I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

The tension between tradition and change, or modernity, in Yemeni society at large undergirds this work. In the character of Nujood, this tension plays out in her marriage. Tradition and custom dictate that child marriages are normal, especially in rural Yemeni society, so the practice remains commonplace. Yemeni law, however, specifies that the legal age for consent is 15, meaning that most child marriages are illegal in the eyes of the law. Nevertheless, because of the power of tradition and the idea of child marriage as a hallowed custom with Islamic roots, cases of illegal child marriages are never brought to court. Nujood is the first little girl who seeks to upend tradition and custom, which place her in a seemingly inescapable and horribly abusive marriage. She uses the power of change or modernity embodied by the modern Yemeni legal system. This debate plays out between her father, who argues that even the Prophet married Aïsha when she was 9, and her older sister Mona, who insists that this was centuries ago and that things have changed. This debate also plays out in geography, as the remote village of Khardji is portrayed as a place of custom and tradition while the capital city of Sana’a is portrayed as a city of change and modernity.