Two Zimbabwean child brides have taken the government to court in a landmark bid to get child marriages declared illegal and unconstitutional in the country. In their statements, Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzi argued that Zimbabwe’s Marriage Act is discriminatory because it sets the minimum age at 16 for girls while it is 18 for boys. In her court affidavit, Mudzuru – now 19 years old and still married with two children – described how child marriage and poverty created a “vicious circle” for girls like her.