The 2017 Constitutional Reform in Malawi: the ban of child marriage as a step in the process of building a true democracy

In 2017 the Malawian Parliament adopted a constitutional amendment that forbade child marriages and stated that both boys and girls could wed only from the age of eighteen. Nevertheless, Malawi is still facing many issues dealing with basic human rights, such as women equality. Nowadays, Malawi can be considered as a rather young democracy, that is hold back by some of its own religious beliefs and traditions. The purpose of Malawi legislative and judiciary bodies is to ensure fundamental rights: in fact, without equality people could not significantly take part in political and social activities. The present work therefore considers the above-mentioned constitutional amendment concerning the ban of child marriage, adopting a double perspective, both a comparative and a legal realism approach. In this way, we come to understand that it is thanks to the action of the legislative bodies, international organizations, constitutional justices and cultural leaders that society can truly evolve and guarantee fundamental rights, such as parity and dignity for all its citizens.