In the Ratanakiri province of Cambodia, where child marriage rates are the highest in the country, a 13-year-old girl from the Praov Indigenous group chose to prioritize her schooling over a forced union, a decision that initially cost her the relationship with her father and her standing in the community.

While Cambodian law sets the marriage age at 18, a legal exception for 16-year-olds with parental consent often serves as a gateway to forced marriage, where refusal is met with severe psychological and social costs. Girls like Kary are changing this tradition and helping others do the same. 

At just 13, she said no to child marriage 

At just 13 years old, Kary was told her future had already been decided. Her family wanted her to marry. She was expected to accept it quietly. Instead, she refused. For most, family pressure, poverty and social expectations leave young girls, especially in rural communities, with few choices but to leave school and get married.

Kary’s family pressured her with the claim that if she did not marry then, she would be considered too old for anyone to love later. This manipulation was compounded by the fact that the village of Ta Veng viewed her refusal as an act of moral failure. For two years, her father refused to speak to her or even look her in the face, a silent punishment meant to coerce her into the traditional role her mother had occupied. 

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: 

Her mother, Taby, is thin, a sarong firmly tied around her tiny waist. Forced into marriage at just 14, Taby has never been to school and is banned from working. Women in the village can only look after the children, cook and clean.

Despite the pressure, she did not give in. Today, Kary is studying psychology in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh—the first woman from her village to go to university. She hopes to become a journalist. More importantly, she hopes her story will inspire and embolden other young girls. 

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