Jane Sloane: Ending child marriage

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Jane SloaneJane Sloane is the Vice President of Programs at the Global Fund for Women and is fighting to protect the rights of child brides and put an end to child marriages.

According to UNICEF, more than 700 million of the world’s married women were wedded before they turned 18.  This means that 28 girls are entering into child marriage every minute worldwide–some 15 million girls per year, some as young as eight years old.

Jane Sloane is fighting to protect the rights and dignity of child brides and hopes to see an end to child marriages in her lifetime. She is the Vice President of Programs at the Global Fund for Women, an organization that has funded 241 organizations in 53 countries that are all working to stop early marriage.

“It’s a really tragic waste of life for a girl,” said Sloane. “Poverty has a lot to do with the decisions parents make to marry off their daughter.”

Jane Sloane: Ending child marriage

Jane Sloane is fighting to protect the rights and dignity of child brides and hopes to see an end to the child marriages in her lifetime. She is the Vice President of Programs at the Global Fund for Women, an organization that has funded 241 organizations in 53 countries that are all working to stop early marriage.


Two of the regions where child marriage is most common are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of these unions, the leading cause of death for girls ages 15 to 19 in the countries of these regions is pregnancy and childbirth. If nothing is done to prevent child brides from being forced into marriage, 1.2 billion girls will be at risk by 2050.

Jane Sloane joins Mike Walter in our Los Angeles studio to discuss what can be done to change the plight of child brides worldwide.

Follow Jane on Twitter: @JaneInTheWorld