: 鈥淭he difference between a man and a woman.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 also the role family and community assign to people,鈥� says Ms. Jim茅nez, a mentor who runs weekly gatherings here for the youth organization Colectivo Joven.聽

She breaks the girls into two groups and asks them to write out typical gender roles. Women do laundry, cook, care for children, writes one. Men farm and work outside the home for salaries, writes the other.

It鈥檚 stereotypes like that, says Jim茅nez, that groups like hers are trying to debunk.

鈥淲e are told 鈥� that we are not going to study because we were born to be in the house, to have children, to get married,鈥� she says. Parents 鈥渄on鈥檛 know that we have dreams, that we have goals that we want to accomplish.鈥�

Rights advocates say the stereotypes contribute to high rates of child marriage in Guatemala, where nearly 1 in 3 girls .

But mentor-based programs are gaining traction as a means of tackling the problem. Many help girls build self-esteem and devise life plans beyond marriage. They teach girls their rights, and to educate their communities about why child marriage poses risks.聽

Mentors like聽Jim茅nez 鈥� young, confident, and local 鈥� lead the trainings because they understand the challenges their peers face. In time, they say, the girls they mentor will become their own best advocates聽鈥� and change-makers in their communities.

Backed up by the law

Guatemala has the largest economy in Central America, but also some of Latin America鈥檚 , malnutrition, and maternal mortality rates. Inequality is especially stark in rural areas, home to many indigenous groups who historically have been subjected to exclusion and racism. Access to jobs, health care, and education are limited. 聽of the girls in these areas marry before age 18.

The reasons involve a complex mix of poverty, lack of opportunity, tradition, and beliefs that girls鈥� value comes from bearing children. Increasingly, advocates say, girls themselves see marriage as an escape.

Teen brides tend to have less education or stop school after marriage. They often bear more children and are . They also face a higher threat of domestic violence, limited decisionmaking, and poverty than peers who marry later, by the International Center for Research on Women and the World Bank.

An August decree could boost efforts to end the practice by closing a loophole in the civil code that had allowed adolescents 16 and older to wed with a judge鈥檚 permission.

It鈥檚 a continental trend: Legislators in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala have all approved eliminating exceptions for marriage among minors聽鈥� putting them ahead of even the United States, where activists are pushing for a nationwide ban.

鈥淵ou really can鈥檛 achieve any form of large-scale sustainable change without having the legal framework in place,鈥� says Denise Dunning, the founder and executive director of Rise Up, a US-based organization that trains and funds community leaders to advocate for women.

Real challenge: root causes

Rise Up supported a coalition of girl-focused groups to lobby lawmakers in Guatemala to raise the marriage age to 18, in part by getting girls to sit down with them and share their stories. They鈥檝e celebrated the ban as an indication their voices are being heard. But they also know that while the law is a first step, it鈥檚 far from a final one.

Many countries set the legal marriage age at 18, but enforcement remains weak. In many areas, de facto unions , leaving young 鈥榖rides鈥� with even fewer protections. And advocates argue that such unions will continue, regardless of what the law says, if the reasons behind them aren鈥檛 addressed.

The law is a good idea, but 鈥渋t鈥檚 attacking the symptoms, not the real causes,鈥� says Sa煤l Interiano Ramirez, the founder of Asociacion Coincidir, an adolescent-rights group working to change social norms and strengthen girls鈥� networks.

Alejandra Carrillo de Leon, the congresswoman who co-wrote the Guatemalan decree, is pushing for more investment in education, job opportunities, and health and recreational programs that empower women. The challenge, she says, 鈥渋s to stop seeing girls like an economic burden and more like a development opportunity.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a cycle of children becoming parents, and then guiding their own children down the same path,鈥� says Norma Dilia Cort茅z, the mother of a girl in the Colectivo Joven program, who is glad to see girls learning to challenge that thinking.

'The key is critical mass'

Nearly 300 miles from Tierra Blanca, mentors leading the Abriendo Oportunidades program in central Guatemala are using the law to boost their efforts. They鈥檙e broadcasting messages to parents, judges, and mayors to explain not just that child marriage is illegal, but why.

鈥淚magine, at last, a law that protects young girls from school dropout, violence, and motherhood before their time,鈥� says one radio spot. The campaign includes live call-in programs and daily spots read by the girls themselves.

Supported by the Population Council, an international health and development organization, the Abriendo program provides safe spaces in indigenous communities where girls can discuss their futures and learn about their rights and reproductive health. It also encourages community leaders to promote girls鈥� access to school and discourage child marriage, key to reshaping social norms about girls鈥� value.

Challenging those norms is not easy, and many mentors say they鈥檝e faced resistance for talking about taboo subjects like sex and gender. Some have been the brunt of rumors, derogatory name-calling, or harassment, a sign that acceptance of underage unions runs deep.

鈥淭here is a belief that a woman鈥檚 place is in the home, so they don鈥檛 see women as becoming something else,鈥� said 鈥淎licia,鈥� an Abriendo mentor who asked not to use her real name for safety.

After 13 years in Guatemala, Abriendo is starting to see results. show that 97 percent of mentors age 15-20 didn鈥檛 marry or become pregnant while they were in the program, and 76 percent of girls age 12-18 stayed in school, versus 40 percent of girls nationally.

鈥淭he key is critical mass,鈥� says Alejandra Colom, director of the Population Council in Guatemala. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we try to work with at least half the girl population in the community: because social norms are collective.鈥�

Ms. Colom says the messages are important because the girls, nearly all of whom are indigenous, are giving them in their own language and with cultural context. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not just going to repeat what the law says; they鈥檙e explaining it in ways that make sense to people and parents and girls."

That means being organized, says Alicia, whose affable nature can鈥檛 mask her determination. 鈥淚t is not that there isn't anybody else doing this, but we have to have initiative to do it in our own municipalities, in the communities,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is we who have to start, it is why we keep on going.鈥�

鈥� Sara Schonhardt reported from Guatemala on a fellowship from the International Reporting Project.