In Bangladesh, 13-year-old Beezly Roy is preparing for her wedding.She is to be married the following day.Despite child marriage being illegal, it is not unusual. Almost a third of all Bangladeshi girls marry before they are 15 years old. Their futures are not good – they face dangerous childbirth, even death, sexual violence and virtual slavery.She wasn’t the only family member trying to marry me off young. My grandfather had plans for me to marry my first cousin who was 20 years older than me, but he passed away before he could make it happen.All of this marriage talk is part of a deep-rooted tradition to keep women under control and maintain family honour.But I couldn’t accept this fate. When I was young, my family moved to Los Angeles.Suddenly I was exposed to a different world, that didn’t match my family’s values at home and I began to rebel, upsetting my traditional Bangladeshi Muslim parents. I couldn’t adapt to my family’s mindset. There were too many rules. I had to excel in school, avoid boys, learn the Quran and dress conservatively. My mother even threw away the tank tops and shorts I had bought in secret. But help is coming from an unexpected source, a young man from a rural community who has made it his life’s goal to end child marriages.101 East travels to Bangladesh where young girls are being married off too young. Watch video here:
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