A Study on Attitudes About Child Marriage Among the Indonesian Diaspora in Qatar

Child marriage exists as a harmful practice that prevails in both developing and developed countries. Unfortunately, there has been little research on child marriage among the diaspora communities, with none having been conducted among the Indonesian diaspora. As a member of the Indonesian diaspora in Qatar for almost two years – one who has been working on child marriage research and prevention in Indonesia – I understand and am aware of some members of the Indonesian community's attitudes toward child marriage, but I lack any understanding of how the Indonesian diasporas' life experiences and interactions in Qatar have influenced their perspectives or attitudes toward child marriage. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to discover how likely it is for the Indonesian Diaspora in Qatar to accept the practice of child marriage, based on a range of environment and migration factors. This study combined quantitative (survey) and qualitative (in-depth interview) methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Indonesian diaspora's attitudes toward child marriage, taking into account that it is one of Qatar's oldest communities (over two decades), is intergenerational, and has a cross-class divide. Three major findings were identified: first, the majority of respondents believe that marriage should occur when people are in their 20s and beyond; the majority also believe that child marriage causes more harm than good; and finally, the majority of participants agree that in order to prevent child marriage, all stakeholders, including parents, teachers, community leaders, religious leaders, and the national government, should be involved.