Kyle Doogan
Morality Paper
Professor Arsenault
Forced Childhood Marriage and its Effects In the world today there are many cultural practices that are morally problematic. One of these morally problematic cultural practice is child marriage in countries like Bangladesh. In Bangladesh it is not uncommon for girls to be married at 14. In fact, in a survey title “The Demographic and Health Survey” that took place in 1997 found that 5 percent of girls ranging from the age of 10-14 were married and that 48% percent of girls from the ages of 15-19 were married. Another survey that took place in the year 1998 one by The United Nations Populations Fund revealed that 7 percent of girls that were only 12 years old were married, 47.8 percent by the …show more content…
In allowing their daughters to marry at a young age to older men, they have one less mouth to feed. Another reason behind this is the idea of tradition. This tradition has been upheld for quite some time, and these families have a strong value of virginity at the time of marriage. Families engaging in this are under the impression that in pushing their daughter into a marriage at a young age there will be no chance for sexual interaction, leaving them “pure”. In an extreme, if a young girl is raped the family of the victim will force the daughter to marry the man that raped her in order to keep her honor because even if you get raped, you are considered unmarriageable. Ethical relativism is a term that describes morality based on the norm of a culture. This means that the morality of an act or action depends on the norms of the society in which the act is done. Ethical relativism allows an action to be morally right in one community or culture, but may be morally wrong in another. I believe that an ethical relativist would conclude that this practice is completely moral. Because this practice is considered the “norm” and it is completely normal for young girls to be set up for marriage from a young age, this act is moral in the eyes of an ethical …show more content…
Conclusion: Because of this, everyone’s moral views are equally plausible, and if the culture thinks that marrying a young child to an older man is the norm, then so be it.
A weakness in this argument is the matter of laws in the society in question. Sometimes although the law can clash with the general norm of a society, the practice still stands. In the case of Bangladesh, the official marriage age is 18. This of course doesn’t stop the tradition of pushing a daughter into a marriage at a young age. I believe that ethical relativism is wrong. I don’t think moral ethics are based on the beliefs of a culture. In using this logic, one can say that because there is a society of people that kill people and eat their flesh are right because it is the norm of their society.
Premise 1: Just because a culture engages in a practice or activity does not make it morally right.
Premise 2: Morality is not based off of the morals of a specific culture
Conclusion: Ethical Relativism is wrong, and because of this, the practice of childhood marriage in Bangladesh is not moral
Morality Paper
Professor Arsenault
Forced Childhood Marriage and its Effects In the world today there are many cultural practices that are morally problematic. One of these morally problematic cultural practice is child marriage in countries like Bangladesh. In Bangladesh it is not uncommon for girls to be married at 14. In fact, in a survey title “The Demographic and Health Survey” that took place in 1997 found that 5 percent of girls ranging from the age of 10-14 were married and that 48% percent of girls from the ages of 15-19 were married. Another survey that took place in the year 1998 one by The United Nations Populations Fund revealed that 7 percent of girls that were only 12 years old were married, 47.8 percent by the …show more content…
In allowing their daughters to marry at a young age to older men, they have one less mouth to feed. Another reason behind this is the idea of tradition. This tradition has been upheld for quite some time, and these families have a strong value of virginity at the time of marriage. Families engaging in this are under the impression that in pushing their daughter into a marriage at a young age there will be no chance for sexual interaction, leaving them “pure”. In an extreme, if a young girl is raped the family of the victim will force the daughter to marry the man that raped her in order to keep her honor because even if you get raped, you are considered unmarriageable. Ethical relativism is a term that describes morality based on the norm of a culture. This means that the morality of an act or action depends on the norms of the society in which the act is done. Ethical relativism allows an action to be morally right in one community or culture, but may be morally wrong in another. I believe that an ethical relativist would conclude that this practice is completely moral. Because this practice is considered the “norm” and it is completely normal for young girls to be set up for marriage from a young age, this act is moral in the eyes of an ethical …show more content…
Conclusion: Because of this, everyone’s moral views are equally plausible, and if the culture thinks that marrying a young child to an older man is the norm, then so be it.
A weakness in this argument is the matter of laws in the society in question. Sometimes although the law can clash with the general norm of a society, the practice still stands. In the case of Bangladesh, the official marriage age is 18. This of course doesn’t stop the tradition of pushing a daughter into a marriage at a young age. I believe that ethical relativism is wrong. I don’t think moral ethics are based on the beliefs of a culture. In using this logic, one can say that because there is a society of people that kill people and eat their flesh are right because it is the norm of their society.
Premise 1: Just because a culture engages in a practice or activity does not make it morally right.
Premise 2: Morality is not based off of the morals of a specific culture
Conclusion: Ethical Relativism is wrong, and because of this, the practice of childhood marriage in Bangladesh is not moral