The Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley’s Empower Hour will be held virtually at noon, Saturday, Feb. 5 on Zoom.

The featured speaker at this free event will be Sara Tasneem, a child bride at age 15. Now a survivor, she advocates against child/forced marriage and violence against women and girls.

Tasneem was born and raised in Southern California. She was featured in the full-length documentary film, “Knots, A Forced Marriage Story” (2020).

This round table discussion is hosted by the Zonta Club of SCV’s Advocacy Committee. The “Zonta Empowers: Take Action” series that will be offered several times a year and has highlighted subjects like human trafficking and PTSD.

The Empower Hour will focus on awareness and how to end child marriage within California. A child marriage is a marriage in which at least one party is under 18 years of age. As of January 2022, in nine states there is no legal minimum age when all exemptions were considered. California is included in those nine states.

Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States. Most of the child marriages in the U.S. were between a minor girl and an adult man. In some states, minors cannot legally divorce or leave their spouse and domestic violence shelters typically do not accept minors.

This is a virtual event and free to everyone who has a desire to learn more about child marriage. Be aware that mature topics will be discussed that may not be suitable for children.

Register at Empower Hour.

Founded in 1974, Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley is a service organization of professional women working together to advance the status of women and girls in the Santa Clarita Valley and around the world.

For information on the film “Knots” visit www.knotsthefilm.com.

For more information visit www.scvzonta.org/advocacy and look for “Zonta Empowers.” #ZontaEmpowers