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Cameroonare even married off at the age 12 years old. 28 In many of these cases, thegirls are forced into marriage.Often the parents of the bride are paid a “bride price” by the husband. Thebride price is governed by the Civil Code, which, in articles 1540 and1541, defines it as follows: “The dowry is the property which the wifebrings to the husband for bearing the costs of the marriage. Everythingthat the wife brings with her or that is given to her under the marriagecontract ..., unless otherwise stipulated.” However, in the current practice,the dowry may be defined as the goods, which a future husband contributesto the family of his future wife. This has led men to regard theirwife as property for which they have paid and the men and his family feelentitled to the physical labour of the wife. 29 It makes it also extremely difficultfor a woman to divorce her husband.When the husband dies, the widow is often unable to inherit since she isconsidered to be part of the inheritance herself. A practice related todowry payments is the forcing of a widow to marry one of the deceased’sbrothers.Moreover, early motherhood constitutes a serious health and emotionalrisk for young girls, many of whom are unable to take care of their babiesor who die in the process of giving birth. Furthermore, an early marriageleads to girls dropping out of school and therefore to the vicious circle ofpoverty, lack of power and at the end, again, violence. It must be notedthat the age at which women get married in urban areas is higher than inrural areas. Nevertheless, regardless of residence, it seems that entry intomarriage at an older age has been the trend. This phenomenon is attributedto the increase in the school attendance rate of girls. 30Women in Cameroon are also discriminated from a de facto point of view.51% of the population in Cameroon live below the poverty line and povertyhas an increasingly feminine face, affecting women in particular. 31 Asa result more and more women and girls enter prostitution and are therebyexposed to exploitation.The pervasive poverty in the country impacts services such as health andeducation. According to UNICEF, in the year 2000, the adult literacy rateamong men was 82% whereas the adult literacy rate of women was69%. 32 The net primary school enrolment of boys was 76% between 1992127